Of things still to come ………. off to war

I wonder just how many of these leaflets still survive.

The leaflet, 1916

It dates from the time that National Conscription was introduced in 1916.

After the first heady rush to join the Colours in 1914 recruitment had fallen away.

In that first few months two million men had enlisted in the armed forces joining the hundreds of thousands of regulars, reservists and territorials but by early 1915 the numbers enlisting each month had levelled out at around 110,000 which was judged to be not enough to keep pace with the casualties on the battlefields.

As early as August 1914 the height restrictions had been lowered and in the May of the following year the upper age limit was raised from 38 to 40.

A National Registration Identity Card, 1915

It therefore made perfect sense to explore just how many men were out there who were fit for military service and so on July 15th 1915 Parliament passed the National Registration Act which set out the means by which “a register shall be formed of all persons male and female between the ages of fifteen and sixty-five (not being members of His Majesty’s naval forces or of His Majesty’s regular or territorial forces).”*

The registration was undertaken in a similar way to a census with some 29 million forms issued across England and Wales.

It revealed that there were about five million men of military age who were not in the forces and as a means of reinvigorating recruitment the Derby scheme was introduced which offered the opportunity for men to enlist but defer their call up to a later date.

215,000 men enlisted while the scheme was on and another 2,185,000 chose to delay their enlistment and those who were on the deferred list were given a grey or khaki arm band with a red crown.

Detail from the leaflet, 1916

But this still left a large pool of potential recruits who had not shown a willingness to serve, and so in the January of 1916 the Military Service Act was passed introducing conscription.

This required that all men between the ages of 18 to 41 were liable for service in the army unless they were married, widowed with children or in the Royal Navy, a minister of religion or in a reserved occupation.

Later in May 1916 this was extended to married men and two years later the upper age limit was raised to 51.

In the fullness of time the leaflet will join other items from David Harrop's collection at his permanent exhibition in the Remembrance Lodge in Southern Cemetery on Barlow Moor Road in Manchester

Location, 1916

Picture; leaflet, 1916 and Identity card, 1915, from the collection of David Harrop

*National Registration Scheme, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search?q=national+registration+scheme

Call Up: The Story of National Service …. Tonight on the wireless

I missed being conscripted into the Armed Forces by just a decade.

The policy of conscripting young men for 18 month started in January 1949, with the last leaving the services in 1963.

You still hear older people call for its return, although I suspect many of those will never have experienced being “called up”.

Some of my older friends who just missed it or indeed went through it have very different views as to its usefulness.

So I am looking forward to Call Up: The Story of National Service,  in the series Archive on 4, on Radio 4, tonight at 8pm.*

“Sixty years after the last conscripts arrived at their barracks and queued for their kit, historian Richard Vinen uncovers stories of the two million young men who went through National Service.

While some embraced the discipline, camaraderie and opportunities that National Service offered, others endured misery. Most never left the country, but some fought in Korea or the Malayan jungle, or found themselves in Kenya, Suez or Cyprus.

As well as memories of parade grounds and patriotism, brief moments of terror and long months of tedium, Richard considers the absurdities of army life and post-war ideas of class and masculinity.

And in an era when war with the Soviet Union seemed likely, Richard unpicks the politics of National Service from the late 1940s to the early 1960s, asking why post-war Britain needed its young conscripts and whether conscription changed Britain.

A TBI Media production for BBC Radio 4"

Picture; Are You with Us in National Service? 1939-45. This poster was scanned and released by the Imperial War Museum on the IWM Non Commercial Licence. The artwork was created by a commissioned military artist during their active service duties in the First World War. In the UK this these became controlled under the Crown Copyright provisions and so faithful reproductions may be reused under that licence, which is considered expired after 50 years.

*Call Up: The Story of National Service Archive 4, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000g520