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St. John Brodrick and Army Reform, 1901–1903

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 January 2014

Lowell J. Satre
Lowell J. Satre*
Affiliation:
Youngstown State University, Ohio
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Extract

Edwardian England has become an increasingly significant period for scholarly research. One of the more carefully examined subjects is the interrelationship between politics and army reform. The debacles of the South African War forced the governments to examine England's army, and reforms emerged after 1901. Historians have concentrated on the efforts of Balfour's administration of 1902-05 and Haldane's sojourn at the War Office from 1906 to 1912; these periods witnessed the emergence of the Committee of Imperial Defence and the reorganization of the War Office, the shaping of the General Staff and the development of the British Expeditionary Force. All of these have been subjected to detailed examination — notably, the C. I. D. in recent works by Peter Fraser and Nicholas d'Ombrain, and the War Office by W. S. Hamer.

There is, however, at least one gap in the historical literature on politics and army reform: St. John Brodrick's term as Secretary of State for War, 1901-03. An understanding of Brodrick's activities is necessary, since he was, of course, the first War Secretary to attempt reforms as a response to the obvious shortcomings of the army in the South African War. A careful examination will explain why he failed in many of his programs, the political consequences of these failures, and some of his more positive contributions.

The breakdown of the British army in the first few months of the South African War, which began in October 1899 and ended in May 1902, shocked and dismayed both the public and the Government.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of British Studies , Volume 15 , Issue 2 , Spring 1976 , pp. 117 - 139
Copyright
Copyright © North American Conference of British Studies 1976

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References

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72. GRO, Hicks Beach to Brodrick, Jan. 9, 1902, Hicks Beach Papers, PCC/85. Brodrick carried his proposals in a Cabinet meeting of Jan. 24, 1902, by a small majority of eleven to eight. Salisbury to the King, Jan. 24, 1902, in PRO, Cabinet Letters (microfilm collection, University of South Carolina), CAB 41/27/2.

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87. The articles appeared on the following days: Jan. 21, 23, 27, 29; Feb. 3, 4, 11, 17, 21, 23, 24.

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92. BM, Asquith to Herbert Gladstone, Feb. 9, 1903, Gladstone Papers, Add. MS 45988.

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96. IO, Hamilton to Curzon, Feb. 27, 1901, ibid.

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101. The maintenance of a large permanent garrison in South Africa had been included in Amery's reform plan; he had a substantial correspondence with Milner and Chamberlain on the issue; see several letters, New College, Oxford, Amery to Milner, Feb.-June, 1903, Milner Papers, vol. 33. Among the many interesting sources on this issue are Joseph Chamberlain's “Notes on a Proposal to Keep 30,000 Men in South Africa as a Part of the Home Establishment,” dated April 11, 1903, Cabinet Papers, CAB 37/64, No. 23, and an explanation of this crisis by Brodrick, sent to Austen Chamberlain, Sept. 14, 1920, University of Birmingham, Chamberlain MSS, JC 18/12/56.

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108. Ibid., 195.

109. Ibid., 200; and ibid., XLI, 347.

110. Report of the Commission on the War in South Africa, in ibid., XL, 83.

111. BM, Sanders to Balfour, Oct. 29, 1903, Balfour Papers, Add. MS 49761; IO, Ian Malcolm to Curzon, Oct. 6, 1903, Curzon Papers, Eur. MSS, F. 111/225; Griffith-Boscawen, , Fourteen Years, p. 282Google Scholar.

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116. For these developments, see especially Fraser, Esher; d'Ombrain, War Machinery; Tucker, , “The Issue of Army Reform in the Unionist Government, 1903-5,” Historical Journal, IXGoogle Scholar; and Bond, , Victorian Army, pp. 212–29Google Scholar. Of some value is Judd's, DenisBalfour and the British Empire; A Study in Imperial Evolution, 1874-1932 (New York, 1968)Google Scholar.

117. Brodrick played a minor role in the creation of the C. I. D. This committee gained some impetus for its formation from the 1902 Colonial Conference, when the imperial defense policies were at variance. This lack of coordinated policy led Brodrick and the First Lord of the Admiralty (spurred on by a memorandum submitted to Selborne by his Parliamentary Secretary Arnold-Forster) to threaten resignation unless Balfour created some type of authority to coordinate the two defense departments. Balfour, at first reluctant, soon responded by setting up a new Cabinet Defence Committee (a forerunner of the C. I. D.) for studying the broad strategical problems of defense. Fraser, , Esher, p. 85Google Scholar; d'Ombrain, , War Machinery, p. 27Google Scholar; Johnson, Franklyn A., Defence by Committee: The British Committee of Imperial Defence, 1885-1959 (London, 1960), pp. 50–54Google Scholar.

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119. For some idea of Haldane's personality and his great intellectual powers, see his An Autobiography (Garden City, New York, 1929)Google Scholar, Sommer, Dudley, Haldane of Cloan: His Life and Times, 1856-1928 (London, 1960)Google Scholar, and Koss, Stephen E., Lord Haldane, Scapegoat for Liberalism (New York, 1969)Google Scholar.

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121. Esher, who did not think very highly of Brodrick's reform efforts, saw the first army corps as his greatest achievement; Fraser, , Esher, p. 121Google Scholar.