A captain commanded each company. The captain-commandant was senior of the two, shown in capitals below. For almost half of their forty-eight year history there was only one captain to command both companies at Easdale.
1860 JOHN MACDOUGALL and Alex Pitcairn
1863 JOHN MACDOUGALL and James Bett
1867 Thomas Allen and JAMES BETT
1869 Angus Whyte and JAMES BETT
1874 ANGUS WHYTE only
1884 ANGUS WHYTE and Ross Menzies
1886 ROSS MENZIES only
1888 Second-Lieutenant Duncan Cameron only
1891 MATTHEW WILSON only
1897 MATTHEW WILSON and Patrick Gillies
1904 PATRICK GILLIES only
Each company had a sergeant-major, but the two companies had only one between them until 1877.
1860 (not known)
1871 Duncan Clark only
1877 John Campbell and Donald McMillan
1880 John Campbell and John McLean
1891 John Brown and Archibald McKichan
1904 Dugald Macpherson and Dugald McGregor
The number of soldiers allowed in each Volunteer company was laid down in Regulations. Here was their establishment in 1891.
A captain, a lieutenant, and a second-lieutenant
A sergeant-major and a quartermaster-sergeant
Three sergeants (minimum 2)
Four corporals (minimum 3)
Two trumpeters
Sixty-six gunners (minimum 38)
Total 80 (minimum 50)
The two companies never reached full manning: the population at Easdale could not sustain such high numbers of part-time soldiers. But they did achieve the minimum figures in almost every year for which nominal rolls survive. One exception was 1877: there were only eighty-six between both companies. The problem was not a shortage of recruits, but a high number of older Volunteers were discharged.