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Officers - British Army in the 19th Century

The test of an army is not peace, hut war. Gauged by that standard it is not too much to say that, relatively to the facility with which the British empire was able to provide men for war on a large scale, by the end of the 19th Century the supply of officers had failed. The ordinary sources of the supply of officers to the army during peace time were, as they have been for many years, Sandhurst College for those of the Cavalry, Guards, and Infantry of the line; Woolwich for the Artillery and Engineers; and, as a further source of supply for all, the Militia. In addition, a certain number of commissions were given in all branches of the service to cadets of the Royal Military College at Kingston, Ontario, and to other colonies, while a few were given to men from the ranks.

Commissions during the war in South Africa were given freely through universities, public schools, and other institutions. A very large number (2,700) of second lieutenants were commissioned during the Boer war. Many of these from the universities, from the Colonies, from various technical colleges, were men of an excellent stamp, but for the most part (except those from Kingston) they had no previous military training. Some of them were twenty-six years of age. So far as their future prospects are concerned this is a serious matter, because, in order to keep the various ranks of officers young enoug to bo fit for their work, the rule now is that an officer must retire at 45 years of age.

During peace time, the staffs necessary for the higher units for war and for the lines of communication in the field were not been maintained. The loss of officers in war was enormous. The consequence was that everywhere, whether in the field or at home, the supply of officers was wholly inadequate, and the battalions and regiments had been left deplorably short. At home, when it was necessary to create new units, the men could be obtained, but officers, especially experienced captains and subalterns, were wanting. A nominal "reserve of officers" existed in tho sense that officers who had retired on their pensions were liable to be recalled to service; but changes in army training had proceeded with immense rapidity in the late 19th Century, and when officers, who had left the army for some years, returned to it they found the conditions to which they had been accustomed greatly modified. Captains and majors who returned in those ranks were the contemporaries in age of meu who occupied the higher ranks in the army.

In 1815, at Waterloo, Seton's famous battalion, about 1,000 strong, had forty-two subalterns on parade; in the battle its front was never more than about 500 paces. In 1900 a garrison of 5,800 men at Woolwich had for some months seventeen captains and subalterns, all told, of whom ten were second lieutenants too young to serve on a court-martial. At Driefontein (10th March 1900) the Buffs, including regimental staff, had one officer per company. Companies often covered more than 1000 yards.

As a rule this is a scale which corrects itself to some extent, since, if promotion has for a time been very slow, many men in the senior ranks have to retire, and more rapid promotion is given to the juniors. The effect of a war on so large a scale as that in South Africa was to upset this condition. Large numbers of officers in the senior ranks were relatively young. The accession of the immense number of subalterns of the same age as those much senior to them would force these junior officers out of the service in large numbers. The circumstances for some years, therefore, would be very exceptional.

As regards the general question of the supply of officers, it must be realized that one of the exceptional advantages of Great Britain as a military power is that it possessed a larger class of the type from which effective officers can be drawn than any other country. What restricted the supply for war was solely that, as a question of economy, the policy of Great Britain had always been during peace time to reduce to a minimum the number of officers actually employed. Many posts were occupied by officers who were borne on the strength of their regiments and counted as if they were effective. The result of not maintaining during peace time the staff appointments required for war, and of filling a considerable proportion of those that are maintained with officers who were thus counted twice, was obviously to leave a very small proportion of the men who might be utilized available for war. Very large numbers of officers were "specially employed" in all parts of the empire. These could not be recalled for a war in a particular part of it. They were borne on the lists of certain regiments as subalterns or captains, and after a time they are "seconded," that is to say that, their names being placed in italics, their places are filled up by the promotion of other officers. They retained their position in the regimental list, and may or may not at some time or other be brought back into the regiment. The demands of the staff in such a campaign as that in South Africa were so enormous that the same process was necessarily applied to fill it. The effect was that there were many regiments of which the nominal establishment was, say, twelve captains, which actually had on their lists twenty-four, of whom twelve are thus "seconded."

Since 1870 enormous reductions have been made in the numbers of the higher ranks of the army. The Generals had been reduced by 1900 from 71 to 10, the Lieutenant-generals 115 to 25, Major-generals from 188 to 74. At the same time the pay of all the higher appointments in the army was greatly reduced. In the first place, the colonel-commandantships (worth per annum £1800 for a general from the Household cavalry, £2000 for a general from the Foot Guards, £1000 for infantry, £994 for the Artillery, and £990 for the Engineers) had all been abolished. These formerly were held in addition to the pay of the higher appointments. The actual pay of the higher appointments — commander-in-chief, adjutant-general, quartermaster-general, governors of Woolwich and Sandhurst, etc. had all been reduced by many hundreds a year each.

From the increase of the army contemporary with these reductions in the higher ranks, the transference of expenditure from the higher to the lower ranks has been large, and that, actuarially, from the great increase in the number of junior officers, the prospects held out to an officer of reaching the higher ranks have been greatly reduced. A royal warrant, which came into operation on 01 January 1901, still further reduced the higher ranks. From that date no promotion from major-general to lieutenant-general was to take place except as a reward for distinguished service in the field or to fill an actual appointment. As the number of appointments held by lieutenant-generals had been much reduced, this further reduced the number of lieutenant-generals to fourteen.

It followed inevitably from the fact that officers, other than regimental officers, had not hitherto during peace time been employed in the positions which they would occupy in war, that they had not nearly all been trained in the specific duties of those positions. The staff was trained at the "Staff College" as far as that is possible without the discharge of the actual functions that had to be learned. The number of officers that gained this functional training was very small. There was a great standing camp at Aldershot which normally in peace time had the staff for one cavalry brigade, for three infantry brigades, and for one "brigade division" of horse with two of field artillery, besides the standing staff of the district. These numbers had been usually increased during the drill season, partly by bringing in from other stations regular troops, and partly by the addition of large bodies of militia and volunteers. All branches of the service go through a regular course of regimental training each year.

This was specially designed to give each company-commander of an infantry battalion, each squadron - commander of a cavalry regiment, the opportunity of working up his unit before the whole are brought together for work under the lieutenant-colonel commanding the battalion or regiment. The several battalions, regiments, batteries, companies, and squadrons were inspected by their commanding officers and by the generals under whom they are serving. There was also a special technical inspection for the Cavalry and Army Service Corps by the inspector-general of Cavalry, and for the Artillery by the generals of Artillery at Aldershot, Woolwich, and Portsmouth. Musketry instruction has of late years been given under the general superintendence of musketry instructors and the supreme regulation of the head of the school at Hythe, but in detail by the captains of companies. This was a great improvement in the training of the officers themselves. The competition between battalion and battalion and between company and company was keen.

Between each rank, from subaltern to captain, from captain to major, up to the rank of lieutenant-colonel, an officer is required to pass an examination before a board of officers, who had to certify that he was fit for promotion. The examinations involved answers on paper and also the handling of troops on ground. As a rule, all the paper questions were only such as an officer might actually have to deal with when in command of troops. Thus the system of "training," apart from special arms, has consisted rather in ascertaining that officers have trained themselves than in any very systematized method for giving them that training. The "Staff College," the "Ordnance College," each trained special classes of officers. Officers on the staff were detailed for "garrison instruction," but in the main the training depended on battalion commanders, the effect being afterwards tested.