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The Cardwell Reforms refer to a series of reforms of the British Army undertaken by Secretary of State for War (and former soldier) Edward Cardwell between 1868 and 1874. The British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. The position of Secretary of State for War, commonly called War Secretary, was a British Cabinet -level position first applied to Henry Dundas Edward Cardwell 1st Viscount Cardwell, PC ( 24 July 1813 &ndash 15 February 1886) was a prominent British Politician Year 1868 ( MDCCCLXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap Year 1874 ( MDCCCLXXIV) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common

Contents

Background

The starting point was a Royal Commission in 1858, established in the aftermath of the Crimean War, under Jonathan Peel, then Secretary of State for War. The term Royal Commission may also be used in the United Kingdom to describe the group of Lords Commissioners who may act in the stead of the The Crimean War, also known in Russia as the Eastern War (Восточная война Vostochnaya Vojna) (March 1854–February 1856 was fought Jonathan Peel ( 12 October 1799 &ndash 13 February 1879) was a British soldier Conservative politician and racehorse In addition to the obvious instances of incompetence and maladministration which had been revealed, it was evident that the provision of an army of only 25,000 in the Crimea had stripped Britain of almost every trained soldier. The lesson was reinforced by the Indian Mutiny, which once again required almost the entire usable British Army to suppress. The Indian Rebellion of 1857 began as a mutiny of Sepoys of British East India Company 's army on the 10th of May 1857 in the town of Meerut,

The Commission reported in 1862, but few of its lessons were immediately implemented. Year 1862 was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting on Monday The main obstacle had been objections by the defunct British East India Company and its executors, who wished to maintain their own military establishment, and by the "die-hards", senior officers who opposed almost any reform on principle. The Honourable East India Company ( HEIC) referred to most commonly as the East India Company, also historically and colloquially as John Company, or The phrase die hard was first used during the Peninsular war to describe the 57th Regiment of Foot (Middlesex regiment The arch-conservatives among the Army's officers were led by the Commander in Chief, Prince George, Duke of Cambridge, who was Queen Victoria's cousin, and:

". Prince George Duke of Cambridge (George William Frederick Charles 26 March 1819 &ndash 17 March 1904) was a member of the British Royal Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901 was from 20 June 1837 the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland . . almost the last of the typically Hanoverian characters thrown up by the English ruling dynasty, and derived his ideas on drill and discipline from Butcher Cumberland and the Prussian school of Frederick the Great. The Prince William Duke of Cumberland (William Augustus Style and New Style dates|N Frederick II (Friedrich II January 24 1712 August 17 1786) was a King of Prussia (1740&ndash1786 from the " [1]

On August 2, 1870 Parliament voted for 20,000 additional men for the army and two million pounds on a vote of credit. Events 338 BC - A Macedonian army led by Philip II defeated the combined forces of Athens and Thebes in the Year 1870 ( MDCCCLXX) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories This was followed by one of the most successful military pamphlets to appear in all Victorian England,[2] The Battle of Dorking, written by Colonel (later General) Sir George Chesney, head of the Indian Civil Engineering College. The Battle of Dorking is a 1871 novel of the genre which has been termed Invasion literature. Sir George Tomkyns Chesney, KCB, CSI, CIE ( April 30 1830 &ndash March 31 1895) British Army general The Royal Indian Engineering College was a British college of Civil Engineering founded by Sir George Tomkyns Chesney in 1870. This work raised the idea that, despite the acts of Parliament during the previous year in regard to the military, Britain faced the possibility of a German invasion.

Edward Cardwell, protégé of William Ewart Gladstone and Secretary of State for War since 1868, was determined not merely to update the British military but to reform it as well. Both were to be an uphill battle, but the need was great. Even the hard lessons of the Crimea had, by this time, been dismissed, ignored, or forgotten, leaving critical needs unmet. As British historican R. C. K. Ensor wrote about that era:

"If. . . [no] criticism had made headway, it was that England had no notion of the art of war. British officers were expected to be gentlemen and sportsmen; but outside the barrack-yard they were. . . 'entirely wanting in military knowledge'. The lack of it was deemed no drawback, since Marlborough's and Wellington's officers got along without it. Only the rise of the Prussian military. . . availed to shake this complacency. " [3]

First reforms

Cardwell set about with three initial reforms:

Army Enlistment Act

As his first major legislative step towards military reform, Cardwell introduced the Army Enlistment (Short Service) Act (1870),[4] which reached the floor of the House of Commons in late spring, 1870. The House of Commons' is the Lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords

From the end of the Napoleonic Wars until 1847, men were enlisted for twenty-one years, practically for life. The Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815 involved Napoleon's French Empire and a shifting set of European allies and opposing coalitions Year 1847 ( MDCCCXLVII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common This too was part of the Wellingtonian system. Together with flogging, it had given the army its character of a prison. A shortfall in Army numbers had resulted in the Limited Service Act (1847), under which enlistment was for ten years, later increased to twelve; but this was still too long. On completion of their enlistment, soldiers had the choice between accepting discharge without pension or signing on for a further ten- or twelve-year term. If they chose the latter they would be rewarded with two months furlough, another enlistment bounty, and a pension on completion of their term. After many years with no trade other than that of soldiering, more than half of all discharged soldiers chose to re-enlist immediately. Of those who took a voluntarily discharge, fully one in five signed on again within six months.

