As an Artificer they must complete a strenuous Selection course and then attend an 18-month intensive engineering course where they work towards and gain an electrical and mechanical HND, upon completion they emerge as a Staff Sergeants (SSGT) and have the potential to reach Warrant Officer Class 1 (WO1) as an Artificer Sergeant Major (ASM) or even gain a Commission. As they increase in rank they can follow one of two streams: Artisan or Artificer. They can also be found in larger REME units called REME Battalions providing in-depth repair and front line support.Īrmourers have the rank of Craftsman upon starting their trade training, which is the equivalent of Private and they have similar ranks of the remainder of the Army thereafter. Typically, armourers are attached to every type of front line operational unit within the British Army such as Infantry, Cavalry, Engineers, Logistics, Special Forces and specialist training teams. Today they form a core role within the Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) and work on an extremely wide variety of weapon systems. The HEMA ( Historical European Martial Arts) movement has also revived a more traditional expression of armoury as a skill.Īrmourers are the oldest trade in the British Army and trace their heritage back several centuries. Period costumes may require reproduction armour, swords, and related equipment. With the renewed interest in traditional armour and weaponry the occupation also involves working with film, stage, and historical and reenactment societies. At sport-fencing events, the individuals responsible for checking equipment safety and maintaining the strips, reels and scoring machines during the tournament are also known as armourers. The title is also used in Olympic sport of fencing (the foil, the épée and the sabre) to refer to those who repair fencers' weaponry, safety equipment, fencing-strips, scoring machines, and reels. In some ways, this is a reversion back to the original meaning of the term insofar as these companies forge, adapt or integrate physical armour onto platforms in order to protect human life. There is increasing evidence that companies specializing in the manufacture of armoured vehicles or applique armour for application onto vehicles of all types (cars, boats, aircraft) are referring to themselves as armourers such as the UK company OVIK Crossway - which describes its services as Armourers and Coach Builders. In modern terms, an armourer is a member of a military or police force who works in an armoury and maintains and repairs small arms and weapons systems, with some duties resembling those of a civilian gunsmith. Historically, an armourer is a person who makes personal armour, especially plate armour.
Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Fine print is from 1861 as "type small and close-set " by 1934 in the extended sense "qualifications and limitations of a deal.This article needs additional citations for verification. 1300 fine has been also a general broad expression of admiration or approval, the equivalent of French beau (as in fine arts, "those which appeal to the mind and the imagination," 1767, translating French beaux-arts). In French, the main meaning remains "delicate, intricately skillful " in English since c. In reference to quality of gold and silver, late 15c.
as "expertly fashioned, well or skillfully made," also, of cloth, "delicately wrought." Of weapons or edges, "sharp" from c. 1300 as "rich, valuable, costly " also in a moral sense "true, genuine faithful, constant." From late 14c.
Mid-13c., "unblemished, refined, pure, free of impurities," also "of high quality, choice," from Old French fin "perfected, of highest quality" (12c.), a back-formation from finire or else from Latin finis "that which divides, a boundary, limit, border, end" (see finish (v.)) hence "acme, peak, height," as in finis boni "the highest good." The English word is from c.