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

A missing armband and a promise to enlist at a later date .............. stories behind the book nu 11

An occasional series on the stories behind the new book on Manchester and the Great War.*

Voluntary recruitment, 1915

Now I am on the lookout for those arm bands which were issued during the Great War to men who had been wounded and invalidated out of the armed forces and those whose call up had been deferred.

So far I have only come across one and that is not mine to use, but my friend David Harrop is at this very moment looking for an example which I can feature on the blog and in the book.

As the war entered its second year there were those only too keen to point the finger at men who “were not doing their bit.”

So for those who had actually done their bit and returned to civilian life after being wounded an arm band with a silver crown was issued which it was hoped would announce to the world that they had served their country.

And for those men who were prepared to enlist but wanted to defer their call up, the Government established the Group Scheme which was commonly known as the Derby scheme.

It was in some ways a half way house between the voluntary enlistment which had been so successful in the first months of the war and conscription.

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.

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.***

Conscription, 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.

All of which means that those grey and khaki armbands with the red badge were not in service for long.

Still I would like to see one, and include it on the blog and the book.

Location; Britain

Pictures; recruitment poster for the Derby Scheme, November 1915, Parliamentary Recruiting Committee Poster no 137, Imperial War Museum, Art.IWM PST 5022, originally posted in Derby Scheme, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derby_Scheme and British conscription poster for Military Service Act, 1916, Parliamentary and Joint Labour Recruiting Committees, originally posted in Military Service Act 1916, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_Service_Act_1916

*Manchester and the Great War, Andrew Simpson, was published in February 2017, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/A%20new%20book%20on%20Manchester%20and%20the%20Great%20War

***First Clause of the National Registration Act 1915.

***Derby Scheme, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derby_Scheme

Mr Laithwaite’s identity card.............. stories behind the book nu 8

An occasional series on the stories behind the new book on Manchester and the Great War.*

Mr Laithwaite's identity card, 1915

I am looking at the identity card of Mr Joseph Reuben Laithwaite which was issued in the September of 1915.

It tells me that he was a “timekeeper and store keeper for a Bleach and Dyeworks” and that he lived at nu 7 Gibson Street Harpurhey.

And that started me on a search for Mr Laithwaite.

I know that he had been born in Bolton in 1876 and that he married Emily Rushton in the summer of 1907 and that they had a daughter in the late February of 1911.

I can’t be sure how long they had been living at nu 7 Gibson Street but they were there in the April of 1911 and shared the 4 roomed house with Emily’s widowed father.

In time I might be able to locate that bleach and dye works where he was employed.

There were a number of these in the area including a big one just beyond Harpuhey House which would have been a short walk from where they lived.

Gobon Street, 1893

Sadly Gibson Street is no more it was opposite Beech Mount on Rochdale Road and went when the area was redeveloped.

Nor have I found where he was buried.  His name doesn’t appear on the list of burial records for the city so perhaps he lies in Bolton where he had been born.

But at least I know something of the man and that is because of the chance survival of his identity card.

Identities cards were a feature of the Second World War and lasted well into the immediate peacetime period.

Identity card, 1915

I have my own which was issued in 1949.  It recorded my movements across London and beyond from when I was born till the cards were abolished in 1952.

But I was not aware that a similar scheme had operated from 1915.

Of course it should have been fairly obvious.

During the war the Government issued a series of measures which extended their powers to prosecute the war.

It began with the Defence of the Realm Act and the Alien’s Act in 1914, went on with the Munitions Act the year later and was followed by a range of legislation and orders including of course military conscription.

And the identity card was at the heart of that debate on military conscription.

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.

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

But unlike the census where the householder was responsible for filling in the form under the Registration Act it was the responsibility of each man and women to complete their own form.

The returned forms were collected in mid August and compiled by the local authority that in turn passed on the statistics to the Register General.

It showed there were almost five million men of military age who were not in the forces of which over a million were in scarce or essential occupations.

Knightley Street, Rochdale Road, 1900

And that leads me back to Mr Laithwaite.  His details were transferred from the form to a card index and finally a ledger which I shall go looking for.

As for the identity scheme according to one source**** once it had uncovered the numbers of men available for military service it was sidelined leading the Manchester Guardian to comment in July 1919 that “apparently, National Registration had survived merely in order to be forgotten, and the news that the Government no longer desires that it should be kept up to date sounds rather like reading the funeral service over a mummy.”*****

I doubt that many people chose to keep their card but I am grateful Mr Laithwaite held on to his.

