30 AWARDED FOR VALOUR
Army reform when he served as Secretary at War in the 1830s and had
served as Secretary of War between July 1846 and February 1852. Now
he called once again for Army reform in the winter of 1854–55.^22 He was
joined by an article inThe Timesdemanding a ‘real Minister of War.’^23 Grey
also attacked any exertion of ‘personal power’ by the Crown over the Army
as unconstitutional.^24 The Crown did not exert similar authority over any
other governmental department; it was solely due to the unique construction
of Army administration that the Crown had access to control through the
person of the Commander-in-Chief. He sought the full subordination of
that office to a ‘responsible minister’ under parliament’s control.^25 This did
not make him popular with the royal family.
The role of the crown in government was in transition at mid-century.
The Glorious Revolution established a limited monarchy and the ensuing
century-and-a-half saw a progressive erosion of Crown prerogative. Victoria
had come to power determined to preserve as much of the influence and
position of the Crown as possible, and military control in particular. Her
refusal to submit what she considered her royal right to choose the ladies
of her bedchamber to the will of Prime Minister Robert Peel during the
‘Bed-Chamber Plot’ indicates that from the outset Victoria was determined
to defend what remained of the royal prerogative as a matter of principle,
with little regard to the political cost.^26 This attitude did not mesh with
reality; Victoria might claim that the government acted under her authority,
but she could not rule by decree. All royal pronouncements, writs, and
warrants had to be countersigned by one of the Secretaries of State, and
those gentlemen were more responsible to parliament than the monarch.^27
Victoria and Albert were determined to defend the position of the
Commander-in-Chief as a bastion of royal prerogative.^28 The C-in-C oper-
ated out of Horse Guards and from those offices, within sight of Buck-
ingham Palace on Birdcage Walk, he managed the Army. Through the
Adjutant General’s office he oversaw military discipline, punishment, and
reward. The Quartermaster General’s office undertook the distribution of
supply from stores to the troops under his direction. The Military Secretary
coordinated his communications with the various regimental depots and
stations throughout the Empire. Most important, the C-in-C controlled
Army patronage, determining who would get the plums of commission and
assignment.^29
The Commander-in-Chief’s position thus held the potential for a great
deal of power in the right (or wrong) hands. It was controversial because
constitutionally there was no such thing as a C-in-C. The top commanders
of the Army considered themselves direct servants of the Crown, not
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