Kitchener's army : the raising of the new armies, 1914-1916

406 Pages·2007·6.17 MB·English

by  Kitchener

KITCHENER’S
ARMY
KITCHENER’S
ARMY
THE RAISING OF THE NEW ARMIES
1914–1916
First published in Great Britain in 1988 by
Manchester University Press
Reprinted in 2007 by
PEN & SWORD MILITARY
an imprint of
Pen & Sword Books Ltd
47 Church Street
Barnsley
South Yorkshire
S70 2AS
Copyright © Peter Simkins, 1988, 2007
ISBN 978 1 84415 585 9
The right of Peter Simkins to be identified as Author
of this work has been asserted by him in accordance
with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is
available from the British Library.
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Contents
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Illustrations
Introduction
Prologue
Part I The recruiting campaign
Chapter 1 Kitchener and the call to arms
2 The recruiting boom: August–September 1914
3 The Pals Battalions
4 Recruiting in decline, October 1914–May 1915
5 The coming of conscription
Part II Enlistment, equipment and training
6 Taking the King’s shilling: experiences of enlistment
7 Adjusting to life in the Army
8 Officers and NCOs
9 Training camps and billets
10 Uniforms and equipment
11 Arms and ammunition
12 Preparing for the Front
Conclusion
Sources and bibliography
General index
Index of units
Acknowledgements
It is impossible to thank adequately all those who have helped me in the
preparation of this book. However, I must acknowledge the considerable debt of
gratitude which I owe to the Trustees of the Imperial War Museum and to the
two Directors under whom I have worked, Dr Noble Frankland and Dr Alan
Borg, for giving me both the opportunity and the time to undertake the necessary
research and to complete the manuscript. Robert Crawford, the Deputy Director
and Head of the Research and Information Office, has also offered me valued
support at every stage of the project.
Of my many colleagues in the Museum who have helped and encouraged me
throughout, I wish to extend my special thanks to Roderick Suddaby and the
staff of the Department of Documents, to Dr Gwyn Bayliss and the Department
of Printed Books, to Jane Carmichael and the Department of Photographs and to
Margaret Brooks and the Department of Sound Records. Others who have been
of great assistance to me include Laurie Milner, Mark Seaman, Christopher
Dowling, Michael Hibberd, Chris McCarthy, Jan Mihell, Michael Moody and
David Penn. Outside the Museum, Dr Ian F. W. Beckett has taken a close
interest in the project from the beginning and has done much to smooth the path
towards publication. I am no less indebted to Dr M. J. Allison, Professor Brian
Bond, Stephen Brooks, Malcolm Brown, Dr Patrick Callan, Dr Peter N. Farrar,
Dr David French, Michael Houlihan, Clive Hughes, Dr Keith Jeffery, David L.
Jones, John Keegan, Peter Liddle, Dr Patricia M. Morris, Gary Sheffield, Keith
Simpson, Dr Edward M. Spiers and Dr J. M. Winter. All have given generously
of their time and expertise. I am, of course, solely responsible for any errors of
fact or interpretation that remain.
I am most grateful to the following for granting me access to manuscript
collections of which they are the owners or custodians and, where requested, for
permission to quote from documents whose copyright they control: Lord
Bonham Carter; the Earl of Derby; the Viscount Esher; the Earl Haig; Mr M. A.
F. Rawlinson; the Earl of Selborne; Mrs Joan Simon; the Trustees of the
Imperial War Museum; the Trustees of the Beaverbrook Foundation; the
Trustees of the British Library Board; the Master, Fellows and Scholars of
Churchill College, Cambridge; the Trustees of the Liddell Hart Centre for
Military Archives, King’s College, London; the Clerk of the Records and the
House of Lords Record Office; the Trustees of the National Library of Scotland;
the Trustees of the National Library of Wales; the National Library of Ireland;
the Public Record Office; the Chelmsford and Essex Museum; the National
Army Museum; the University of Birmingham Library; the Bodleian Library;
the University of Newcastle upon Tyne Library; Nuffield College, Oxford;
Bristol Central Library and Record Office; the Essex Record Office; Leeds City
