Commander-in-Chief of the Forces

Commander-in-Chief of the Forces
Longest serving FM Prince George, Duke of Cambridge 5 July 1856 – 1 November 1895
English Army British Army War Office
Type	Senior-most officer
Abbreviation	C-in-C
Reports to	Secretary of State for War
Appointer	The Monarch
Term length	No fixed term
Formation	1645 January 1793
First holder	Captain General Sir Thomas Fairfax as General-in-Chief FM Jeffery Amherst, 1st Lord Amherst as Commander-in-Chief of the Forces
Final holder	FM Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts
Abolished	12 February 1904
Succession	Chief of the General Staff

The Commander-in-Chief of the Forces, later Commander-in-Chief, British Army, or just the Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C), was (intermittently) the professional head of the English Army from 1660 to 1707 (the English Army, founded in 1645, was succeeded in 1707 by the new British Army, incorporating existing Scottish regiments) and of the British Army from 1707 until 1904. In 1904 the office was replaced with the creation of the Army Council and the appointment of Chief of the General Staff.