Catalogue description War Office and Ministry of Defence: Army Statistical Organisation, later Defence Statistical Organisation: Abstracts of Army Statistics

Before the First World War responsibility for the preparation of general returns and statistics relating to the British Army lay with the Department of the Secretary to the War Office - later the Permanent Under-Secretary [PUS] - in Central Branch C.2b, although a branch of the Adjutant-General's [AG] department had responsibility for compiling manpower and general statistics relating to monthly strength and service. During the Great War C.2b - from 1916 C.5 - continued their pre-war function in parallel with other specialist branches of the now expanded War Office. These included AG.1c (manpower and personnel) - renamed AG (Stats) between the wars - QMG.6 (supplies) and TV.2 (the Volunteer Force).

When C.5 was disbanded in 1920, no overall coordination of all statistical information about the army existed until June 1939, when a Director-General of Progress and Statistics [DGPS] was appointed. In 1940 he was re-styled Director of Investigation and Statistics [DIS] - under PUS - and he was responsible for the organization of a complete system of reports, returns, forecasts and statistics covering the whole of the army, in order to present a clear view of the trends of army requirements with the object of anticipating and rectifying limiting factors.

In the wake of the 1941 Gale Committee, DIS was responsible for setting up statistical sections in each army command headquarters at home and abroad. With the expansion of the War Office, DIS recommended decentralization of statistical functions and the creation of central "A" and "Q" branches in the War Office. By the time these were set up in 1943 - AG (Stats) already existed - the post of DIS had lapsed, most of his work now being performed by the new branches.

A Controller of Army Statistics [CAS] was appointed in 1950 to head the re-organized Army Statistical Organization [ASO] of the War Office, the function of which was the coordination and control of statistical policy and procedures throughout the army. The ASO was part of the Central department of the Permanent Under-Secretary of State and was entitled C.10 (Statistics) (later C.10 (Central)). Its sub-divisions were C.10 (Manpower Statistics) and C.10 (Equipment Statistics). In 1964, following the creation of the unified Ministry of Defence [MoD], C.10 became Statistics (Army Department); its sub-divisions were Stats(M)(AD) and Stats(E) (AD). Subsequently, Stats(M) became Defence Statistics 13, in 1971 Defence Statistics 3 and in 1976 Stats (M)3. Around 1971 the ASO became the Defence Statistical Organization [DSO].

An essential part of the branch's work was the collation and provision of facts and figures giving a generalized view of army activities, so that officers in specialized posts would have a good working knowledge of what other directorates and branches were doing. Such figures also provided senior policy-makers with broad information without the need to study complex reports and lengthy tables.

The collection of more specialized statistics continued in parallel in other War Office branches, for example AG (Stats) or Q (Stats) (formed in 1943); some of these branches were later absorbed into the ASO empire - for instance, AG (Stats) became part of the organization in 1964.

C.10 and its successors were the compilers of the periodic Abstract of Army Statistics; the earliest issues covered the years 1950-1953, followed by quarterly then half-yearly editions. The information therein covered most aspects of the army: geographical distribution; composition and strength; intake, recruitment and wastage; medical statistics; training; qualifications; age and marital status etc. The information related equally to active, reserve, territorial and cadet elements. Data concerning women's services - including nurses - was also included. These abstracts were effectively the successors to the monthly returns contained in WO 73