General Service Corps


The General Service Corps is a corps of the British Army.

Role

The role of the corps is to provide specialists, who are usually on the Special List or General List.

History

The corps was founded in 1914 at the outbreak of World War I for specialists and those not allocated to other regiments or corps. It was used for similar purposes in World War II, including for male operatives of the Special Operations Executive.
From July 1942, army recruits were enlisted in the corps for their first six weeks so that their subsequent posting could take account of their skills and the Army's needs. A similar role, holding some recruits pending allocation to their units, continues today.
Bermuda Militia Infantry soldiers absorbed into the Bermuda Militia Artillery before demobilisation in 1946 wore the General Service Corps cap badge instead of the Royal Artillery cap badge.

Insignia

From 1914, the cap badge has been the Royal Arms, with variously a king's or a queen's crown, depending on the reigning monarch. It bears the motto of the monarch Dieu et mon droit and the Order of the Garter motto Honi soit qui mal y pense. As a result, a GSC nickname was 'Crosse and Blackwell' after the firm whose tins and jar labels had a prominent royal coat of arms.

Notable personnel

Notable members of the General Service Corps include:
The corps is twenty-second in the British Army's order of precedence.