Cardwell Reforms
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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 starting point was a Royal Commission in 1858, established in the aftermath of the Crimean War, under Jonathan Peel, the Secretary of State for War. In addition to the obvious instances of incompetence and misadministration, 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 Commission reported in 1862, but few of its lessons were immediately implemented. 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 "die-hards", senior officers who opposed almost any reform on principle.
Cardwell pushed through his reforms in spite of opposition from such officers. He introduced an Army Enlistment Act(1870), restricting recruitment to an initial maximum of twelve years. This replaced enlistment for life, which had produced a large number of soldiers too old and debilitated by disease and climate to serve in the field.
Then he passed the comprehensive Regularization of the Forces Act (1871). Under a localisation scheme, the country was divided in 66 Brigade Districts (later renamed to Regimental Districts), based on county boundaries and population density. Then he merged single battalion regiments into two-battalion regiments, both sharing a Depot and associated recruiting area. One battalion would serve overseas, while the other was garrisoned at home for training. The Militia of that area then (usually) became the third battalion. In addition the sale of commissions was abolished, as were the subaltern ranks of cavalry Cornet and infantry Ensign, replaced with Second Lieutenant.
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 defence policy of Canada, Australia and New Zealand was devolved to those dominions. 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.
[edit] Further Reforms of the British Army
- Further reforms were undertaken by Secretary of State for War Hugh Childers in 1881.
- The
- The Haldane reforms.
- The Infantry is currently undertaking similar reforms that will see nearly all regiments with at least two battalions as part of modern development.
