1814–1914 In the 19th century, British intelligence work was undertaken by the Intelligence Department of the
War Office. An important figure was
Sir Charles Wilson, a
Royal Engineer who successfully pushed for reform of the War Office's treatment of topographical work. In the early 1900s intelligence gathering was becoming better understood, to the point where a
counter-intelligence organisation (
MI5) was formed by the
Directorate of Military Intelligence (DoMI) under Captain (later Major-General)
Vernon Kell; overseas intelligence gathering began in 1912 by
MI6 under Commander (later Captain)
Mansfield Smith-Cumming.
1914–1929 Although the first proposals to create an intelligence corps came in 1905, the first Intelligence Corps was formed in August 1914 and originally included only officers and their servants. It left for France on 12 August 1914. The
Royal Flying Corps was formed to monitor the ground, and provided aerial photographs for the Corps to analyse. During the
Irish War of Independence, Intelligence Corps operatives were used to monitor the
Irish Republican Army. On
Bloody Sunday (1920) 15 British Military Officers and civilians were shot and killed during multiple attacks in Dublin. Of the 15 killed six were Army Intelligence Officers, two were Courts Martial Officers, one was a senior Staff Officer serving with Irish Command (
Brevet Lieut-Colonel Hugh Montgomery), three policemen (all former British military), two civilians (all former British military) and one local civilian. Following the war the Intelligence Corps was gradually scaled down and disbanded entirely in 1929; intelligence matters were left to individual unit officers.
Second World War On 19 July 1940 a new Intelligence Corps was created by Army Order 112 and has existed since that time. The Army had been unprepared for collecting intelligence for deployment to France, and the only intelligence had been collected by Major Sir
Gerald Templer. The Corps trained operatives to parachute at
RAF Ringway; some of these were then dropped over France as part of the
Special Operations Executive (SOE). Intelligence Corps officers were involved in forming the highly-effective
Long Range Desert Group, and Corps officer Lt Col Peter Clayton was one of the four founders of the
Special Air Service (SAS). Around 40 per cent of British Army personnel at
Bletchley Park were in the Intelligence Corps. The Combined Allied Intelligence Corps as it was known in Malta, began recruiting in 1940 following Italy's entry into the war on the side of Germany. Among its many responsibilities in the
Mediterranean Theatre were debriefing and interrogation of high-ranking prisoners of war in East Africa following
Mussolini's invasion of
Abyssinia ("Eldoret" P.O.W. Camp no. 365 being one example), counter-intelligence operations following
Operation Husky the Allied invasion of Sicily in August 1943, and implementation of the Allied Screening Commission.
Cold War Throughout the
Cold War, Intelligence Corps
officers and
NCOs (with changed insignia) were posted behind the
Iron Curtain in
East Germany, to join in the intelligence-gathering activities of the British Commanders'-in-Chief Mission to the Soviet Forces in Germany (
Brixmis).
Northern Ireland Many members of the Intelligence Corps served in
Northern Ireland during "
the Troubles". Units such as the
Military Reaction Force,
Special Reconnaissance Unit,
Force Research Unit and
14 Intelligence Company contained Corps soldiers and officers.
Designation On 1 February 1985 the corps was officially declared an 'Arm' (combat support) instead of a 'Service' (rear support). ==Corps traditions==