Macready appointed Adjutant-General
On 22 February 1916 Lieutenant-General Sir Nevil Macready was formally appointed Adjutant-General of the British Army (Adjutant-General to the Forces). The British chronology of the war describes the office as that of “Adjutant-General to the Forces at home”, but in reality it meant heading the personnel department of the whole army at the War Office and a seat on the Army Council. Macready succeeded General Henry Sclater, and in France, where he had until then been Adjutant-General of the expeditionary force, he was succeeded by General George Fowke. According to Macready’s memoirs, he had taken over his duties a day earlier, on 21 February.
That morning he was summoned by the Secretary of State for War, Lord Kitchener. Macready expected firm guidance on reinforcements, but instead the field marshal spoke for an hour mainly about his own position, diminished, as he claimed, by the wide powers of the new Chief of the Imperial General Staff, General William Robertson. At the end he merely stated that every possible man must be brought into the army. Macready noted that Kitchener’s attitude struck him as sad, almost pitiful.
It was Robertson who gave him a clear task: the main job of the Adjutant-General’s department was to be finding men. The Military Service Act, which introduced conscription of unmarried men, was just coming into force, and the first conscripts were to be called up in March. From the start, however, it was clear that the munitions industry, agriculture, the mines and other departments would compete with the army for the same men. Macready admitted that the War Office he had left in August 1914 was overworked and disorganised, because many experienced staff had then gone to the headquarters of the expeditionary force in France.
The new Adjutant-General knew his department well, having worked in it for a total of more than six years before the war, most recently as Director of Personal Services. In March 1916 he submitted to Kitchener a memorandum calling for the creation of a single body to allocate the country’s manpower between the army and the economy. The idea was then considered utopian, and such an office, the Ministry of National Service, was created only in August 1917.
Macready headed the department until 1918. Among other things he had to deal with the Easter Rising in Ireland, the treatment of conscientious objectors and the growing employment of women in the army’s auxiliary services. In August 1918 he became Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, and in 1920–1922 he commanded the British forces in Ireland during the War of Independence.
Remember the articles you have read? Only in this browser; nothing is sent anywhere.How it works
Read ·
Spotted a mistake?Report an error
Meanwhile
(04)Elsewhere in the same days.
- 21 February 1916 · Western FrontStart of the Battle of VerdunOn 21 February 1916 more than 1,200 German guns opened fire on the French positions at Verdun. A battle began that lasted until December 1916.
- 21 February 1916 · Western FrontMacready leaves the BEF staffOn 21 February 1916 General Nevil Macready ceased to be Adjutant-General of the BEF. He had handled its manpower since the first days of the war in France.
- 21 February 1916 · War at seaDispute in Congress over armed merchant shipsIn late February 1916 Berlin maintained that armed Entente merchantmen were auxiliary cruisers. In the US Congress a revolt against Wilson's line grew.
- 21 February 1916 · Western FrontAirship LZ 77 shot downOn the evening of 21 February 1916 a French anti-aircraft gun shot down the airship LZ 77 near Revigny, flying behind Verdun. None of the crew survived.
Related events
(04)The same battle, people or subject.
- 21 February 1916 · MilitaryDismissal of Henry SclaterOn 21 February 1916 Gen. Henry Sclater ceased to be Adjutant-General of the British Army. His place at the War Office was taken by Nevil Macready.
- 23 December 1915 · MilitaryWilliam Robertson becomes Chief of the Imperial General StaffOn 23 December 1915 General William Robertson became Chief of the Imperial General Staff, on condition that he, not Kitchener, advised the cabinet on strategy.
- 22 December 1915 · MilitaryResignation of Archibald MurrayOn 22 December 1915 Gen. Archibald Murray stepped down as Chief of the Imperial General Staff. He left behind a plan to concentrate forces in France.
- 27 January 1916 · MilitaryBritain introduces conscriptionOn 27 January 1916 the Military Service Act received royal assent. Unmarried men in Great Britain aged 18 to 41 became liable for conscription.