Quartermaster-General to the Forces

{{Short description|Former senior British Army appointment}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{British Army}}

The Quartermaster-General to the Forces (QMG) is a senior general in the British Army. The post has become symbolic: the Ministry of Defence organisation charts since 2011 have not used the term "Quartermaster-General to the Forces"; they simply refer to "Chief of Materiel (Land)".{{cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/28964/300911MOD_DES_Organogram_Final5HLseniordata.csv/preview|title=Defence Equipment and Support Senior, as of September 2011|access-date=14 April 2016}}{{cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/34826/DEandSstaffdata260712HLseniordata.csv/preview|title=Defence Equipment and Support senior, as of March 2012|access-date=14 April 2016}}{{cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/283149/20131202-des-senior-sept-2013.csv/preview|title=Defence Equipment and Support senior, as of September 2013|access-date=14 April 2016}}

History

A Quartermaster-General first appears in English Army records in 1667; as a permanently established post it dates from 1686.{{cite book |last1=Roper |first1=Michael |title=The Records of the War Office and Related Departments, 1660-1964 |date=1998 |publisher=Public Record Office |location=Kew, Surrey }}

=Responsibilities=

The Quartermaster-General was (like the Adjutant-General) a senior staff officer of the Commander-in-Chief of the Forces, responsible for the movement and quartering of troops. From the 1680s to the 1880s, the QMG periodically had responsibility for military intelligence in addition.

In 1888, the Quartermaster-General took over responsibility for the transport and supply of equipment, provisions and munitions,{{cite web|url=http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/summary/ro45-001.shtml |title=Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives |publisher=Kcl.ac.uk |date=2005-08-08 |access-date=2013-03-29}} formerly overseen by the Commissariat and Transport Department and the Surveyor-General of the Ordnance. From 1904 the Quartermaster-General to the Forces was the Third Military Member of the Army Council (1904) and its successor, the Army Board.[https://books.google.com/books?id=nLdW_vkYPQQC&dq=%22Master-General+of+the+Ordnance%22+Member+of+the+Army+Council&pg=RA5-PA481 The Army in 1906: A Policy and a Vindication By Hugh Oakeley Arnold-Forster, Page 481] Bibliobazaar, 2008, {{ISBN|978-0-559-66499-1}}{{cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/355242/20140609-DES-SENIOR-organogram-April-2014.csv/preview|title=Defence Equipment and Support senior, as of March 2014|access-date=14 April 2016}}

The appointment of a Deputy Quartermaster-General dates from 1710 and Assistant Quartermasters-General are recorded from as early as 1692.

Present day

In modern use, the QMG is the senior General Officer in the army holding a logistics appointment and is currently the Lieutenant General holding the post of Chief of Materiel (Land) (CoM(L)) within Defence Equipment and Support or also commonly referred to as Director General Land (DG(L)). The CoM(L) sits upon the highest committee within the army, the Army Board.

Recent holders of the post

Holders of the post have included:{{cite web|url=http://www.gulabin.com/armynavy/pdf/Army%20Commands%201900-2011.pdf |title=Army Commands |access-date=2013-03-29 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150705211343/http://www.gulabin.com/armynavy/pdf/Army%20Commands%201900-2011.pdf |archive-date=July 5, 2015 }}

References