Army Council (1904) practice, however, a huge amount of influence was retained by the exceedingly conservative C-in-C Field Marshal Prince George, 2nd Duke of Cambridge, who held the post between 1856–1895. His resistance to reform caused military efficiency to lag well behind Britain's rivals, a problem which became painfully obvious during the Second Boer War. The situation was only remedied in 1904 when the post of Commander-in-Chief was abolished and replaced with that of the Chief of the General Staff. An Army Council was created along similar lines to the Board of Admiralty, chaired by the Secretary of State for War, and an
Recruitment in the British Army would remain ad hoc at the start of the war. The army would be without the quotas of men required from skilled professions and trades, which modern warfare demanded. With the army being the least popular service compared to the navy and airforce, a higher proportion of army recruits were said to be dull and backward. The following memorandum to the Executive Committee of the Army Council highlighted the growing concern. “The British Army is wasting manpower in this war almost as badly as it did in the last war. A man is posted to a Corps almost entirely on