The Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) was a department of the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...

. Over its lifetime the Directorate underwent a number of organisational changes, absorbing and shedding sections over time.

History

The first instance of an organisation which would later become the DMI was the Department of Topography & Statistics, formed by Major Thomas Best Jervis, late of the Bombay Engineer Corps, in 1854 in the early stages of the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...

. In 1873 the Intelligence Branch was created within the Quartermaster General's Department with an initial staff of seven officers. Initially the Intelligence Branch was solely concerned with collecting intelligence, but under the leadership of

Henry Brackenbury General Sir Henry Brackenbury, (1 September 1837 – 20 April 1914) was a British Army officer who was assistant to Garnet Wolseley in the 1870s and became part of his ' Ring' of loyal officers. He also wrote several books of military history ...

, a protege of influential Adjutant-General Lord Wolseley, it was increasingly concerned with planning. However despite these steps towards a nascent general staff, the Intelligence Branch remained a purely advisory body, something that sharply limited its influence. The Branch was transferred to the Adjutant General's Department in 1888 and Brackenbury's title was changed to Director of Military Intelligence. After Wolseley's appointment as

Commander-in-Chief of the Forces The Commander-in-Chief of the Forces, later Commander-in-Chief, British Army, or just the Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C), was (intermittently) the professional head of the English Army from 1660 to 1707 (the English Army, founded in 1645, was suc ...

in 1895, he made the Director of Military Intelligence directly responsible to him. At the outbreak of the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sout ...

in 1899 the Intelligence Branch had 13 officers. Prior to the war it produced a highly accurate summary of the Boer republics' military potential and was the only part of the War Office to escape criticism in the resulting Royal Commission. In the immediate aftermath of the Boer War the Intelligence Branch was enlarged and its head elevated to Director General of Mobilisation and Military Intelligence. Following the

Esher Report The Esher Report of 1904, chaired by Reginald Brett, 2nd Viscount Esher, Lord Esher, recommended radical reform of the British Army, such as the creation of an Army Council (1904), Army Council, General Staff and Chief of the General Staff (United ...

in 1904 the War Office was dramatically reorganized. The post of Commander-in-Chief was abolished and replaced by the

Chief of the General Staff The Chief of the General Staff (CGS) is a post in many armed forces (militaries), the head of the military staff. List * Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (United States) * Chief of the General Staff (Abkhazia) * Chief of General Staff (Afg ...

. Planning and intelligence would be the responsibility of the Directorate of Military Operations. When the War Office was subsumed into the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

(MoD) in 1964, the DMI was absorbed into the

Defence Intelligence Staff Defence Intelligence (DI) is an organisation within the United Kingdom intelligence community which focuses on gathering and analysing military intelligence. It differs from the UK's intelligence agencies (MI6, GCHQ and MI5) in that it is an ...

Sections

During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, British

secret service A secret service is a government agency, intelligence agency, or the activities of a government agency, concerned with the gathering of intelligence data. The tasks and powers of a secret service can vary greatly from one country to another. For ...

s were divided into numbered sections named ''Military Intelligence'', department number ''x'', abbreviated to MIx, such as MI1 for information management. The branch, department, section, and sub-section numbers varied through the life of the department; however, examples include: Two MI section-names remain in common use, MI5 and MI6, in most part due to their use in

spy fiction Spy fiction is a genre of literature involving espionage as an important context or plot device. It emerged in the early twentieth century, inspired by rivalries and intrigues between the major powers, and the establishment of modern intelligen ...

and the news media. "

MI5 The Security Service, also known as MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), G ...

" is used as the short form name of the Security Service, and is included in the agency's logo and

web address A Uniform Resource Locator (URL), colloquially termed as a web address, is a reference to a web resource that specifies its location on a computer network and a mechanism for retrieving it. A URL is a specific type of Uniform Resource Identifie ...

MI6 The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...

is included as an alias on the

Secret Intelligence Service The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...

website, though the official abbreviation, SIS, is predominant. While the names remain, the agencies are now responsible to different departments of state, MI5 to the Home Office, and MI6 the

Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * Unit ...

Directors of Military Intelligence

Directors of Military Intelligence have been: Deputy Quartermaster General, Intelligence Branch * 1873–1878

Patrick Leonard MacDougall General Sir Patrick Leonard MacDougall, (10 August 1819 – 28 November 1894) was a British Army officer who became Commander of the British Troops in Canada. Military career MacDougall was born the only son of Lieutenant Colonel Sir Dunca ...

