‘Intelligent Civilians in Uniform’: The British Expeditionary Force's Intelligence Corps Officers, 1914–1918

Abstract

In August 1914 the British Army mobilised an eclectic group of civilians to act as auxiliary intelligence officers with the British Expeditionary Force in France. This article examines how this Intelligence Corps came into being, how its officers were employed, and the evolution of their roles and the personnel system that controlled them. It concludes with some observations on the perception of these officers and their possible place in the wider historiography