Against Our Better Judgment: An Examination of The Torchwood Branches.
In examining the various branches of the Torchwood Institute, we can see the central issue faced by hyper-imperialist organizations with an extra-normal remit. Simply put, these organizations tend to be established to defend the status quo, however given the issues they are dealing with, the ideal staff, almost without fail, tend to fall outside the norms of polite society. Sir Rowland Downsbury, the institute’s central head from 1914-1946, once characterized the organization’s other branches as being the “dens of deviants, foreigners and deviant foreigners.” In response, Emily Holroyd - acting head of the Cardiff Branch between 1909-1921 - characterized Downsbury as a “slug of a man, utterly dependent on the sort of people he loathed.”
While Holroyd’s words are mired in personal distaste they are hard to fault, indeed Downsbury’s singular lack of action regarding the Cardiff branch’s lax hiring practices would suggest that he was, however grudgingly, in agreement with her. With the city’s localized spatial/temporal phenomenon - commonly termed the Rift - no doubt offering the operation solid footing against attempts at aggressive oversight from the Institute's central facility. Holroyd would subsequently use various covert activities taken by the Cardiff team throughout the first world war as further leverage, ensuring the branch’s independence from London. Infamously, Holroyd's immediate successor was an outspoken member of the Communist Party of Great Britain, a political affiliation that would be unthinkable within the London branch.
Torchwood Two and Four, located within Scotland and Ireland respectively, were not so lucky. When examining their treatment, it is hard not to think of the words of Captain Jack Harkness - arguably the Institutes most prolific agent - who once stated, “The Rift is a blessing and a curse.” While the Captain could simply be waxing poetic about a unique phenomenon, it could also be argued that he was instead referring to the unique bargaining chip it represented. The Rift consistently released wonders and horrors on Cardiff, necessitating a highly skilled team free from the threat of middle-management and unburdened by the prejudices of the late 19th/early 20th century. Ireland and Scotland meanwhile, lacked any sort of permanent threat, and as a result were faced with obstruction and oversight from day one.
The 1919-1921 Irish War of Independence only worsened this, with Westminster’s fear of succession influencing London’s attitude towards the two branches, downsizing their operations in 1923 with the justification that the threat of seditious elements was too high to allow them to continue to operate at their present scale. Keith Bowden - head of Torchwood Four between 1917-1930 - claimed that downsizing his already small operation would effectively sign Torchwood Four’s death-warrants. A statement that would take on new dimensions following the groups disappearance by the end of the decade.
Prior to 1923, Torchwood Two was the organization’s second largest branch. Operating out Torchwood House, Two employed a 13-person investigation team supported by 200 custodial staff, with the House acting as the central archive for the Institute’s various acquisitions. However, following the downsizing this was reduced to a staff of just one, Archibald Campbell, who was then relocated to a small, two-floor office above Glasgow’s Central Station. Most of Torchwood House’s archives were subsequently moved to a new storage location, though rumors abound that George V used the opportunity to furnish his own counter-intelligence organization with a number of alien technologies.
The message was clear, beyond a limited presence Two and Four were not important to the central office. As with Cardiff the teams were rife with “problem elements” and without the threat of the Rift, London were free to purge them as they saw fit. Indeed, following Four’s disappearance London expressed no desire to investigate, leaving the already overworked Cardiff team to carry out a rudimentary investigation that turned up no results. Equally, the appointment of Campbell was intended to spell the end of London’s involvement with Scotland. However, Campbell proved adept at gaming the restrictions placed on Torchwood Two, employing various interns drawn from local universities as unofficial field investigators and allegedly supporting the underfunded branch via black-market trading. Limited attempts were made to prevent this, but by the late 60s the London branch opted for an out of sight, out of mind approach to the Glasgow office.
Tellingly, when establishing the various “international” branches, London demanded absolute control over staff appointments to avoid the ‘mistakes’ of the United Kingdom’s other branches. Indeed, Only Torchwood: Los Angeles, an office already at odds with the institute’s usual set-up, would openly challenge the central office’s management. Notably, Cardiff, Glasgow and Los Angeles were the only branches to survive into the mid-21st century, though of the three only Torchwood Cardiff retained the organization’s name.
Extract from Ken-Jennings Brown, “The Torchwood Institute: A History,”
