_(St_Edwards_Crown).svg) Royal Coat of Arms as used by HM Government | |
 | |
| Department overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1857; 168 years ago (1857) |
| Preceding Department |
|
| Dissolved | 1964; 61 years ago (1964) |
| Superseding Department |
|
| Jurisdiction | Government of the United Kingdom |
| Headquarters | War Office building Whitehall London 51°30′20″N0°07′33″W / 51.50556°N 0.12583°W /51.50556; -0.12583 (Old War Office building of the United Kingdom, 1857–1964) |
| Department executive | |
| Parent Department | HM Government |
TheWar Office has referred to several British government organisations throughout history, all relating to the army. It was adepartment of the British Government responsible for the administration of theBritish Army between 1857 and 1964, at which point its functions were transferred to the newMinistry of Defence (MoD).[1] It was equivalent to theAdmiralty at that time, which was responsible for theRoyal Navy (RN), and (much later) theAir Ministry, which oversaw theRoyal Air Force (RAF). The name 'Old War Office' is also given to the former home of the department, located at the junction ofHorse Guards Avenue andWhitehall in centralLondon. The landmark building was sold on 1 March 2016 byHM Government for more than£350 million, on a 250-year lease for conversion into a luxury hotel and residential apartments.
Prior to 1855, 'War Office' signified the office of theSecretary at War. In the 17th and 18th centuries, a number of independent offices and individuals were responsible for various aspects of Army administration. The most important were theCommander-in-Chief of the Forces, theSecretary at War, and the twinSecretaries of State; most of whose military responsibilities were passed to a newSecretary of State for War in 1794. Others who performed specialist functions were thecontroller of army accounts, theArmy Medical Board, theCommissariat Department, the Board of General Officers, theJudge Advocate General of the Armed Forces, the Commissary General ofMuster, thePaymaster General of the forces, and (particularly with regard to theMilitia) theHome Office.[1]
The termWar Department was initially used for the separate office of the Secretary of State for War; in 1855, the offices of Secretary at War and Secretary of State for War were merged, and thereafter the terms War Office and War Department were used somewhat interchangeably.[2]
The War Office developed from theCouncil of War, anad hoc grouping of the King and his senior military commanders which managed theKingdom of England's wars and campaigns. The management of the War Office was directed initially by theSecretary at War, whose role had originated during the reign ofKing Charles II as the secretary to theCommander-in-Chief of the Army. In the latter part of the 17th century, the office of Commander-in-Chief was vacant for several periods, which left the Secretary at War answering directly to the Sovereign; and thereafter, even when the office of Commander-in-Chief was restored on a more permanent basis, the Secretary at War retained his independence.[2]
The department of the Secretary at War was referred to as the 'Warr Office' (sic) from as early as 1694;[2] its foundation has traditionally been ascribed toWilliam Blathwayt, who had accompaniedKing William III during theNine Years' War and who, from his appointment as Secretary in 1684, had greatly expanded the remit of his office to cover general day-to-day administration of the Army.[3]
After Blathwayt's retirement in 1704, Secretary at War became a political office. In political terms, it was a fairly minor government job (despite retaining a continued right of access to the monarch) which dealt with the minutiae of administration, rather than grand strategy. The Secretary, who was usually a member of the House of Commons, routinely presented the House with the Army Estimates, and occasionally spoke on other military matters as required. In symbolic terms, he was seen as signifying parliamentary control over the Army. Issues of strategic policy during wartime were managed by theNorthern andSouthern Departments (the predecessors of today'sForeign Office andHome Office).[4]
From 1704 to 1855, the post of Secretary remained occupied by a minister of the second rank (although he was occasionally part of the Cabinet after 1794). Many of his responsibilities were transferred to theSecretary of State for War after the creation of that more senior post in 1794 (though the latter was also responsible for Britain's colonies from 1801, and renamedSecretary of State for War and the Colonies, an arrangement which only ceased with the establishment of theColonial Office in 1854).[5]
From 1824, theBritish Empire (exceptingIndia, which was administered separately by theEast India Company and then theIndia Office) was divided by the War and Colonial Office into the following administrative departments:[6]
North America
West Indies
Mediterranean and Africa
Eastern Colonies
The War Office, after 1854 and until the 1867confederation of theDominion of Canada, was to split the military administration of the British Empire much as the War and Colonial Office had:[7]
| District | Station |
|---|---|
| North America and North Atlantic | |
| West Indies | |
| Mediterranean | |
| West Coast of Africa and South Atlantic | |
| South Africa |
|
| Egypt and the Sudan (Soudan) |
|
| Indian Ocean |
|
| Australasia | |
| China | Hong Kong |
** Indicates anImperial Fortress
† Bermuda and Halifax were linked, under the Commander-in-Chief at Halifax, with units and strength at Bermuda included in figures for Halifax