Location, Harpurhey, Manchester

Pictures; Identity card, 1915 from the collection of David Harrop, and Gibson Street, 1893 from the OS of Lancashire, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/   and Knightley Street, no 51 - 53,off Rochdale Road, Harpurhey, 1900, A Bradburn  Bradburn, m25097, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

*Manchester and the Great War, Andrew Simpson, was published in February 2017  http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/A%20new%20book%20on%20Manchester%20and%20the%20Great%20War

** The National Register: the beginning of the end of voluntary recruitment, https://greatwarlondon.wordpress.com/2015/08/25/national-register/

***First Clause of the National Registration Act 1915.

**** Identity cards in Britain: past experience and policy implications, Jon Agar, November 2005, http://www.historyandpolicy.org/policy-papers/papers/identity-cards-in-britain-past-experience-and-policy-implications

*****The Passing of the National Register, The Manchester Guardian, July 7 1919

Home documents from a World War No 1 The National Milk Scheme

Sometimes it is just enough to let the documents speak for themselves.  

So here is the first from the collection of Graham Gill.

Graham has a vast treasure chest of personal and family material which spans the century we have just left.  

There are photographs from two world wars, adverts from the 1950s and many other wonderful things.

Today I want to feature a permit for the sale of milk issued under the National Milk Scheme, which had been introduced in 1940 as part of the wider policy of rationing.

The National Milk Scheme provided one pint of milk for every child under five. Expectant mothers and young children were entitled to free milk if the combined income of parents was less than 40 shillings a week.  

Parents had to complete a form every three month and obtain the signature of a doctor or “similar responsible person.”

Our document however comes from the other end of the process, and was the permit authorising the Co-op Dairies in Northenden to sell milk at the regulated price Two pence per pint.

Like much about war time regulations the permit ran for a short period and had to be renewed every three months and “at least 14 days before the permit expires.”

Mr Gill had to sell to only those registered with him and “identified by ration books bearing National Registration numbers detailed” with the documentation. 

And nothing was left to chance. So as one war time poster advised, “IN THE EVENT OF ENEMY ACTION PREVENTING YOU FROM OBTAINING MILK FROM YOUR USUAL SUPPLIER, YOU SHOULD APPLY FOR ADVICE TO THE MILK OFFICER, NATIONAL MILK SCHEME.”

So had the Northenden Diary been bombed then consumers were asked to visit Beech House on Yew Tree Road, while in Chorlton it was the Baptist School, Sibson Street, Wilbraham Road.*

What I like so much about the document is that it is an example of everyday life in the midst of a huge war and is an insight into how “the little people caught up in a great century” just got on with the routines.  In its way it is as important as any great paper of State or speech in Parliament.  And above all it is a personal item which fixes a name to an event.

*This was of course Sibson Road and the school was in the Baptist Sunday School Hall which stood behind the church and had incidentally been a Red Cross Hospital during the Great War.

Picture; from the collection of Graham Gill

Mrs. Beatrice Annie Bayfield another story from Tony Goulding

This is one of those stories which arise from an unintentional discovery while researching something completely unrelated.

I have recently written of this blog of the pioneering female journalist Madeline Alberta Linford; I have now discovered another, and in a quite remarkable coincidence she also lived on Claude Road in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester. Although perhaps not as illustrious as her fellow writer, Beatrice still has an interesting and important life story to reveal.

 Mrs. Bayfield was born Beatrice Annie Hodgson in the Hulme district of Manchester during October 1867 to   William Hodgson and Mary Ann (née Dawson). Her father was a Lancaster-born butcher who had, as recorded in the 1871 census, a butcher’s shop at 117, Stretford Road, Hulme, Manchester. The 1881 census record shows the family (1) had moved to 17, Moss Lane West, Stretford, Lancashire. A decade later in the census of 1891, William, by then a widower (2) and working as an "inspector of gas”, was living at 101, Crosscliffe Street, Moss Side, Lancashire with four of his children. Interestingly, while her older sister, Jessie Till, was recorded as a schoolmistress no occupation was entered for Beatrice Annie.

23, Beechwood Avenue, December 2023

An explanation of this is revealed by the Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser of Thursday 21st September 1893 which advertised the commencement in its Weekly Supplement of an extremely interesting original story entitled “The Mystery of the Mervyns” by Miss Beatrice A. Hodgson - “a young and accomplished local writer”. 

