The Adjutant-General to the Forces, commonly just referred to as the Adjutant-General (AG), was for just over 250 years one of the most senior officers in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...

. The AG was latterly responsible for developing the Army's personnel policies and supporting its people.Army conducts Top Level Organisational Review
Defence News, 9 December 2009 The Adjutant-General usually held the rank of

general A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". O ...

lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on th ...

. Despite his administrative role, the Adjutant-General, like most officers above the rank of

major general Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of ...

, was invariably drawn from one of the combat arms, not from the support

corps Corps (; plural ''corps'' ; from French , from the Latin "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was first named as such in 1805. The size of a corps varies great ...

History

In origin the

Adjutant Adjutant is a military appointment given to an officer who assists the commanding officer with unit administration, mostly the management of human resources in an army unit. The term is used in French-speaking armed forces as a non-commission ...

-General was chief staff officer to the

Commander-in-Chief of the Forces The Commander-in-Chief of the Forces, later Commander-in-Chief, British Army, or just the Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C), was (intermittently) the professional head of the English Army from 1660 to 1707 (the English Army, founded in 1645, was succ ...

. The post of Adjutant-General is first recorded in 1673 and it was established on a permanent basis in the

English Army The ...

from 1680. For a time there were two Adjutants-General, one 'for the

Foot The foot ( : feet) is an anatomical structure found in many vertebrates. It is the terminal portion of a limb which bears weight and allows locomotion. In many animals with feet, the foot is a separate organ at the terminal part of the leg mad ...

' and one 'for the

Horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million yea ...

' until the two were consolidated into a single appointment 'of the Forces' in 1701. Until the passing of the respective Acts of Union there were Scottish and Irish Adjutants-General; on occasions a separate Adjutant-General would be appointed for deployments overseas; and the

Board of Ordnance The Board of Ordnance was a British government body. Established in the Tudor period, it had its headquarters in the Tower of London. Its primary responsibilities were 'to act as custodian of the lands, depots and forts required for the defence o ...

had an independent Adjutant-General and Deputy for the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers (respectively) until they were integrated into the British Army in the 1850s. In the 18th century the Adjutant-General was tasked with issuing orders to the Army, receiving monthly returns from the Regiments, regulation of officers' appointments and

leave of absence The labour law concept of leave, specifically paid leave or, in some countries' long-form, a leave of absence, is an authorised prolonged absence from work, for any reason authorised by the workplace. When people "take leave" in this way, they are ...

, and oversight of military reviews, exercises, manoeuvres and matters of discipline. By the early 1800s the Adjutant-General had responsibility for 'all subjects connected with the Discipline, Equipment and Efficiency of the Army'; the AG also took on general responsibility for recruitment at this time. A century later the AG is described as 'a general officer and at the head of his department of the War Office, which is charged with all duties relative to personnel'. In the 20th century the Adjutant-General was the Second Military Member of the Army Council and its successor the

Army Board The Army Board is the top single-service management committee of the British Army, and has always been staffed by senior politicians and soldiers. Until 1964 it was known as the Army Council. Membership of the Board The composition is as follo ...

. Headquarters Adjutant-General was latterly based at the former RAF Upavon, now known as Trenchard Lines,

Upavon Upavon is a rural village and civil parish in the county of Wiltshire, England. As its name suggests, it is on the upper portion of the River Avon which runs from north to south through the village. It is on the north edge of Salisbury Plain ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

. On 1 April 2008 it amalgamated with HQ Land Command to form HQ Land Forces under 'Project Hyperion'. In December 2009 it was announced that the responsibilities of the Commander Regional Forces (i.e. responsibility for support) would be subsumed within those of the Adjutant-General to the Forces who henceforth would take responsibility for both personnel and support. In 2015 the post was re-designated Commander Personnel and Support Command (renamed Commander Home Command the following year). In evidence to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

Defence Committee the

Chief of the General Staff The Chief of the General Staff (CGS) is a post in many armed forces (militaries), the head of the military staff. List * Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff ( United States) * Chief of the General Staff (Abkhazia) * Chief of General Staff (Af ...

explained: :"In my new operating model, I no longer have an Adjutant-General. The reason that I do not have an Adjutant-General is that effectively I am the Adjutant-General. People matter so much to me that I have put that at the heart of my agenda. I am the first CGS ever to have done that." (14 June 2016) The appointment of a Deputy Adjutant-General is first recorded in 1757, with Assistant Adjutants-General being appointed from 1806.