In February 1855, the new Secretary of State for War was additionally commissioned as Secretary at War, thus giving the Secretary of State oversight of the War Office in addition to his own department. The same procedure was followed for each of his successors, until the office of Secretary at War was abolished altogether in 1863.[8]
In 1855, theBoard of Ordnance was abolished as a result of its perceived poor performance during theCrimean War. This powerful independent body, dating from the 15th century, had been directed by theMaster-General of the Ordnance, usually a very senior military officer who (unlike the Secretary at War) was often a member of the Cabinet. The disastrous campaigns of the Crimean War resulted in the consolidation of all administrative duties in 1855 as subordinate to the Secretary of State for War, a Cabinet job.[9] He was not, however, solely responsible for the Army; the Commander-in-Chief had a virtually equal degree of responsibility. This was reduced in theory bythe reforms introduced byEdward Cardwell in 1870, which subordinated the Commander-in-Chief to the Secretary for War. In practice, however, a large influence was retained by the conservative Commander-in-Chief Field MarshalPrince George, 2nd Duke of Cambridge, who held the post between 1856 and 1895. His resistance to reform caused military efficiency to lag well behind that of Britain's rivals, a problem that became obvious during theSecond Boer War. The situation was only remedied in 1904, when the job of Commander-in-Chief was abolished, and replaced with that of theChief of the General Staff, which was replaced by the job ofChief of the Imperial General Staff in 1908. AnArmy Council was created with a format similar to that of theBoard of Admiralty, directed by the Secretary of State for War, and anImperial General Staff was established to coordinate Army administration. The creation of the Army Council was recommended by the War Office (Reconstitution) Committee, and formally appointed byLetters Patent dated 8 February 1904, and byRoyal Warrant dated 12 February 1904.[10]
The management of the War Office was hampered by persistent disputes between the civilian and military parts of the organisation. The government ofH.H. Asquith attempted to resolve this during theFirst World War by appointingLord Kitchener as Secretary for War.[11] During his tenure, theImperial General Staff was virtually dismantled. Its role was replaced effectively by theCommittee of Imperial Defence, which debated broader military issues.[12]
The War Office decreased greatly in importance after the First World War, a fact illustrated by the drastic reductions of its staff numbers during the inter-war period. Its responsibilities and funding were also reduced. In 1936, the government ofStanley Baldwin appointed a Minister for Co-ordination of Defence, who was not part of the War Office. WhenWinston Churchill became Prime Minister in 1940, he bypassed the War Office altogether, and appointed himself Minister of Defence (though there was, curiously, noministry of defence until 1947).[13]Clement Attlee continued this arrangement when he came to power in 1945, but appointed a separate Minister of Defence for the first time in 1947. In 1964, the present form of theMinistry of Defence was established, unifying the War Office, Admiralty, and Air Ministry.[14]
As early as 1718 letters from the Secretary at War were addressed from "The War Office". His department had several headquarters in London until it settled atHorse Guards inWhitehall during 1722. It remained there until 1858. Then, following the dissolution of the Board of Ordnance, the War Office moved into the Board's former offices inCumberland House,Pall Mall. Over the ensuing years it expanded into adjacent properties on Pall Mall before it was relocated to purpose-built accommodation, in what is now known as the Old War Office Building, in 1906.[15]
Between 1906 and its abolition in 1964 the War Office was based in a largeneo-Baroque building designed byWilliam Young, completed during 1906, and located on Horse Guards Avenue at its junction withWhitehall in Central London. The construction of the building required five years to complete, at a cost of more than 1.2 million pounds.[16] The building is somewhat oddly shaped, forming atrapezoid in order to maximise the use of the irregularly shaped plot of land on which it was built: its four distinctive domes were designed as a decorative means of disguising the shape.[16] It has around 1,100 rooms on seven floors.[17]
After 1964 the building continued to be used, under the name The Old War Office, by theMinistry of Defence.[16]
On 1 June 2007 the building, other than the steps that give access to it, was designated as a protected site for the purposes of Section 128 of theSerious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005. The effect was to make it a specific criminal offence for a person totrespass on the building.[18]
In August 2013 it was announced that the building would be sold on the open market, with a goal of realising offers above 100 million pounds.[19] On 13 December 2014 the Ministry of Defence confirmed that the building would be sold to theHinduja Group for an undisclosed amount.[20] The building's sale was completed on 1 March 2016 for more than 350 million pounds, on a 250-year lease, to the Hinduja Group (in partnership withOHL Developments) for conversion to a luxury hotel and residential apartments.[17] The Hinduja Group andRaffles Hotels opened the hotel, named Raffles London at The OWO, in 2023.[21][22]
The War Office departments were as follows:[23]
This article contains text from this source, which is available under theOpen Government Licence v3.0. © Crown copyright
