WAR OFFICE'. (a) The building which houses the controll ing staff of the army, and (b) the controlling staff itself.
(a) As regards the local habitation of the staff, in Cromwellian days this was often in the field and was the tent of the secretary to the commander-in-chief whose official title was Secretary-at War. After the Restoration (166o) Monk, as lord general, took up his residence at a house in Whitehall called the Cockpit (which had formerly been used for cock-fighting) and this became the headquarters of the army. Numerous warrants and letters of the early days of the present standing army are dated from "the Cock pit at Whitehall." About 1684 the headquarters were moved to the "Horse Guards," that is the barracks of the King's Guards at Whitehall, and here it remained until 1856 when it moved to Buckingham House, Pall Mall. In 1907 it finally moved to its present quarters in Whitehall immediately opposite the Horse Guards.
'The permission of the Controller of H.M. Stationery Office has been obtained to the inclusion of this article.
(b) From the Earliest Times to the Crimean War (1854-56).—The details of the early administrative history of the army are very obscure. William the Conqueror created the offices of high constable and marshal and their duties appear to have been somewhat analogous to those of the present day adjutant-general and quartermaster-general.
Although the origin of the Board of Ordnance is obscure it was certainly in existence in the early part of the i4th century, and it is the oldest military office with a continuous history. Charles II. created the title master-general of ordnance in 1664 and this still survives. The headquarters of the Board were for centuries at the Tower of London. In 1855 the Letters Patent for the Board were revoked and its duties vested in the Secretary of State for War. In the i8th century, the office of master general of the ordnance was held by the chief military leaders and generally carried with it cabinet rank. Marlborough was twice master-general of ordnance.
The office of Secretary of State for War appears to have had its origin in a Council of War of Charles I. During the Crom
wellian period the army was managed by a Parliamentary Com mittee of the Army. The clerk to Charles' Council was the Sec retary-at-War and he had a counterpart in the New Model. After the Restoration he became Secretary-at-War to all the Forces in England and Wales, and was in fact nothing more than the private secretary of the commander-in-chief. When Monk (duke of Albemarle) died in 167o the office of Secretary-at-War grew in importance owing to the fact that Charles II. did not appoint a successor as commander-in-chief. Gradually the office became separated from that of the commander-in-chief, arriving at com plete divorcement in 1704, when the office became a political post. In 1794 was created a new post, the Secretary of State for War, and in 18oi, because the armies were largely employed in the West Indies, the direction of Colonial affairs was transferred from the Home Office to the Secretary of State for War who became Secretary of State for War and the Colonies. In 1855 the office of Secretary-at-War was merged into that of the Secretary of State, but it was not finally abolished until 1863.
The office of the Deputy Secretary-at-War appears to have been created at least before the 18th century. The holder of the appointment was the senior permanent official in the department of the Secretary-at-War. When the departments of the Secretary of State and Secretary-at-War were amalgamated the post was abolished and in its place that of Permanent Under Secretary of State created. In 1904 the title was changed to "Secretary of the War Office," but reverted to "Permanent Under Secretary of State" in 1924.
The office of the Commander-in-Chief dates back to the Res toration. At various times the title has been Captain General, Generalissimo, General on the Staff and Lord General. The first holder of the appointment was the duke of Albemarle whose special charge was the care of men while the Board of Ordnance looked after the material. In the 17th century when the C.-in-C. was on foreign service, many of his duties were usurped by the Secretary-at-War.