Ministry of Overseas Military Forces

The Ministry of Overseas Military Forces was established in November 1916 to administer Canadian forces in the UK, especially in the training of reinforcements, and to act as the communications channel between the Militia Department, the British War Office, and the Canadian Corps in France. When the Canadian Expeditionary Force went overseas, no provision had been made for its administration. Sir Sam Hughes, minister of militia, George Perley, acting high commissioner in Britain, and Col Max Aitken, Canadian military representative at the front, were involved in CEF affairs. To end confusion, PM Borden planned to establish a military council in England. Meanwhile, Hughes established an Acting Sub-Militia Council. Borden then appointed Perley minister of overseas military forces on 31 October 1916, and an angry Hughes, requested to resign, did so. Sir Albert E. Kemp succeeded Perley in October 1917, and the office was abolished in July 1920.