Major General A. Forbes' HISTORY OF THE ARMY ORDNANCE SERVICES: The Three Volume Compilation Vol. I: Ancient History. Vol. II: Modern History. Vol. II (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781783315499)

This is a first class, complete history of the Ordnance Services of the British Army from early times through inception up to the First World War. The Ordnance Services are an essential part of the ability of the army to operate and fight where ever it is sent, supplying weapons, ammunition, explosives and pyrotechnics (amongst a myriad of other items) for use in the field.

This history starts at the very beginning with the equipment of the army in the medieval period, and recounts the frauds that were prevalent in the supply service right through to the nineteenth Century. The treatment is chronological, and includes matters affecting the ordnance services, including the initial stages of the formation of the War Office and the Board of Ordnance.

These three volumes are gems, for they encompass the whole history of ordnance and its supply and procurement. They also account for the incessant changes in uniform and equipment, and the second volume has a section dealing with how standardisation was always a problem.