War office
The War Office (WO) was a former department of the United Kingdom government. It was formed in 1855 after the Crimean War by the merger of the War Department and the Board of Ordnance, to look after land based military forces and affairs. Its affairs were run by the Army Council.
The War Office was incorporated into the Ministry of Defence in 1964.
The department was based in a massive Victorian Baroque building, completed in 1906, located in Whitehall, London SW1. It contained about 1,000 rooms linked by 2½ miles of corridors. On 1 April 1920, immediately after the First World War, the War Office employed 7,434 civilian staff; this had shrunk to 3,872 by 1 April 1930.
War Office Departments
- Department of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary
- Directorate-General of Lands (?–1923)
- Directorate of Lands (1923– )
- Directorate-General of the Territorial and Volunteer Forces (?–1921)
- Directorate-General of the Territorial Army (1921– )
- Central Department (Department of the Secretary)
- Department of the Chaplain-General
- Department of the Judge Advocate-General
- Publicity Section/Information Section
- Department of the Financial and Parliamentary Secretary (Finance Department)
- Directorate of Army Contracts (1924– )
- Imperial General Staff
- Directorate of Military Intelligence (?–1922)
- Directorate of Military Operations (?–1922)
- Directorate of Military Operations and Intelligence (1922– )
- Directorate of Military Training (1922– )
- Directorate of Army Staff Duties
- Department of the Adjutant-General
- Directorate-General of Graves Registration and Enquiries (?–1921)
- Directorate-General of Army Medical Services
- Directorate of Mobilisation
- Directorate of Organisation
- Directorate of Army Personal Services
- Directorate of Prisoners of War (?–1921)
- Directorate of Recruiting and Organisation
- Department of the Quartermaster-General
- Directorate of Equipment and Ordnance Stores (?–1927)
- Directorate of Movements
- Directorate of Quartering
- Directorate of Remounts
- Directorate of Supplies and Transport
- Department of the Controller of Surplus Stores and Salvage
- Department of the Surveyor-General of Supply (?–1921)
- Directorate-General of Army Veterinary Services
- Directorate of Works (1927– )
- Department of the Master-General of the Ordnance
- Directorate of Artillery
- Directorate of Factories
- Directorate of Fortifications and Works (?–1927)
- Directorate of Ordnance Services (1927– )
- Department of the Chief Technical Examiner for Works Services
United States War Office
