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.
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[edit] Background
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 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 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 (who included the Commander in Chief, the Duke of Cambridge).
[edit] Army Enlistment Act
He introduced an Army Enlistment Act(1870), restricting recruitment to an initial maximum of twelve years. Previously, under the terms of the Limited Service Act (1847), soldiers had enlisted for ten years, later increased to twelve, in the infantry and twelve in the cavalry. They then had the choice between accepting discharge without pension or signing on for a further term, being rewarded with two months furlough, another enlistment bounty and a pension on completion of their term. More than half of all discharged soldiers chose to sign back on immediately, while around one in five who were discharged signed on again within six months. While this produced a long-service army of veterans, it provided no class of men who could be summoned back to the colours in case of emergency.
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. The minimum time for which a soldier had to serve in the regulars varied, but was generally about three years; a soldier obviously had to be fully proficient before being released to the reserves.
[edit] Localisation Scheme
Then he passed the comprehensive Regularization of the Forces Act (1871). Under a localisation scheme, the country was divided into 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.
[edit] 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 of 1871 abolished some little-used disciplinary practices such as branding, although the "die-hards" succeeded in retaining flogging for another ten years.
Units were placed on the same establishment whether serving at home or overseas. (To an extent, this was made possible by steamship transport and the Suez Canal.) Units serving overseas had previously had a larger establishment, to cater for losses to disease or climate which would be hard to replace, but this left the units at home chronically understrength. With the separate establishments removed, the home units could now be used to form an effective expeditiionary force.
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, 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.
[edit] Further Reforms of the British Army
- Further reforms were undertaken by Secretary of State for War Hugh Childers in 1881.
- 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.
[edit] References
- William McElwee, The Art of War, Waterloo to Mons, Purnell, London, 1974
