Although the best-known British military searchlights certainly were the antiaircraft searchlights used during the Second World War by the Royal Artillery, military searchlights were developed by the Corps of Royal Engineers before the end of the last century, and are still a Royal Engineers responsibility today. The first military searchlights were carbon-arc lamps mounted on horse-drawn carts that had their electrical power generated by steam-engine-driven dynamos. They were deployed largely for coastal defense. Similar lights were used during the Boer War, their role being the same then as it is today — battlefield illumination. World War II–issue Royal Engineers/Royal Artillery trade qualification badge for an "SLO," or Search Light Operator.    By 1907, Electrical Engineer units were equipped with searchlights mounted on motor vehicles. In 1915 the Royal Engineers provided the first antiaircraft searchlights which kept Zeppelins and enemy aircraft from the skies over London. By 1918 there were twenty-six Royal Engineer Searchlight Companies. Between the Wars the Royal Engineers developed the robust and efficient carbon-arc searchlight which may still be seen today at military tattoos. These antiaircraft searchlight were manned by specially trained Territorial Army (TA) Searchlight Companies Royal Engineers of which there were twenty-seven battalions by 1939. Since they were employed so closely with the antiaircraft artillery, the Royal Engineer searchlight companies were rebadged as Royal Artillery searchlight batteries in 1941. Towards the end of the Second World War, some of these searchlight units were employed in Europe in the original role of providing gound illumination. This mode of operation became known as Movement Light — providing light for troop and vehicle movement on the ground at night. As radar became the prime means of locating enemy aircraft, the sole use for military searchlights again became ground illumination. The connection between searchlights and ground artillery being past, the remaining searchlight units returned to the Corps of Royal Engineers in 1961. The capability of the Corps to provide battlefield illumination in the BAOR (British Army of the Rhine) now lies with a unique TA unit, the 873rd Movement Light Squadron RE(V). It is equipped with modern xenon-arc searchlights which can provide light at a range of up to 10 miles.

The searchlight pictured at right (manufacturer and designation unknown) was introduced in 1938 and was the standard searchlight used by British forces in WW II. Its main use was to search for aircraft, but it was also used to provide "Artificial Moonlight" by directing the beam at low-level cloud. This made driving without lights, river crossings, etc. much easier. This system was known then as "Movement Light." Locally, searchlights like this were used great effect during the pre–Second World War Aldershot Command Searchlight Tattoos. Illumination was by carbon-arc light that was magnified by a large concave mirror. As with these lights, a high temperature is generated, cooling by an electric fan on top of the casing was necessary. (Text and photos reproduced courtesy The Aldershot Military Museum; original material hosted at Hampshire County Council Web Site.)

The same type of light with its quadruple track array shown in detail.

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