Catalogue description Records of the Committee of Imperial Defence

Committee of Imperial Defence (CID)

While a Royal Commission (Hartington) set up in 1888 had recommended the 'formation of a naval and military council' and a Joint Naval and Military Committee on Defence met from 1891, the Cabinet did not set up a Defence Committee until 1895. This committee was remodelled to include not only ministers but also the professional heads of the Army and Navy, becoming the Committee of Imperial Defence (CID) in December 1902.

The Committee was formally brought into existence, and completely reconstituted, by Treasury minute of 4 May 1904. The Prime Minister became its chairman and only permanent member, with complete discretion to summon other ministers, Chiefs of Staff, and other experts as required. At the same time the committee was given a permanent secretariat. It was an advisory body with no executive functions. With the assistance of its sub-committees it formulated for the Cabinet general principles on which defence policy should be based; made recommendations to the Cabinet and relevant departments on specialised defence problems; and prepared, in consultation with departments, detailed plans for the effective co-ordination of naval, military and civil authorities in the event of war.

When war came in 1914 the activities of the committee diminished rapidly and by 1915 they were virtually suspended. After the war the CID met twice in 1920, but not again until July 1922; in the interval, matters with which it would normally have dealt were discussed by a Standing Defence Sub-committee.

In 1936 the Minister for Co-ordination of Defence was made deputy chairman of the committee and chairman of various sub-committees.

When the War Cabinet was formed in September 1939 it absorbed the CID, which was not revived after the war, when many of its former concerns passed to the Ministry of Defence, which was set up in 1947.

Sub-Committee Structure

Before 1914, the Committee of Imperial Defence had four permanent sub-committees. The Colonial Defence Committee, which was mainly concerned with the preparation of detailed defence schemes for the dominions and colonies, originated in 1878 as an inter-departmental committee composed of representatives from the Admiralty and the War and Colonial Offices. It lapsed the next year only to be revived in 1885, after the report of a Royal Commission (Carnarvon) on the Defence of British Possessions and Commerce Abroad in 1882. This committee was under the chairmanship of the permanent under-secretary of the Colonial Office. In 1904 it was taken over by the CID and was renamed the Oversea Defence Committee in 1911. To deal with the defences of the home ports and coasts a Home Ports Defence Committee was set up in 1909. This was followed by a Committee on the Co-ordination of Departmental Action on the Outbreak of War in 1911 and an Air Committee in 1912. In addition to these standing committees a large number of ad hoc committees were appointed to deal with particular issues.

After the end of the First World War, all the standing committees were revived, except the Air Committee. They first met late in 1919 or early 1920 and from March 1920 joint meetings of the Oversea and Home Defence Committees were held.

The Imperial Communications Committee became a sub-committee of the CID in June 1920 to be followed by a clutch of committees in 1923 and 1924 dealing with such war organisation issues as air raid precautions, trade, censorship and war legislation.

The Standing Inter-departmental Committee on National Service was set up in 1923, followed by the Principal Supply Officers Committee in 1924 and the Oil Board in 1925.

The main committee dealing with war strategy and planning, that of the Chiefs of Staff, was set up in 1923. It had a number of subordinate committees including the Joint Planning Committee (1927), the Joint Intelligence Committee (1932) and the Deputy Chiefs of Staff Committee (1936).

On the outbreak of war in 1939, many of the committees of the CID, such as the Chiefs of Staff Committee and its subordinates, were taken over by the War Cabinet. The supply organisation of the committee was transferred to the Ministry of Supply. Further details of the administrative history of the standing committees will be found with the relevant series descriptions.