Thanks to PackRat's help I was able to identify DSP on one of the pages of a war service record I'm helping a friend to interpret. I'm just wondering now what this Directorate was all about, as when I looked up DSP on Google, it always seems to refer to psychology. Would anyone be able to expand on this? Would this directorate have been to do with psychological elements of a soldier's "make-up", ie his suitability for selection, and for what areas of selection could that be? The soldier in question was in the East Lancs Regiment, and would have been with the 1st Battalion ELR (25/5/41) before being posted to HQ 42 Support Group Defence platoon (21/10/41). This AF20 sent to the DSP was sent on 9/1/42, and on 26/6/42 the soldier is transferred and permanently attached to Defence Platoon HQ 71st Infantry Brigade. At the end of November '42 he is admitted to the Driffield Base Hospital in York where he seems to spend about a month before he is posted to No5 Infantry Depot from the 71st Inf Bde HQ. I don't know if the Driffield Hospital was a general hospital or a specialised one. Sorry for all the dates and maybe too much information, but thanks in advance for any help you can provide. RRTB
Hi RRTB I've scoured the internet and have come across a number of references to the Directorate of Selection of Personnel (DSP). Up to 1941 personnel were called up and allocated to the Army or Navy or RAF and trades / employment based on Ministry of Labour & National Service evaluation. This system was haphazard to say the least leading to numerous ‘square pegs in round holes’. It appears that the DSP was established in June 1941 to oversee the use of manpower and develop processes to ensure that personnel were correctly allocated to where their skills could be better used, and was mainly staffed by psychologists. To achieve this, the DSP conducted job analyses and later governed the General Service Selection scheme (GSS). Under the DSP from 1942, all men entering the army went through the GSS scheme, receiving basic training and undergoing tests of their abilities (including intelligence testing, agility and fitness tests, and medical tests) in order to place them in a role. This led to the establishment of the General Service Corps (GSC) in February 1942, with the first intakes w.e.f 02 July 1942. The GSS scheme was later extended to WO Selection Boards. Steve
Bridlington Road, Driffield, East Riding of Yorkshire Formerly connected with a Workhouse and then, in 1930, a small infirmary known as the Driffield Public Assistance Institution. In 1939-40, an Emergency Medical Service (EMS) hospital, known as Driffield Base Hospital, was erected at the north of the workhouse site. The hospital continued in operation after the war under the name of The County Hospital, Driffield. In 1948, it joined the National Health Service as the East Riding County Hospital, gradually taking over the workhouse infirmary and other buildings which had fallen into disuse. The hospital finally closed in 1990 and the buildings were demolished in 1992. Housing now occupies the site. Background to EMS at: Creation of the Emergency Medical Service | Policy Navigator Not aware of the wartime facility having a specialist function. Afternote: Just postwar, but this Hansard piece perhaps offers a view on Directorate staffing and ratio of psychologist involvement - if not seen already: https://hansard.parliament.uk/commo...-4d36d4bde837/PersonnelSelection(Directorate)
Thank you both for your very helpful answers; I can now add all that to the rest of the information I've gleaned for my friend. Roger
I can add that the DSP was badly needed. British Army personnel selection and assignment in the first two years of the war was slipshod to say the least, as it had been between the wars. Far too many men who should never have been in uniform were taken in after the most perfunctory screenings ("Any madness in the family?"), with predictably detrimental results. It's easy for us now to pick holes in the work of the DSP, but with all its flaws it was a big improvement on what had come before.
The formation of the Directorate of Personal Selection was a consequence of the appointment of Ronald Forbes Adam as Adjutant General. Ronald Forbes Adam - Wikipedia
Thank you for the further contributions, folks. I love the way the site members are so helpful on here. Roger
