Another branch of their early activities was the staffing of the Machine Gun School at Visques, near G.H.Q., which was started by a Hythe Instructor (Major Baker-Carr), who had one Hythe Sergeant to assist him. They trained as assistants 16 men from the Artists, who in their turn trained others of their comrades, until eventually multitudes of little groups (each of eight Officers or N.C.O’s. temporarily withdrawn from the trenches) were daily to be seen dotted all over the parade ground keenly studying the intricacies and tactics of the weapon, expounded to them by an Artists’ Sergeant who had specialised in the subject. A large proportion of such Instructors afterwards passed on to Commissions in the M.G. Corps, Tanks, R.F.C., and other units where their expert knowledge was invaluable.[2] Reinforced from time to time by strong drafts, the special task of supplying and training Officers thus undertaken by the Artists kept them at G.H.Q. (where as “Headquarters Battalion” they were also entrusted with multifarious other and responsible duties) for about 2½ years. During this period there were of course considerable changes in personnel. The bulk of the original N.C.O’s. and men had soon obtained Commissions, while senior Captains had been promoted to command Battalions in the field, and many junior Officers had been attached or transferred to regular Regiments. In December, 1915, Col. May was invalided home. On recovering from a severe illness he was appointed to the important post, which he held till the end of the War, of Commandant at Tidworth of the Southern Command School of Instruction for Infantry Officers, where over 14,000 Officers (including 5,000 Australians) passed through his curriculum. He was succeeded in France by his Second-in-command, Lt. Col. Chatfeild-Clarke, who carried on until the summer of 1917, when the authorities decided to close down Cadet Schools in France and to send all future candidates for Commissions back to England for training. Thereupon the remaining Officers and men, less 200 cadets whose training was on the point of completion, at last had an opportunity of fulfilling the role for which the Artists had volunteered in 1914 (the reason they then went to France), of going into action together as a fighting unit, and they were allotted to the 190th Brigade in the Royal Naval Division (63rd). There was nothing very nautical about the 190th, the explanation being that there were not enough naval men available at that time to make up an entire Division, so the Army was called in to complete it by adding four Battalions.