The Stanhope Memorandum was a document written by

Edward Stanhope Edward Stanhope PC (24 September 1840 – 21 December 1893) was a British Conservative Party politician who was Secretary of State for War from 1887 to 1892. Background and education Born in London, Stanhope was the second son of Philip Sta ...

, the

Secretary of State for War The Secretary of State for War, commonly called War Secretary, was a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, which existed from 1794 to 1801 and from 1854 to 1964. The Secretary of State for War headed the War Office and ...

of the

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was a sovereign state in the British Isles that existed between 1801 and 1922, when it included all of Ireland. It was established by the Acts of Union 1800, which merged the Kingdom of Great B ...

, on 8 December 1888. It set out the overall strategic aims of the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...

, and the way the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

was to be employed towards these aims. It gave the priorities of the Army, in order, as: # the support of the civil power in the United Kingdom # the provision of reinforcements for

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

# the provision of

garrison A garrison (from the French ''garnison'', itself from the verb ''garnir'', "to equip") is any body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it. The term now often applies to certain facilities that constitute a mil ...

units for fortresses, colonies and coaling stations # the provision of two

corps Corps (; plural ''corps'' ; from French , from the Latin "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was first named as such in 1805. The size of a corps varies great ...

for home defence # the ability to deploy one of these two corps for service in a European war

References

*''The Stanhope Memorandum of 1888: a Reinterpretation''. Ian F. W. Beckett: in ''Historical Research'', Vol. 57 Iss. 136, Pages 240-7
Full text (PDF)
*"The Stanhope Memorandum", p.311 of ''The Victorians at war, 1815-1914'', by Harold E. Raugh. Published by ABC-CLIO, 2004. {{ISBN, 1-57607-925-2 19th-century history of the British Army 19th-century military history of the United Kingdom 1888 in the United Kingdom 1888 documents 1888 in military history British defence policymaking