The modern British army is governed by the Army Council (instituted 1904), presided over by the Secretary of State for War. This Council, which consists of five military and five civilian members, including the president, works through the War Office, of which the principal departments are in charge of one or other of the members of the Council. On the military side these departments are those of the Chief of the Imperial General Staff, the Adjutant-General to the Forces, the Quartermaster-General to the Forces, and the Master-General of the Ordnance. For administrative and training purposes the United Kingdom is divided into seven Commands and the London District. When necessary, Commands are further subdivided into Districts. The army, generally speaking, consists of (1) the Regular Army, (2) the Territorial Force, and (3) the Reserves. The service battalions, which formed such a large and important part of the army in the war, do not, properly speaking, form part of the permanent military forces, though the organization of the army as a whole is such that it is capable of expansion to any extent by the process of raising new battalions and affiliating them to existing regular or territorial units. The regular army comprises the Household Cavalry, Cavalry of the Line, the Royal Regiment of Artillery, the Corps of Royal Engineers, the Brigade of Guards, and Infantry of the Line. In addition there are administrative troops and services such as the Royal Army Service Corps, the Royal Army Medical Corps, with its allied service Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service, the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, and others. Other corps brought into existence during the war, such as the Tank and Machine-gun Corps, have at present no permanent status. In the future, however, machine-gun companies will form an integral portion of each battalion of the regular army.
Under the conditions of the war the old national method of voluntary recruitment was
found to be insufficient, and recourse was had to the principle of universal military service. Under the Military Service Acts the age limit was gradually raised till it finally included all men up to the age of fifty. Exceptions were made in the case of munition-workers, or those employed on work of national importance. Since the signature of the Treaty of Peace the army so raised was gradually demobilized till, by 31st March, 1920, it had decreased to 400,000, including 100,000 Indians paid by the Imperial Government. Concurrently with demobilization, voluntary enlistment was reintroduced, and the post-war army is once more a voluntary one, in which men serve under very much improved conditions as to pay and prospects. The period of service under this system is twelve years, of which seven normally are with the colours and five in the reserve: in certain cases modifications of these periods are allowed, and, in addition, a soldier may be allowed to extend his colour service to the full twelve years, or, in exceptional cases, to complete twenty-one years for pension. Discharge or transfer to the reserve is ordinarily granted on completion of the agreed period of service. Pay of all ranks was very materially improved in 1919. Whereas formerly a private soldier on enlistment received 1s. a day, he now receives 2s. 9d., and after two years' service 3s. 6d. To this last amount is added, under very reasonable conditions, a further daily sum of 6d. proficiency pay. A sergeant now gets 7s. a day instead of from 2s. 4d. to 3s. 4d., and a regimental sergeant-major 14s. instead of 5s. or 6s. Add to these rates of pay free rations, free housing, free medical attendance, and, in the future, doubtless free education, and it must be admitted that the present-day soldier is not badly paid. The rate of pay is a flat rate for all arms, special allowances being given where necessary.
The Household Cavalry comprises the 1st and 2nd Life Guards and the Horse Guards (Blues). In peace-time they serve only in London and Windsor. They alone retain the old cavalry rank of corporal of horse instead of sergeant. Cavalry of the line consists of dragoon guards, dragoons, hussars, and lancers. The dragoon guards are numbered separately from 1 to 7, while dragoons, hussars, and lancers run consecutively from 1 to 21. A regiment of cavalry is commanded by a lieutenant-colonel and consists of 25 officers and 497 other ranks. Each regiment is organized in three squadrons commanded by majors, while a squadron is divided into four troops, each under a subaltern officer, troops being further subdivided into sections under non-commissioned officers. Cavalry regiments, except hussars, carry guidons or standards for ceremonial purposes. These differ from the colours of infantry in that they are not consecrated and are carried by non-commissioned officers instead of by officers. Hussars carry no standards. There are six cavalry depots for recruiting and preliminary-training purposes, i.e. for lancers at Woolwich, hussars at Scarborough, Bristol, and Dublin, and dragoons at Newport (Mon.) and Dunbar. The Cavalry Special Reserve consists of the Irish Horse and King Edward's Horse, and during the war reserve cavalry regiments were maintained.
The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises batteries of horse artillery designated by letters of the alphabet, and batteries of field, siege, heavy, and mountain by numbers. A battery, with some exceptions in the case of the heaviest type, consists of six guns or howitzers, horse artillery having 13-pounder guns, and field artillery 18-pounder guns or 4.5-inch howitzers. Horse artillery is intended to act with cavalry, and is therefore provided with a rather lighter gun. It can go anywhere that cavalry can go, and all the gun detachments are mounted. Field artillery works with infantry, and the gun detachments either walk or are carried on the limbers, only the officers, certain non-commissioned officers, and specialists such as scouts, range-finders, and trumpeters being mounted.
A battery is commanded by a major, with a captain as second-in-command, and is organized in three sections of two guns each under a subaltern. These sections are again subdivided into subsections of one gun each under a sergeant. Each gun is drawn by six horses, the driver of the leading pair being responsible for direction and pace. A corporal in the Royal Artillery is known as a bombardier, and the rank and file as gunners or drivers, according to their special duties, though drivers are also trained to some extent as gunners.
Heavy and siege artillery have come into their own in the late war, and consist roughly of all armament heavier than that of field artillery. Sixty-pounders and 4.7-inch howitzers form heavy batteries, while guns of 6 inch and upwards drawn by mechanical transport or mounted on railway trucks are known as siege batteries. Mountain artillery, of which most of the batteries are in India, is armed with 2.95-inch screw guns capable of being dismantled and carried piecemeal on mules. Another form is found on the west coast of Africa, where carriers take the place of mules. These guns are brought into action very quickly, but their shell-power is small.
The corps of Royal Engineers is responsible for the construction and maintenance of barracks, fortifications, and other military works, and for the personnel required for search-lights and electrical communications of the coast and anti-aircraft defences. With few exceptions the personnel of the corps is recruited entirely from
skilled tradesmen and artisans. For service in the field, Royal Engineer units known as field squadrons and field companies accompany the fighting troops, and carry a certain amount of bridging material and tools. More highly specialized units carry out such services as mining, heavy bridging, railway, survey, and sound-ranging work. An important feature of Royal Engineer work in war is the supply of materials and stores, for which purpose an elaborate organization is provided in addition to the units already noted.
The Brigade of Guards—the infantry of the household troops—comprises the five regiments of foot-guards. These are the Grenadier, the Coldstream, the Scots, the Irish, and the Welsh Guards of from one to three battalions each. Being household troops these regiments are subject to certain special regulations and have certain privileges. As a general rule they serve only in London, Windsor, or Aldershot, and only leave England for active service, though individual battalions have served in the past both in Cairo and Gibraltar.