The '''Esher Report''' of [[1904]], chaired by [[Reginald Brett, 2nd Viscount Esher|Lord Esher]], recommended radical reform of the [[British Army]], such as the creation of an [[Army Council]], a [[General Staff]] and the abolition of the office of [[Commander-in-Chief of the Forces]] and the creation of a [[British General Staff|Chief of the General Staff]], laid down the character of the Army which has endured.

==Background==
The [[Second Boer War]] of [[1899]]-[[1902]] exposed weakness and inefficiency in the British Army and demonstrated how isolated Britain was from the rest of the world. The war had only been won by leaving Britain defenceless on land. In [[1900]] [[Imperial Germany]] began to build a battlefleet and due to industrial growth had already overtaken Britain's economic lead in [[Europe]]. Under [[Hugh Oakeley Arnold-Forster]] at the [[War Office]] the Report of the [[War Office]] (Reconsitution) [[Committee]] was set up to look into reform of the Army. It was chaired by Lord Esher and had two other members; Admiral Sir [[John Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher|John Fisher]] and Colonel Sir [[George Clarke]]. The Esher Report was published successively in February and March 1904.

==The Committee and its Recommendations==
The Committee took evidence in private and its Report was in three parts. It analysed the complex arrangements and inefficiencies of the Army administration and the three essential recommendations of the Report were:

* an [[Army Council]] modelled on the [[Board of Admiralty]]. This was designed as a single collective body to analyse and decide upon issues connected to policy and so end the confusion of the responsibilities of the [[Secretary of State for War]], the [[Adjutant-General]] and the [[Quartermaster General]]. The War Secretary was to have the same power as the [[First Lord of the Admiralty]] and all military topics submitted to [[the Crown]] would go through him. This would increase civil and parliamentary control over the Army. Also recommended was that the Council would be made up of seven members. These were to be the Secretary of State for War, the First Military Member (with responsibility for [[Military operation|operations]] and military policy), the Second Military Member (with responsibility for [[Military recruitment|recruitment]] and [[Military courtesy|discipline]]), the Third Military Member (with responsibility for [[Matériel|supply]] and [[transport]]), the Fourth Military Member (with responsibility for [[armaments]] and [[fort]]ifications), a Civil Member (who would be the [[Parliamentary Under-Secretary]] with responsibility for civil business other than finance) and another Civil Member (the [[Financial Secretary]]). It was recommended that this Council should meet frequently and decide matters by majority vote.

* a [[British General Staff|General Staff]] with its [[Chief of the General Staff|Chief]] having the responbility for preparing the Army for war. The post of [[Commander-in-Chief of the Forces]] was to be abolished. The duties of the General Staff were to be shared by a Director of Military Operations, a Director of Staff Duties and a Director of Military Training.

* the [[War Office]] was to be radically reorganised on rational grounds. The British Army had previously grown since [[1660]] not by grand design but through piecemeal additions and reforms. The administration inside the War Office was to be divided between the Chief of the General Staff, the Adjutant-General, the Quartermaster-General and the [[Master-General of the Ordnance]]. The Adjutant-General was given overall responsibility for the welfare and maintenance of the [[soldier]]s. Under him would be a Director of Recruiting and Organisation, a Director of Personal Services, a Director-General of [[Medical]] Services and a Director of [[Auxiliary]] Services. The previous office of [[Judge-Advocate-General]] was to be replaced with a [[Judge-Advocate]] with more limited power. Apart from [[manufacture]], all parts of the process of material supply would be put under the Quartermaster-General. His department subordinates would be a Director of Transport and Remounts, a Director of Movements and Quartering, a Director of Supplies and [[Clothing]] and a Director of [[Equipment]] and Ordnance Stores. The Master-General of the Ordnance's subordinates would be a Director of [[Artillery]], a [[Naval]] Adviser and a Director of Fortifications and Works.

This rationalisation was recommended by the Report to be implemented throughout the Army. The Report also claimed that policy and administration had become too centralised in the War Office to the detriment of initiative. Administrative disctricts were recommended which would have responsibility for organisation and therefore leave [[commanders]] of field units free to train for war.

==Publication of the Esher Reforms==
The King, [[Edward VII]], welcomed the Report and urged the [[Arthur James Balfour|Balfour]] [[British Government|Government]] to accept its recommendations, which they did. However some in the Army were wary of its recommendations and [[Horatio Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener|Lord Kitchener]] was against it. After [[Richard Haldane]] became War Secretary for the [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal]] [[Henry Campbell-Bannerman|Campbell-Bannerman]] Government in [[1905]], he implemented many of its recommendations between [[1906]] and [[1909]]. Among his advisers was General Sir [[Gerald Ellison]], who was also Secretary of the Esher Committee.

The recommendations were to form the basis of Army reform for the next sixty years. The military [[historian]] [[Correlli Barnett]] has written that the Esher Report's importance "''and its consequences can hardly be exaggerated...Without the Esher Report...it is inconceivable that the mammoth British military efforts of two world wars could have been possible, let alone so generally successful''." <ref>Correlli Barnett, ''Britain and Her Army, 1509 - 1970'' (Cassell, 1970), p. 359.</ref>
==References==
* Correlli Barnett, ''Britain and Her Army, 1509 - 1970'' (Cassell, 1970).
* J. K. Dunlop, ''The Development of the British Army 1899-1914'' (Methuen, 1938).
* Simon Heffer, ''Power and Place: The Political Consequences of King Edward VII'' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1999).

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[[Category:British Army]]