Recruitment in the British Army

At the beginning of the 18th century, the standing strength of the British Army was reduced after the Treaty of Ryswick, and stood at 7,000 troops at home and 14,000 based overseas,[1] with recruits ranging from 17 to 50 years of age.

For much of the 18th century, the army was recruited in a wide variety of places, and its manpower was additionally supplemented by auxiliaries from continental Europe, including Danes, Hessians and Hanoverians.

By 1709, during the War of the Spanish Succession, British forces totalled 150,000 men, of whom 81,000 were foreign mercenaries of variable quality.

[3] The rest of the army consisted of natives of the British Isles who, apart from the officers, were mainly recruited from the poorest sections of society.

Some of these powers were abused by recruiting officers desperate to fill their quotas, although a legalized Royal Navy press-gang system would not be implemented yet,[4] even though normal recruiting methods failed to supply the required annual influx of troops, as the army was not a popular profession, with low pay, flogging and other barbarous disciplinary measures.

[8] The United Kingdom's struggle with France during the Napoleonic wars required the British Army to expand rapidly.

[9] During this period, Great Britain was at a disadvantage to her enemy, as due to the Industrial Revolution potential recruits were instead drawn to the cities to earn more money in the many factories now being built in the country, while France was still largely an agrarian society.

[11] The Army still struggled to raise the troops required to replace the discharged, wounded and dead as the war against France continued.

[10] This would remain a constant theme during the Napoleonic wars, and the British Army also used foreign volunteers, such as French Royalists, Germans, Greeks and Corsicans to supplement its forces.

[9] From 1798 onwards, structural, training and logistical reforms implemented or authorised by the Duke of York (as commander-in-chief of the army)[14] slowly improved the lot of the ordinary soldier.

York oversaw a crackdown on corruption[15] and removed the threat of corporal punishment for a large number of petty offences (while it was still retained for serious derelictions of duty).

The Government's immediate priority was to cut taxes, to lessen the burden of taxation on the economy, which had remained high over the previous 20 years, to pay for the expensive war that enabled Britain to be victorious over France.

[20] Some of the Cardwell's reforms included the abolition of sale of commissions, the banning of flogging and other measures, such as reducing the length of service, to make recruitment more appealing.

At the outset of war young Britons answered the call, for King and Country, and voluntarily joined the British Army.

By the end of World War I, almost a quarter of the total male population of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland had joined up, over five million men.

The army now had competition from the new armed service, the Royal Air Force, which could patrol far greater land areas, and keep the far flung corners of the Empire policed from the sky at a relatively cheaper cost.

If these requirements were met, the recruit was posted to the arm of his choice, there was no scientific selection process unlike the rapidly growing German army.

[27] Hore-Belisha had sought permission to introduce conscription in 1938 but was rebuffed by Neville Chamberlain, who would not agree to increased defence spending.

In early 1939, he was finally allowed to introduce conscription to meet the threat of Germany, with the Military Training Act of 27 April 1939.

Conscription was gradually brought in, starting in October 1939 and applying to all fit men between 20–23, and the age group was increased as the war continued.

As with the previous World War, the end of wartime conscription saw the army reduced in size and reverting to its peacetime role of maintaining the Empire.

At the turn of the 21st century, the British army numbered about 102,000 regular personnel, with about 25,000 recruits per year, mainly from the United Kingdom.

The second son of King George III, Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany, did much to improve the standard of officer recruitment from his position as Commander in Chief of the Army (from 1795 to 1809, then from 1811 to 1827).

This occasionally warped operations in the field, for example at the Battle of Tel el-Kebir, where Wolseley was forced to leave an entire brigade of Guards in reserve to avoid harm coming to Queen Victoria's third son, the Duke of Connaught.

Over 28,000 Irishmen served in the army during the Second Boer War, but by 1910 recruitment levels had fallen to 9 percent and for the first time were below Ireland's share of the UK population.

Under the new provisions Commonwealth citizens were permitted to enlist directly in any one of the British services and significant numbers did so in subsequent years.

The Ministry of Defence later capped the number of recruits from Commonwealth countries at 10% of any corps or regiment in the Army, although this did not affect the Gurkhas.

After Nepal, the nation with most citizens in the British Army was Fiji, with 1,900, followed by Jamaica and Ghana with 600 each; soldiers also came from more prosperous countries, such as Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

From July 2013, all Commonwealth citizens except for those from Ireland, Cyprus, and Malta must have resided for 5 years in the UK before being allowed to join.

[citation needed] As of May 2016, commonwealth citizens can enlist in the British army in limited roles without meeting the residence requirements.