The history of army policing in Great Britain dates back to the Middle Ages. However, the predecessor units to the modern Royal Military Police were only formed in the 1870s and 1880s, merging in 1926 and being granted their 'Royal' prefix in 1946.
Pre-1850
The post of provost marshal has existed since William of Cassingham was appointed by Henry III on 28 May 1241 (the original title was Serjeant of the Peace). The first personal record of a provost marshal dates to 1511. The provost marshal has always had men detached to assist him, an arrangement formalised by the Duke of Wellington in the Peninsular War.
During the Peninsular War from 1809–14, the Duke of Wellington asked for a provost marshal to be appointed to hang looters; by the end of the Peninsular War the provost marshal controlled 24 assistant provost marshals. Members of this Cavalry Staff Corps were identified by a red scarf tied around the right shoulder; whilst some consider this to have been the origin of the famous 'Red Cap' of the Royal Military Police and its forebears, it was more likely a precursor of the 'MP' armband (and now the Tactical Recognition Flash), which identifies the modern Military Policeman or Policewoman.
Although disbanded in 1814 at the end of the Peninsular War, the Duke of Wellington re-formed the Staff Corps of Cavalry to police the occupying British Army in France following Napoleon's defeat at the Battle of Waterloo, though it was disbanded again in 1818.
1850-1914 In the Crimean War, a Mounted Staff Corps of almost 100 troopers from the constabularies of Ireland and the Metropolitan Police was established to prevent the theft of supplies, and to maintain discipline in camps. This 'Corps' was disbanded with the cessation of hostilities. However, in 1855 a Military Mounted Police was formed to police the new military cantonment at Aldershot, though it was only in 1877 that it was established as a regular or Permanent Corps.
A parallel Military Foot Police (MFP) was formed in 1885 for campaign service in Egypt, though it was established as a Permanent Corps later the same year. The Military Mounted Police first engaged in combat in 1882 at the Battle of Tel el-Kebir. Although technically two independent corps, the two effectively functioned as a single organisation.
1914-1930 In 1914 the Corps of Military Mounted Police and the Corps of Military Foot Police had a total establishment of nearly 5000 men. When the British Expeditionary Force was sent to France in that year, each division had one assistant provost marshal in the rank of major and several NCOs. The provost marshal was a colonel until 1915, and a brigadier-general thenceforward.
During the retreat from Mons the MPs were busy dealing with soldiers who, through exhaustion or the general confusion of battle, had either lost or became detached from their units. By operating stragglers' posts, the MPs were able to return soldiers to their units. These posts were also well placed to pick out deserters and those Absent Without Official Leave (AWOL).
The First World War was the conflict where traffic control became an important function. This was identified particularly after the Battle of Loos, when there was much confusion involving two British divisions. As well as traffic control, the BEF provost units dealt with the maintenance of law and order (i.e. the detection of crime and the arrest of offenders), custody of prisoners of war until handed over to detention facilities, surveillance, control and protection of civilians. The Military Foot Police's and Military Mounted Police's duties extended to policing the Royal Flying Corps until a separate Royal Air Force Police and Royal Air Force Police Special Investigations Branch were set up on the Royal Air Force's formation in 1918.
The work undertaken by MPs was not all carried out behind the lines, and sometimes they came under heavy fire. During this conflict, the Military Police suffered 375 casualties. Sixty-five received the Distinguished Conduct Medal and 260 received the Military Medal. In 1926 the Military Foot Police and Military Mounted Police were fully amalgamated to form the Corps of Military Police (CMP).
1930-1945 FSP, Supplementary Reserve and TA A Field Security Police (FSP) Wing was formed within the new Corps in 1937. Its personnel wore Lincoln green cap covers and brass shoulder titles on their tunics with the letters "FSP", to distinguish them from the rest of the Corps. They wore the standard CMP cap badge, but unofficially ground down the wording "MILITARY POLICE" from the lower scroll of the badge.
In 1938 the Secretary of The Automobile Association (AA), Sir Ernest Stenson-Cooke, a former member of the Military Foot Police, approached the War Office with an offer to raise a Supplementary Reserve for the Corps of Military Police, from employees of the AA. This offer was quickly accepted and 850 AA patrolmen had signed on as members of the CMP (SR) by 1939. Thirteen Territorial Army (TA) Companies of the Corps were also raised from April 1939 onwards, having been authorised that February as part of the reorganisation of the Territorial Army Field Forces announced in autumn 1938.
New Wings
During the Second World War the Military Police grew from 4,121 all ranks to over 50,000 all ranks. At the outbreak of the conflict the Corps had two wings, the Field Security Wing and the Provost Wing. The latter was responsible for general policing, with its Provost Companies included in the order of battle of Home Commands, Armoured, Infantry and Airborne Divisions, as well as at Army and Corps level and with independent Brigades. The Supplementary Reserve was also mobilised in September 1939 and used to raise new Provost Companies for the British Expeditionary Force in France and for Home Forces in the United Kingdom. In March 1940, 151 Provost Company, CMP was formed in France, predominantly from AA Supplementary Reservists, as the first Traffic Control Company in the British Army. It distinguished itself during the Battle of France but due to its high casualties was disbanded on returning to England in June 1940.
