Recruitment to the British Army during World War I

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A World War I recruitment poster featuring Kitchener.

At the start of 1914 the British Army had a reported strength of 710,000 men inclusive of reserves, of which around 80,000 were regular troops ready for war. By the end of World War I almost 1 in 4 of the total male population of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland had joined, over five million men.

[edit] Initial enthusiasm

The war began with a massive and unprecedented wave of enthusiasm. At the start of August 1914 Parliament had issued a call for an extra 500,000 soldiers and the response was overwhelming. By the end of September over 750,000 men had enlisted; by January 1915, a million. The enthusiasm to join and fight was genuine, showing an "almost mystical patriotism". Pre-war tensions in Ireland were put on hold, men from the Ulster Volunteer Force and Irish Volunteers both joining in great numbers — Ulster alone provided twelve battalions in the first months. Men from the rest of Ireland tended to be dispersed in English regiments for political purposes. Recruitment posters in Dublin claimed that "the trenches are safer than the Dublin slums". The patriotism was classless, with the prestigious universities and public schools providing 30,000 officers from their Officers Training Corps immediately and many more officers subsequently. Sixth forms and universities were almost emptied as the war continued.

One early peculiarity was the formation of "Pals' battalions": groups of men from the same factory, football team, bank, and similar, joining and fighting together. The idea was first suggested at a public meeting by Lord Derby; within three days he oversaw volunteers sufficient for three battalions. Kitchener, the Minister of War, gave official approval for the measure almost instantly and the response was impressive. Manchester raised fifteen specific 'Pals' battalions; one of the smallest was Accrington, in Lancashire, which raised one. The drawback of 'Pals' battalions was that a whole town could lose its military-aged menfolk in a single day.

The government demand for men continued unabated, and after the first call in August for 500,000 men a further 3.5 million were called-for before the year's end. The pre-war calculations had supposed that the British Expeditionary Force would lose around 40% of its manpower in the first six months of fighting, Kitchener's predictions of three years fighting and a million men needed being regarded as incredible. The seven divisions of the BEF, totalling 85,000 men, had been landed in France at the outbreak of war; casualties in the first three months totalled almost 90,000. By mid-1915 this total had risen to around 375,000 men even before the autumn offensives and the rate of recruitment was falling off, for a number of reasons.

In 1914 the total available number of men of military age was 5.5 million, with around 500,000 more reaching the age each year. By late September 2.25 million men had been enlisted and 1.5 million were in reserved occupations. Of the rest the recruiters had uncovered a dismaying fact — almost two in every five volunteers were entirely unsuitable for military service on the grounds of health. When volunteer numbers fell to around 70,000 a month after the Dardanelles Expedition the government felt forced to intervene, although they initially avoided conscription. A National Registration Act created a register that revealed the number of men still available and they were targeted in a number of ways. The skills of advertising were brought to bear with posters, public meetings, tales of German atrocities, and the threat of shame. The 'Derby Scheme' used door-to-door visits to gather men to 'attest' to serve if needed.

Many public institutions of all sorts mobilized to help recruit for the war. 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 of military age who had not joined the army.

The Music Hall 'popstars' of the time worked enthusiastically for recruitment. Harry Lauder toured the music halls, recruiting young soldiers on stage in front of the audience, often offering 'ten pounds for the first recruit tonight'. Marie Lloyd sang a recruiting song "I didn't like you much before you joined the army, John, but I do like you, cockie, now you've got yer khaki on". Vesta Tilley sang "The Army of Today's alright".

[edit] Conscription

With insufficient numbers attesting and the French Army in dire need of relief a Military Service Bill was introduced in January 1916, providing for the conscription of single men. In May the conscription was made universal, although Ireland was excluded from the scheme and the government pledged to not send teenagers to serve in the front line. (Plans to introduce conscription in Ireland led to widespread support for Sinn Féin and independence.) However, this had little impact on enlistments. The number continued to decline towards 40,000 a month as essential men were needed for war work and the poor health of many others remained, even as the requirements were progressively reduced. From 1.28 million enlisting in 1915 this had fallen to 1.19 million for 1916 and fell to around 820,000 for 1917. The healthy manpower was simply not there — in 1917–18 only 36% of men examined were suitable for full military duties, and 40% were either totally unfit or were classified as unable to undergo physical exertion. In 1918 the British Army was actually smaller than in 1917 (3.84 million to 3.9 million) and almost half the infantry was nineteen or younger.

The idea of conscientious objection had been included in the 1916 bills, with objectors appearing before special local groups to obtain exemption. Around 7,000 men were granted non-combatant duties, while a further 3,000 were sent to special labour camps. Many others who failed to be given an exemption were enlisted and sent to France to potentially face the threat of firing squad. This threat was more real to around 1,000 men who completely refused any form of service. They were forced into the Army and forty-one of them were later sentenced to death, reprieved only by the intervention of Lloyd George.