List of Adjutants-General to the Forces

Holders of the post include: *1743–1748 Colonel Charles Ingram *1763–1778 Lieutenant-General

Edward Harvey Admiral Sir Edward Harvey, (1783 – 4 May 1865) was an officer of the Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars and continued in the service during the first half of the nineteenth century during which he participated ...

*1778–1781 Lieutenant-General William Amherst *1781–1799 General Sir William Fawcett *1799–1820 Lieutenant-General Sir Harry Calvert *1820–1828 Major-General Sir Henry Torrens *1828–1830 Lieutenant-General Sir Herbert Taylor *1830–1850 Lieutenant-General Sir John Macdonald *1850–1853 General Sir George Brown *1853–1854 General Sir George Cathcart *1854–1860 General Sir George Weatherall *1860–1865 General Sir James Yorke Scarlett *1865–1870 General Lord William Paulet *1870–1876 General Sir Richard Airey *1876–1882 General Sir Charles Ellice *1882–1890 General Lord Wolseley *1882 Lieutenant-General Sir Richard Taylor *1890–1897 Lieutenant-General Sir Redvers Buller *1897–1901 Lieutenant-General Sir Evelyn Wood *1901–1904 Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Kelly-Kenny *1904–1909 Lieutenant-General

Sir Charles Douglas Charles Douglas may refer to: * Charles Douglas, 3rd Duke of Queensberry (1698–1778), Scottish nobleman * Charles Douglas, 6th Marquess of Queensberry (1777–1837), Scottish peer * Charles Douglas, 5th Lord Mordington 18th-century Scottish peer ...

*1909–1910 Lieutenant-General

Sir Ian Hamilton Sir Ian Standish Monteith Hamilton, (16 January 1853 – 12 October 1947) was a British Army general who had an extensive British Imperial military career in the Victorian and Edwardian eras. Hamilton was twice recommended for the Victoria Cro ...

*1910–1914 Lieutenant-General Sir Spencer Ewart *1914–1916 Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Sclater *1916–1918 Lieutenant-General Sir Nevil Macready *1918–1922 Lieutenant-General Sir George Macdonogh *1922–1923 Lieutenant-General Sir Philip Chetwode *1923–1927 Lieutenant-General Sir Robert Whigham *1927–1931 General Sir Walter Braithwaite *1931–1933 General Sir Archibald Montgomery-Massingberd *1933–1935 General Sir Cecil Romer *1935–1937 General Sir Harry Knox *1937–1939 General Sir Clive Liddell *1939–1940 General Sir Robert Gordon-Finlayson *1940–1941 Lieutenant-General Colville Wemyss *1941–1946 General Sir Ronald Forbes Adam *1946–1947 General Sir Richard O'Connor *1947–1950 General Sir James Steele *1950–1953 General Sir John Crocker *1953–1956 General Sir Cameron Nicholson *1956–1959 General Sir Charles Loewen *1959–1960 General Sir Hugh Stockwell *1960–1963 General Sir Richard Goodbody *1963–1964 General Sir James Cassels *1964–1967 General Sir Reginald Hewetson *1967–1970 General Sir Geoffrey Musson *1970–1973 General Sir John Mogg *1973–1976 General Sir Cecil Blacker *1976–1978 General Sir Jack Harman *1978–1981 General Sir Robert Ford *1981–1984 General Sir George Cooper *1984–1986 General Sir Roland Guy *1986–1988 General Sir David Mostyn *1988–1990 General Sir Robert Pascoe *1990–1993 General Sir David Ramsbotham *1993–1995 General Sir Michael Wilkes *1995–1997 General Sir Michael Rose *1997–2000 General Sir Alexander Harley *2000–2003 Lieutenant-General Sir Timothy Granville-Chapman *2003–2005 Lieutenant-General Sir Alistair Irwin *2005–2008 Lieutenant-General Sir Freddie Viggers *2008–2009 Lieutenant-General Sir William Rollo *2009–2012 Lieutenant-General Sir Mark Mans *2012–2015 Lieutenant-General Sir Gerald Berragan For subsequent equivalent appointments see Commander Home Command.

Deputy Adjutants-General to the Forces

*1900 to 1902

Major-General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

Joseph Henry Laye *1902 to 1903

Arthur Wynne Arthur Wynne (June 22, 1871January 14, 1945) was the British-born inventor of the modern crossword puzzle. Early life Arthur Wynne was born on June 22, 1871, in Liverpool, England, and lived on Edge Lane for a time. His father was the editor of ...

References

{{reflist
Regiments website
Senior appointments of the British Army War Office War Office in World War II

History

List of Adjutants-General to the Forces

Deputy Adjutants-General to the Forces

See also

References