Two more wings were formed in 1940, Special Investigation Branch (SIB) and Vulnerable Points Wing. The latter provided security for static locations and establishments. They were known as "blue caps" from the Oxford blue cloth covers worn on their service dress caps. Originally intended to act as static Companies and detachments, VP Coys were later deployed in North West Europe, guarding prisoner of war camps and other static installations. SIB, by contrast, was formed by transferring 19 detectives from Metropolitan Police CID to the Army for deployment in France. From this small beginning SIB expanded into numerous Sections which were deployed both in the UK and overseas, providing the Corps with its own criminal investigation department to conduct more detailed and protracted investigations into organised crime and serious offences such as murder. July 1940 also saw the Corps' Field Security Wing absorbed into the new Intelligence Corps, which revived the title of an earlier unit disbanded in 1929.
The Corps' Traffic Control Wing was formed in 1941, with Traffic Control (TC) Companies deployed throughout the United Kingdom, releasing Provost Companies from the tasks of traffic control. TC Coys were later deployed in the Middle East, Italy and North-West Europe. Many sources over the years continue to erroneously state that personnel of the Traffic Control Wing wore white cloth cap covers. This is not the case. CMP (TC) personnel did not wear cap covers when on duty, unless they had undergone a basic course in police duties, in which case they were authorised to wear red top covers as per the Provost Wing. From 1942, "Ports Provost" Companies were raised within the Provost Wing, consisting of a mix of Provost and Vulnerable Points Sections, which were deployed on security and policing duties within ports and docks.
Operations Some 950 warrant officers, non-commissioned officers and other ranks of the Corps of Military Police were killed in action or died in service, a high proportion of the latter in traffic accidents; and several were murdered whilst carrying out their duties. In addition, 28 officers were killed or died whilst serving with CMP units. 101st Provost Company landed under enemy fire at Courseilles-Sur-Mer, whilst 150th Provost Company also took part in Operation Overlord. The following year Field Marshal Montgomery wrote "The Battle of Normandy and subsequent battles would never have been won but for the work and co-operation of the Provost on the traffic routes." 1st Airborne Division's 1st (Airborne) Divisional Provost Company captured the police station in Arnhem during Operation Market Garden, but then suffered heavy losses when the II SS Panzer Corps counterattacked.
Corps units also took part in Operation Varsity (6th (Airborne) Divisional Provost Company and HQ, 245th Provost Company) and Operation Plunder (101 Provost Company, CMP, 15th (Scottish) Division), the airborne and ground elements respectively of the Rhine Crossings in March 1945. CMP units also served with British units of the 14th Army in the Burma campaign 1944–1945 (e.g. 2nd Division). At war's end, General Sir Miles Dempsey paid the following tribute: "The Military Policeman became such a well known figure on every road to the battlefield that his presence became taken for granted. Few soldiers as they hurried over a bridge which was a regular target for the enemy, gave much thought to the man whose duty it was to stand there for hours on end, directing the traffic and ensuring its rapid passage".
1945-2000
On 28 November 1946 King George VI granted the 'Royal' prefix to the Corps of Royal Military Police (RMP) by Army Order 167 in recognition of its outstanding wartime record. (CRMP was chosen to avoid confusion with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police or RCMP). Traffic Control Wing and Vulnerable Points Wing were phased out by 1946, with the latter re-appearing briefly in the Supplementary Reserve/Army Emergency Reserve between 1950 and 1961. Not all the former TA Companies survived the war intact but by April 1946 the remaining units had also been stood down.
27 Brigade Provost Section and 28 Brigade Provost Section both deployed to join the UN force in the Korean War, suffering only one fatality during that conflict, Sergeant D. R. Kinnear. The first RMP Direct Entry Officers were accepted in 1953. From 1969 onwards four RMP members lost their lives in Operation Banner, the British military response to the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Elizabeth II became the Corps' Colonel-in-Chief in 1977.
Post-war Supplementary Reserve A new set of TA Companies were established for the RMP in 1947. The Supplementary Reserve was also restarted in 1949 and renamed as the Army Emergency Reserve in 1951. Numerous RMP (AER) units were raised, administered by HQ RMP AER at Inkerman Barracks, Woking; these included Army and Corps Provost Companies and Vulnerable Points Companies as well as SIB Sections. The RMP AER recruited heavily from ex-Regular and National Service RMP personnel, as well as the civilian Police and Automobile Association. The annual training commitment of the AER units was lower than that of the TA, with personnel only required to attend one 15-day camp each year, with no weekly or monthly continuation training. In 1951 the composition of RMP AER was as follows;
The RMP (AER) Pool – comprising an establishment of 44 officers and some 830 NCOs and other ranks, who would reinforce Regular Army and TA units in the event of mobilisation for war.
Seven General Headquarters Provost Companies (240 – 246 (GHQ) Pro Coy, RMP (AER). Two Home Command Provost Companies (153 and 154 (HC) Pro Coy, RMP (AER). Two Port Provost Companies (2 and 3 Port Pro Coy, RMP (AER). One Provost Signal Company (1 Prov Sig Coy, RMP (AER).