Beatrice was also very active in the Pankhurst's Women’s Franchise League, addressing many meetings around the greater Manchester area and the West Riding of Yorkshire. She was also a member of the Women’s Liberal Association. Both her advocacy of Women’s Suffrage and her Liberal political persuasion would I hazard to suggest have hampered her having further stories published in the chauvinistic and right leaning “Manchester Courier ------”.

Beatrice married Herbert Bayfield a “buyer foreign shippers” in the Chorlton Registration District during the December quarter of 1897. Newly-married the couple settled in Chorlton-cum-Hardy where they remained throughout the next 40+ years. Their first home was number 29, Whalley Avenue (off Sandy Lane), but the 1901 census shows they had moved to another rented property, 23, Beechwood Avenue, further along Sandy Lane. 

With Herbert, however, having a successful career in shipping (3) by 1911 the couple were able to purchase this large house on the edge of the newly developed garden village of Chorltonville, “Fern Lea”, 61, Claude Road. 

61, Claude Road, December 2023

Meanwhile, Beatrice continued in her endeavours promoting the extension of the franchise and women’s causes generally. She began travelling more widely, addressing meetings in Worcester, Coventry, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire and elsewhere. In the afternoon of Wednesday 6th May 1908, she shared a platform with Margaret Ashton (soon to be elected as Manchester’s first woman councillor) at a meeting in Manchester’s Co-operative Hall chaired by Dr. Rhodes, of Didsbury, to discuss a proposal to provide Nursery Training Schools for the city. (4)  At this time Beatrice styled herself as Mrs Hodgson Bayfield.

     Beatrice remained a life-long Liberal. During the first decade of the 20th century, she had toured giving a series of lectures to local Womens Liberal Associations some of which included a lantern slide show.  

In the 1911 census in which she was recorded as a lecturer and journalist her employer is given as The National Reform Union a body with strong links to the Liberal Party. Later in 1929 she stood, unsuccessfully, as the Liberal Party’s candidate in the Manchester (Gorton) constituency in that year’s General Election. She was one of just 61 women candidates (25 Liberal, 28 Labour and 8 Conservative) to stand in this landmark election, the first in the U.K. in which both sexes had an equal franchise. Beatrice continued her writing career alongside her political one. 

Once women had gained equal franchise with men in 1928, she turned more towards how that should be used to improve women’s lives. In the late 1920s and early 1930s she contributed letters and articles to “The Vote” the Organ of the Women’s Freedom League with the: - 

She also wrote for The Manchester City News whose issue of 13th November 1937 reported that she had penned her first play and was going to produce it herself at St. Werburgh’s Hall, Chorlton-cum-Hardy. The two-act play was titled “Neptune and the Lifeboatmen” with the proceeds donated to the National Lifeboat Institution of which Beatrice was the President of its local Ladies Guild.

Mrs. Bayfield was a member of several public bodies. Amongst these were The Manchester Public Assistance Committee and the Board of the Manchester and Salford Co-operative Society. The membership of this latter body caused her some difficulty when she stood in the Liberal cause in the 1929 election for which she sought advice from the editor and owner of The Manchester Guardian, the fellow Liberal C. P. Scott.

Mrs. Beatrice Annie Hodgson Bayfield died of a heart attack at her home on 17th January 1939 aged 71. She was cremated at the Manchester Crematorium on 20th January. Her estate was valued £524-18s-10d 

Pictures: - Mrs Bayfield candidate for Manchester Gorton from The Vote, April 27th courtesy of British Newspaper Archive, and “Objects----” of THE VOTE, from The Newspaper Archive on Find My Past. Others from collection of Tony Goulding.

Notes: -

1) The Hodgson family consisted of Beatrice Annie’s parents, and four siblings an older sister, Jessie Till, 

2) Beatrice’s mother died on 5th November 1884 and was buried in Ardwick Cemetery, Manchester. In the same grave were interred three of her children who died young William Lincoln (died 5/3/1867 aged 11 months) Ernest Dawson (died 1/12/1868 aged 4 years) and Mary Adelaide (died 1/4/1878 aged 10 months).

3) Herbert’s career appears to have involved widespread frequent travel as for both the 1901 and 1911 censuses he is absent from home. He was at home for the 1921 census in which his occupation is recorded as Managing Director of a Shipping Merchants.

4)  As reported in The Manchester Courier--------, the following day. The sub-heading for their story “Utopian Scheme Discussed” was indicative of “The Courier’s” usual stance on such matters.

While writing about this lady I became aware of how few women had featured in my stories for this blog to date. I am glad that this and my recent telling of Madeline Linford’s story have at least addressed this imbalance.