Recruitment in The British Army - First World War

First World War

At the start of 1914 the British Army had a reported strength of 710,000 men including reserves, of which 247,432 were regular troops, also including 80,000 regular troops formed as the British Expeditionary Force. The recruitment drive would be spearheaded by Lord Kitchener once war had been declared in August 1914.

It was abundantly clear that the army which the Kaiser had referred to as a "contemptible little army", would need thousands more recruits. Young Britons answered the call, for King and Country, and voluntarily joined the British Army. By early 1915 much of the regular army had been killed and were now replaced by the part-time volunteers of the Territorial Force and Kitchener's new volunteer army. A feature of the volunteer army was the Pals battalions, recruited from single communities or even factories, who were allowed to serve together. The Kitchener recruitment campaign had proved to be very successful, as on September 1, 1914, over 30,000 men enlisted. With each day passing, thousands more were clamouring to be taken. The British Government soon realized the main drawback of this campaign, as opposed to the French and German conscriptions which selected each individual men, a high proportion of men from skilled industries left their works which would prove to be costly in the war effort. A better-controlled enlistment program would be required.

The Military Service Bill was enacted with effect from January 1916 and specified that men from the ages of 18 to 41 were liable to be called-up for service unless they were married (or widowed with children), or else served in one of a number of reserved professions. 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.