Military administration is in essence about ‘the maintenance of forces in the field’. As Douglas Haig observed:

In accordance with British doctrine responsibility for administration was divided between the A&Q (Adjutant General and Quartermaster) staff. The A staff dealt with personnel matters while Q dealt with logistics. Both of these endeavours are rarely mentioned in Australian histories and, aside from a few specialist British studies produced immediately after the war, little attention has been given to the subject until recently. It was not until 1998 that a study of the BEF's logistics was published, and the broader subject of administration has yet to receive similar attention.

Although any account of administration must be rather mundane in comparison with battle history, it is none the less a vital part of how armies function and how they spend their time. The 1st Division spent 423 days out of 1683 – a quarter of its service – engaged in administration. Half of this time (205 days) was consumed in administrative moves, sometimes by ship (66 days), rail (43 days), motor vehicle (12 days) or, more often, by marching (84 days). Most of the other half of its administrative time was spent looking after its personnel, be it rest and recreation (153 days), camp duties (20 days), ceremonial parades (9 days), inspections (4 days), and medical and mortuary activities (2 days). The remaining 30 days were devoted to logistics: preparing quarters and billets (17 days) and ordnance activities related to drawing and returning equipment (12 days).