Great Britain was divided into military districts on the outbreak of war with France in 1793.

As outlined in a paper published in 1903, VI Corps was to be formed in a reconstituted Scottish Command, with HQ at Edinburgh.

[10] After initially regrouping in southern Scotland[11] these Polish ground units (as I Corps, comprising the 1st Independent Rifle Brigade, the 10th Motorised Cavalry Brigade (as infantry) and cadre brigades largely manned by surplus officers at battalion strength) took over responsibility in October 1940 for the defence of the counties of Fife and Angus; this included reinforcing coastal defences that had already been started.

[13] In 1948, the 9th Special Communications Unit was formed in Forfar administered by Scottish Command.

[14] In 1955, Headquarters Scottish Command moved into modern facilities at Craigiehall, close to Cramond, around 9 km (5.6 mi) west of central Edinburgh.

At this time, the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief had 92 separate locations under his command, with 2,500 regular service men and women and 8,800 members of the Territorial Army, representing 14% of the total across the UK.