The Army's existing system of enlistment therefore produced an army of experienced or even veteran soldiers, but no class of reserves which could be recalled to serve in case of a national emergency. The lesson of the Franco-Prussian war was the absolute necessity of a trustworthy army reserve of well trained men in good health and vigour. The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War ( 19 July, 1870 — 10 May, 1871 A military reserve force is a military organization Almost every British soldier served more than half his enlistment abroad, most often in tropical climates such as India. The Tropics are centered on the Equator and limited in Latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere at approximately 23°26' (23 India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country After returning to Britain their physique was seldom good.

Cardwell therefore brought before Parliament the idea of "short service". The Act of 1870 allowed a soldier to choose to spend time in the reserves rather than the regulars and be paid fourpence a day, in return for a short period of training each year and an obligation to serve when called up. Men now enlisted for a maximum term of twelve years, but usually for six. The minimum length of service varied, but on discharge a soldier would now remain with the reserves for the remainder of the twelve-year term.

There was opposition to short-term enlistment both in Parliament and among the Army's senior officers. The Queen is said to have signed the Act into Law "most reluctantly",[5] but the system worked, producing an immediate increase in the army's strength.

Localisation scheme

Cardwell then passed the comprehensive Regularisation of the Forces Act (1871). Previously, soldiers had enlisted for General Service, and were liable to be drafted into any regiment regardless of their own preferences, another factor which had made service harsh and unpopular. It had been recognised as early as 1829 by Lord Palmerston that:

". For the game see 1829 (board game. Year 1829 ( MDCCCXXIX) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display "Lord Palmerston" and "Henry Temple" redirect here . . there is a great disinclination on the part of the lower orders to enlist for general service; they like to know that they are to be in a certain regiment, connected, perhaps, with their own county, and their own friends, and with officers who have established a connection with that district. There is a preference frequently on the part of the people for one regiment as opposed to another, and I should think there would be found a great disinclination in men to enlist for general service, and to be liable to be drafted and sent to any corps or station. " [6]

Nevertheless, the Army had insisted for years that it could be administered only on the basis of General Service.

Under Cardwell's localisation scheme, the country was divided into 66 Brigade Districts (later renamed Regimental Districts), based on county boundaries and population density. All line infantry regiments would now consist of two battalions , sharing a Depot and associated recruiting area. A regiment is a Military unit, composed of a variable number of Battalions – commanded by a Colonel. A battalion is a Military unit of around 500-1500 men usually consisting of between two and seven companies and typically commanded by a Lieutenant Colonel Etymology The word bases is first recorded in English language from c One battalion would serve overseas, while the other was stationed at home for training. The Militia of that area then (usually) became the third battalion. The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary Citizens to provide defense emergency law enforcement or Paramilitary service

The senior twenty-five regiments of the line already consisted of two battalions, but almost all the higher-numbered regiments had only one battalion. Many regiments were amalgamated to produced two-battalion regiments, a complicated internal process involving much debate over regimental traditions and seniority which was not finally completed until the ensuing Childers Reforms. The Childers Reforms restructured the Infantry Regiments of the British army. Nevertheless, Cardwell's measures quickly produced far more cohesive and homogenous units.

Other reforms

In addition to his two major pieces of legislation, Cardwell also introduced a number of reforms through Orders in Council or other Statutory Instruments. An Order-in-Council is a type of legislation in Commonwealth Realms. In Law, a Statutory Instrument is a form of delegated or Secondary legislation.

Cardwell also reformed the administration of the War Office, preventing infighting and bickering between the various departments and abolishing the separate administration of the Reserves and Volunteers. The War Office was a former department of the British Government, responsible for the administration of the British Army between the 17th century and 1963 when The defence policy of Canada, Australia and New Zealand was devolved to those dominions, and several small garrisons were replaced by locally-raised units.

These reforms started to turn British forces into an effective Imperial force. A change of government put Cardwell out of office in 1874, but his reforms stayed in place despite attempts from the Regular Army to abolish them and return to the comfortable and familiar old post-1815 situation.

Further reforms of the British Army

Footnotes

  1. ^ McElwee, p. 73
  2. ^ Ensor (1936), p. 7
  3. ^ Ensor (1936), p. 10
  4. ^ Ensor (1936), p. 16
  5. ^ Williamson, p. 107
  6. ^ McElwee, p. 79

References

See also

This is a list of numbered Regiments of Foot of the British Army. This is a list of British Army cavalry and infantry regiments that were created by Childers reforms in 1881, a continuation of the Cardwell reforms The Cabinet The British Army came into being with unification of the Kingdoms of England and Scotland into the United Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707
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