I have just received some information about my Triumph TRW..Apparently it was built on 7-12-1951 and dispatched to the Ministry of Supply on 20-12-1951...

It was one of 216 TRWs supplied to the UK government that year...

I don't have a contract plate on the bike and 'dispatched to the Ministry of Supply' doesn't help in determining which arm of service, if any, it was supplied to...

My question is, was the Ministry of Supply in place to service the armed forces only or other government departments as well...

Any info. on this period appreciated ref. the above....Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

It's a confusing period post-war Ian.............all three services continued as the War Department (Army), the Admiralty (Navy) and the Air Ministry (RAF) until 1964 when the MoD embraced all three services.............the MOS was another entity.....theoretically, it could supply all three services although most placed individual contracts themselves......but, at some point, maybe they had to go via the MOS in demanding ? Large numbers of TRW's were also sent to Canada, part of the Commonwealth, so completely unsure here...........

Quoted from the internet....not certain how accurate this may be......

"For the Canadian Cabinet office, see Minister of Supply and Services (Canada).
The Ministry of Supply (MoS) was a department of the UK Government formed in 1939 to co-ordinate the supply of equipment to all three British armed forces, headed by the Minister of Supply. There was, however, a separate ministry responsible for aircraft production and the Admiralty retained responsibilities for supplying the Royal Navy. During the war-years the MoS was based at Shell Mex House in The Strand, London.

The Ministry of Supply also took over all army research establishments in 1939, and in 1946 the Ministry of Aircraft Production was abolished and the MoS took over its responsibilities for aircraft, including the associated research establishments. In the same year it also took on increased responsibilities for atomic weapons, including the H-bomb development programme.

The Ministry of Supply was abolished in 1959 and its responsibilities passed to the Ministry of Aviation, the War Office and the Air Ministry. The latter two ministries were subsequently merged with the Admiralty to form the Ministry of Defence.

The Ministry of Supply instigated the Rainbow Codes designation system. This assigned projects a two-word codename, the first word being a colour and the second a noun. As a result, secret weapon projects—including numerous nuclear weapons—were given lighthearted names such as Green Cheese, Blue Slug or Red Duster."

Sorry for a stupid question. Does this mean that all bikes dispatched to the War Office went to British services?

email (option): cas.vanderwoude@gmail.com

If you mean WW2, vehicles ordered under War Office contracts were intended for the British Army and would initially at least and with very few exceptions have been despatched to British RAOC or RASC depots.

This doesn't rule out subsequent supply to other nations such as Canada or Australia etc. which would have been via these depots.

It seems to have been very rare that the Admiralty or Air Ministry took over Army vehicles. They had their own budgets and the pick of the equipment anwyway.