British Empire
At the head of the British forces was the king, who was captain general of all forces both naval and military. It was usual for him to delegate his military powers as captain general or commander-in-chief. From 1772 to 1778 the office was vacant, but from 1778 to 1782 Sir Jeffery Amherst officiated as Commander-in-Chief with the title of General on the Staff. He was succeeded in February, 1782 by Henry Seymour Conway.
Next in importance to the Commander-in-Chief was the Secretary at War, who served as head of the War Office, and was bidden "to observe and follow such orders and directions as he should from time to time receive from the king or the general of the forces". Not until 1783 was he a minister responsible to parliament. At the start of part of the war the secretary was Lord Barrington. He was replaced in 1778 by Charles Jenkinson, 1st Earl of Liverpool who held this position until the fall of Lord North's government.
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Famous quotes containing the words british empire, british and/or empire:
“All of Western tradition, from the late bloom of the British Empire right through the early doom of Vietnam, dictates that you do something spectacular and irreversible whenever you find yourself in or whenever you impose yourself upon a wholly unfamiliar situation belonging to somebody else. Frequently it’s your soul or your honor or your manhood, or democracy itself, at stake.”
—June Jordan (b. 1939)
“It’s like the Beatles coming together again—let’s hope they don’t go on a world tour.”
—Matt Frei, British journalist. Quoted in Listener (London, June 21, 1990)
“Passivity can be a provoking modus operandi;
Consider the Empire and Gandhi.”
—Ogden Nash (1902–1971)