Recruitment to the British Army during World War I
At the beginning of 1914 the British Army had a reported strength of 710,000 men including reserves, of which around 80,000 were professional soldiers ready for war.
By the end of the First World War almost 25 percent of the total male population of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland had joined up, over five million men.
[1][2] This did not include reservists liable to be recalled to the colours upon general mobilization or the part-time volunteers of the Territorial Force.
To facilitate recruitment, supplementary Regular terms of service were announced by Army Order 296 dated 6 August 1914.
These "General Service" terms were changed by Army Order 470 dated 7 November, simplified to "the duration of the war."
[15] To address the short-term need for trained men to replenish the originally deployed BEF units, supplementary Special Reserve terms of service were announced by Army Order 295 dated 6 August 1914, rescinded 7 November 1914.
It states that 'an ex-non-commissioned officer of the regular army who enlists [under the supplemental terms of service announced on 6 August 1914].. [will be] promoted forthwith to the rank held on discharge.
'[8][page needed] One early peculiarity was the formation of 'pals battalions': groups of men from the same factory, football team, bank or similar, joining and fighting together.
One consequence of pals battalions was that a whole town could suffer a severe impact on its military-aged menfolk in a single day of fierce battle.
[17][page needed] The women's suffrage movement was sharply divided, the slight majority becoming very enthusiastic patriots and asking their members to give white feathers (the sign of the coward) in the streets to men who appeared to be of military age to shame them into service.
15 July 1915 the National Registration Act was passed by the British Government, exactly one month later there was a census of every citizen aged 15 to 65, approximately 29 million forms completed.
[21] These records were ordered to be destroyed in 1921, yet some did survive, including the lately discovered forms of 2,409 women living in Cirencester, since transcribed and made publicly available.
[22] The Cabinet were given a strong warning in September 1915 in a paper presented by their only Labour member, Minister of Education Arthur Henderson.
They resented the idea of being dragooned to face possible death by a Parliament they had no part in electing—forty percent of men over 21 were denied the vote by the franchise and registration laws (until the Representation of the People Act of 1918).
[27] Many canvassers were experienced in politics, though discharged veterans and the fathers of serving soldiers proved the most effective, while some just used threats to persuade.
[28][failed verification] Every man would be given a copy of a letter from the Earl of Derby, explaining the programme and stating that they were in "a country fighting, as ours is, for its very existence".
A khaki armband bearing the Royal Crown [30] was provided to all who had enlisted, or officially rejected, as well as to starred and discharged men.
[32] As there were too few volunteers to fill the ranks, the Military Service Bill was introduced in January 1916, with compulsory conscription for the first time in Britain's history.
Every unmarried man and childless widower between 18 and 41 was offered three choices: In May 1916 the bill was extended to married men and in April 1918 the upper age was raised to 50 (or 56 if need arose).
[33] Thousands marched from London's East End to Trafalgar Square, where they listened to speeches from Sylvia Pankhurst and a Glasgow councillor who reported that engineers had come out on strike along the Clyde.
The event ended in violence when a group of soldiers and sailors charged the crowd, ripped their banners and threw dye in their faces.
[34] As Arthur Henderson had warned, compulsion was unpopular, by July 1916, 93,000 (30%) of those called up for military service had failed to appear (In reality they had little chance of escape, although a lucky few were hidden by sympathisers) [35][page needed] and 748,587 had claimed an exemption – the men, or their employers, could appeal to a civilian Military Service Tribunal in their district on the grounds of work of national importance, business or domestic hardship, medical unfitness or conscientious objection.
The married men who had attested in the Derby plan are harder to categorize because they were not called up from the Reserve but swept up with the rest.
The PRC was formed of the Prime Minister and heads of political parties later joined by other representatives such as for the Trades Union Congress; its sub-committees handled the preparation and publishing of recruiting materials.