* 1878–1882 Archibald Alison * 1882–1886 Aylmer Cameron (Assistant Quartermaster General, Intelligence Branch) * 1886–1888

Director of Military Intelligence * 1888–1891

* 1891–1896 Edward Francis Chapman * 1896–1901

John Charles Ardagh Major-General Sir John Charles Ardagh (9 August 1840 – 30 September 1907), was an Anglo-Irish officer of the British Army, who served as a military engineer, surveyor, intelligence officer, and colonial administrator. Biography Early life an ...

Director General of Mobilisation and Military Intelligence * 1901–1904 William Nicholson Director of Military Operations * 1904–1906

James Grierson James Grierson may refer to: * James Grierson (British Army officer) Lieutenant-General Sir James Moncrieff Grierson, ADC (Gen.) (27 January 1859 – 17 August 1914) was a British soldier. Life He was born in 1859 the son of George Moncrie ...

* 1906–1910

Spencer Ewart Lieutenant-General Sir John Spencer Ewart (22 March 1861 – 19 September 1930) was a British Army officer who became Adjutant-General to the Forces, but was forced to resign over the Curragh Incident. Early life and education Ewart was born ...

* 1910–1914

Henry Wilson Henry Wilson (born Jeremiah Jones Colbath; February 16, 1812 – November 22, 1875) was an American politician who was the 18th vice president of the United States from 1873 until his death in 1875 and a senator from Massachusetts from 1855 to ...

* 1914–1915 Charles Callwell Director of Military Intelligence * 1915–1916 Charles Callwell * 1916–1918 George Mark Watson Macdonogh * 1918–1922

William Thwaites General Sir William Thwaites, (9 June 1868 – 22 June 1947) was a British Army officer who served as commander of the British Army of the Rhine. Early life and education Thwaites was born in Kensington, the son of William Thwaites of Durham V ...

Director of Military Operations and Intelligence * 1922–1923

* 1923–1926

John Burnett-Stuart General Sir John Theodosius Burnett-Stuart, (14 March 1875 – 6 October 1958) was a British Army general in the 1920s and 1930s. Military career Educated at Repton School and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, John Burnett-Stuart was comm ...

* 1926–1931

Ronald Charles Lieutenant General Sir James Ronald Edmondston Charles, (26 June 1875 – 24 December 1955) was a senior British Army officer in the Royal Engineers. Family Charles was born in Calcutta, British India, the son of Thomas Edmondston Charles, la ...

* 1931–1934 William Henry Bartholomew * 1934–1936 John Greer Dill * 1936–1938 Robert Hadden Haining * 1938–1939 Henry Royds Pownall Director of Military Intelligence * 1939–1940 Frederick Beaumont-Nesbitt * 1940–1944 Francis Henry Norman Davidson * 1944–1945 John Sinclair * 1945–1946

Freddie de Guingand Major-General Sir Francis Wilfred "Freddie" de Guingand, (28 February 1900 – 29 June 1979) was a British Army officer who served as Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery's chief of staff from the Second Battle of El Alamein until the end of t ...

* 1946–1948

Gerald Templer Field Marshal Sir Gerald Walter Robert Templer, (11 September 1898 – 25 October 1979) was a senior British Army officer. He fought in both the world wars and took part in the crushing of the Arab Revolt in Palestine. As Chief of the Imperia ...

* 1948–1949 Douglas Packard * 1949–1953 Arthur Shortt * 1953–1956 Valentine Boucher * 1956–1959

Cedric Rhys Price Major-General Cedric Rhys Price CB, CBE (1905–1987) was a British Army officer who served as Director of Military Intelligence. Military career Educated at Selborne College in South Africa and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, Rhys Pri ...

* 1959–1962

Richard Eyre Lloyd Major-General Richard Eyre Lloyd CB, CBE, DSO (7 December 1906 – 10 April 1991) was a British Army officer who served as Director of Military Intelligence. Military career Lloyd was commissioned into the Royal Engineers. He served in the ...

* 1962–1965

Marshall St John Oswald Major-General Marshall St John Oswald was a British Army officer who served as Director of Military Intelligence. Military career Oswald was commissioned into the Royal Artillery. He served in the Second World War during which he was awarded ...

History

Sections

Directors of Military Intelligence

References

Sources

Further reading