General Service Corps

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

The role of the corps is to provide specialists, who are usually on the Special List or General List. These lists were used in both World Wars for specialists and those not allocated to other regiments or corps. In World War II, they were used for male operatives of the Special Operations Executive (female operatives joined the FANY).

The General Service Corps itself was formed in February 1942. From 2 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.

From 1914, for the General List and later the General Service Corps, 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. The same capbadge has been used for other British Army regiments and corps for which no unique badge has been authorised, including the Royal Reserve Regiments, the later Royal Garrison Regiment, and the Bermuda Militia Infantry.

Notable members of the General List/General Service Corps include:

• Terence Atherton
• Walter Freud
• Peter Lake
• T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia)
• Bob Maloubier
• John Pendlebury
• Tracy Philipps
• Arthur Staggs

The corps is twenty-second in the British Army's order of precedence.

1. United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps
2. Adjutant General's Corps
3. Surgeon General of the United States
4. National Youth Service Corps
5. Pakistan Army Corps of Service
6. Royal Logistic Corps
7. Judge Advocate General's Corps
8. Hong Kong Military Service Corps
9. United States Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps
10. Defense Superior Service Medal
11. Royal Army Service Corps
12. NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps
13. List of serving generals of the Pakistan Army
14. Army Air Corps (United Kingdom)
15. Sri Lanka Army General Service Corps
16. Corps
17. Lieutenant general (United States)
18. List of active duty United States four-star officers
19. Royal Corps of Signals
20. United States Army Judge Advocate General's Corps