Provost-marshal,

Provost-marshal, in the Navy, is a person appointed to have charge of a prisoner before a court-martial, and until the sentence of the court is carried into execution. In the British Army the provost-marshal is an officer, appointed only abroad, to superintend the preservation of order, and to be, as it were, the head of the police of any particular camp or district. He has cognisance of all camp-followers, as well as of members of the army. Under the Army Act of 1881 he cannot as formerly inflict any punishment of his own authority, but may apprehend any offender and bring him before a court-martial. It may then be his duty to see the sentence of the court carried out.