Home >Army Organisation > Army Chaplains Department
Chaplains have been an official part of the organisation of the British Army since 1796, when the forerunner of the Army Chaplain's Department was sanctioned.
 
Senior Command
Chaplains belonging to the Church of England were under the control of the Chaplain-General; those of other churches were under the Secretary of the War Office.
 
Churches represented
The following churches provided Chaplains to the Forces: Church of England, Jewish, Presbyterian Churches (Church of Scotland, United Free Church of Scotland, Presbyterian Church of Ireland, Presbyterian Church of England), Roman Catholic, Salvation Army, United Board (Baptist, Congregationalist, Primitive Methodist, United Methodist), Welsh Calvinistic Methodist, Wesleyan.
 
Chaplain ranks
Chaplain grade Equivalent Army rank
Chaplain-General (Rt Reverend Bishop John Taylor Smith KCB CB CVO DD) Major-General
Deputy Chaplain-General (Rt Reverend Bishop Llewellyn Henry Gwynne) Major-General
Principal Chaplain (Reverend J.M. Simms) Major-General
Principal Chaplain Brigadier-General
Chaplain 1st Class Colonel
Chaplain 2nd Class Lieutenant-Colonel
Chaplain 3rd Class Major
Chaplain 4th Class Captain
 
Some Chaplaincy facts
Three Chaplains were awarded the Victoria Cross during the Great War: Rev. William Addison, Rev Theodore Hardy, and Revd Edward Mellish. Hardy was the highest decorated non-combatant, earning the DSO and MC in addition to the VC.
Talbot House, "Everyman's Club" in Poperinge, was created by two Army Chaplains: Philip "Tubby" Clayton and Neville Talbot.
179 Chaplains were killed in action or died of wounds received during the Great War.
A Chaplain features in "Ordinary Heroes" on this site: George Smissen.