British Army: Courts Martial, 17th-20th Centuries

Military Records Information 22

1. Introduction

A court martial is a court convened to try an offence against military discipline, or against the ordinary law, committed by a person in one of the armed services. They were also used to try civilians when martial law was in force. Some records relating to individual cases of court martial are closed for 50 or 75 years from the last date on each file.

1676-1902: See the Alphabetical Guide to War Office and other Military Records Preserved in The Public Record Office (Public Record Office Lists & Indexes: LIII), which has a large number of entries relating to courts martial procedure. This can be seen at The National Archives.

1913-1919: see British Army Courts Martial, First World War, 1914-1918.

2. Types of court martial

Various types of court martial existed, and are sometimes listed by initials:

General court martial (GCM):

The Army's highest tribunal, dealing with commissioned officers and the most serious cases involving other ranks. It could only be convened by the crown or its deputy (commander in chief, governors general, etc.). At least thirteen commissioned officers had to be present if "at home" (serving in the British Isles, Ireland, non-British territories or small British possessions), or five if "overseas" (the British colonies), together with a judge advocate. Decisions were confirmed by the person who issued the warrant (that is, the crown or its direct deputy)

Field general court martial (FGCM):

Often used in wartime. Only three commissioned officers needed to be present. The decision had to be unanimous for the death penalty to be imposed.

General regimental court martial (GRCM) or district (or garrison) court martial (DCM):

More limited in jurisdiction, these courts could not try commissioned officers or charges carrying the death penalty, transportation, floggings of more than 150 lashes or prison sentences of more than two years.This was replaced by the district court martial, in 1829. It required seven officers at home or five if overseas. Details of the sentence were sent up to the Judge Advocate General's Office.

Regimental court martial (RCM):

Used for other ranks charged with lesser offences. May be noted in War Diaries, but no records were sent to the Judge Advocate General's Office. Some of the records of these courts may survive among the records preserved by individual regiments.

3. The Judge Advocate General

Almost all the surviving records of army courts martial came via the office of the Judge Advocate General, the legal officer responsible to the Crown for military law. His duties, and those of the judge advocates answerable to him, were to prepare the case, summon courts martial and administer the oath to witnesses. After the hearing the judge advocate would submit a report of the proceedings to the relevant authority for confirmation. (Before 1951 soldiers had no right of appeal, although the confirming officer would often reduce the sentence.) These submitted reports on individual courts martial, 1715-1790, are in WO 71/34 - 64 for both home and overseas cases. Cases from 1806-1904, to be confirmed at home, are in WO 91 . There is a joint index to WO 91 and WO 92 , for 1806-1833, in WO93/1A . Other submissions, 1880-1938, are in WO 209 .

4. Registers of courts martial, 1796-1963

The Judge Advocate General's Office compiled registers of general and field courts martial, giving name, rank, regiment, place of trial, charge, finding, and sentence. These are in WO 90 (abroad, 1796-1960 - with a volume for India), and WO 92 (home, 1666-1704, 1806-1960 - with registers for part of the Boer War). An index for 1806-1833 is in WO 93/1A . Later registers for 1909-1963 are in WO 213 .

5. Trials of commissioned officers, 1668-1993

Commissioned officers could be tried only by general or field general courts martial: these are indexed between 1830 and 1904 in WO 93/1B . The records are mostly in WO 71 , which includes original papers in the case (warrants, letters, depositions, etc., sometimes described as "papers") as well as entry books of the trial proceedings. There are several series of records in WO 71 :

6. Trials of NCOs and other ranks, 1688-1986

Non-commissioned officers and other ranks could be tried by any of the courts martial, so you may have to look in two sets of records. For the most serious offences tried at general and field general courts martial, the records are as described for officers (above). For less serious offences tried at general regimental and district garrison courts martial, consult:

Records of minor offences tried at regimental courts martial are not held by The National Archives, but may be held at Regimental Museums.

7. Miscellanea

The collection of miscellaneous records of the Judge Advocate General in WO 93 contains

8. Other sources

9. Judge Advocate General Case Index System, 1991-1999

LCO 60 refers to a database continuing registers of Army and Royal Air Force court martial cases at home and abroad and cases in civilian standing courts for 1991-1999. The database held at the UK National Digital Archive of Datasets under the reference CRDA 23 (www.ndad.nationalarchives.gov.uk/CRDA/23/detail.html). It contains details of the date and type of trial, the defendant's unit, rank and service number, the name of the Judge Advocate, charges brought and the court finding. In the case of standing civilian court hearings the relationship of the defendant to service personnel is recorded.

10. Further Reading

(ri2022) Last updated: 28 June 2004 | © Crown Copyright 2002