Library; Liverpool City Libraries; Manchester Central Library; Westminster City
Libraries; and the Labour Party Archives, Transport House. Extracts from
Crown copyright material held in the Public Record Office and elsewhere are
reproduced by permission of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office.
For permission to quote directly from documents deposited in the Imperial
War Museum I must thank Miss Joan Ashley; Lieutenant-Colonel C. C. Aston;
Mr A. M. Bickerton; Miss Daphne Bird; Mr D. M. A. Cain; Mr Charles
Cameron; Colonel John Christie-Miller; Mr O. D. H. Clauson; Mr W. N.
Collins; Mr Julian Colyer; Mr E. A. Crane; Mr A. W. Day; the Reverend
Christopher Drummond; Mrs R. A. Du Cane; Mr J. N. Dykes; Miss Mary Fraser;
Mrs Barbara Gamble; Mrs Fay Gjester; Mrs Edith Gordon; Mr David M.
Griffiths, Mrs A. L. Hemming; Mr Brian Hunt; Mr Paul Jones; Mr Peter
Kirkpatrick; Dr W. B. D. Maile; Mrs J. M. Ockleshaw; the Reverend Raymond
Patston; Mrs R. J. Pearson; Mrs L. G. Perkins; Mr A. E. Perriman; Sir Richard
Pilditch, Bt.; Captain R. C. Read; Miss Enid M. Roberts; Mrs Phyllis Robinson;
Mrs E. Scullin; Mrs J. E. Sharp; Mrs C. Sheard; Mrs J. J. H. Swallow; Mr Leslie
F. Taylor; Mr C. F. J. Thompson; Mrs S. M. Vischer; Mrs Margaret Williams;
and Mr A. I. Winstanley.
My thanks are also due to the following individuals, publishers and literary
agents for allowing me to quote from books whose copyright they hold: Basil
Blackwell Ltd for Letters of Arthur George Heath (1917); Lady Bliss for As I
Remember by Sir Arthur Bliss (Faber, 1970); Buchan and Enright Ltd for A
Passionate Prodigality by Guy Chapman (Buchan and Enright, 1985; originally
published by Ivor Nicholson and Watson, 1933); Constable and Co. Ltd for At
Suvla Bay by John Hargrave (1916) and Experiences of a Dug-out by Major-
General Sir C. E. Callwell (1920); Eyre and Spottiswoode Ltd for In London
during the Great War by Michael MacDonagh (1935) and Make me a Soldier by
Arthur Behrend (1961); Grafton Books Ltd for Disenchantment by C. E.
Montague (Chatto and Windus, 1922); the Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd for
The World Crisis, 1911–1914 by Winston S. Churchill (Thornton Butterworth,
1923); Harrap Ltd for The Life of John Redmond by Denis Gwynn (1932); David
Higham Associates Ltd. for My Political Life by L. S. Amery (Hutchinson,
1953–55), The Supreme Command, 1914–1918 by Lord Hankey (Allen and
Unwin, 1961) and Lloyd George: A Diary by Frances Stevenson, edited by A. J.
P. Taylor (Hutchinson, 1963); Hodder and Stoughton Ltd for An Autobiography
by R. B. Haldane (1929); C. S. Kendall and the Lancashire Evening Post for H.
Cartmell’s For Remembrance (Toulmin, 1919); William Kimber and Co. Ltd
(Thorsons Publishing Group) for Schoolboy into War by H. E. L. Mellersh
(1978), Johnny Get Your Gun by John F. Tucker (1978) and The Anger of the
Guns by John Nettleton (1979); Macmillan Publishers Ltd. for Life of Lord
Kitchener by Sir George Arthur (1920); Methuen and Co. Ltd for Great Britain
and the War of 1914–1918 by Sir Llewellyn Woodward (1967); John Murray
Ltd for The Weary Road by Charles Douie (1929) and Inside Asquith’s Cabinet,
edited by Edward David (1977); the National Library of Wales and David
Higham Associates Ltd for Lloyd George Family Letters, 1885–1936, edited by
Kenneth O. Morgan (University of Wales Press, 1973); A. D. Peters and Co. Ltd
for The Life of Lord Carson by Ian Colvin (Gollancz, 1934–36); Regimental
Headquarters, The Royal Green Jackets for The Oxfordshire and
Buckinghamshire Light Infantry Chronicle (1914–15); The Rifle Brigade Club
for The History of the Rifle Brigade in the War of 1914–1918 by Reginald
Berkeley (1927); Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd for Enlistment or Conscription
by A. M. B. Meakin (1915); Sidgwick and Jackson Ltd for The 23rd (Service)
Battalion Royal Fusiliers (First Sportsmans) by F. W. Ward (1920); Arthur H.
Stockwell Ltd. for Soldier’s Luck by Percy Croney (1965); Un win Hyman Ltd
for Society at War, 1914–1916 by Caroline E. Playne (Allen and Unwin, 1931);
A. P. Watt Ltd on behalf of the Executors of the Estate of Robert Graves for
Good-bye to all That (Cape, 1929); Dennis Wheatley Ltd for Officer and
Temporary Gentleman, 1914–1919 by Dennis Wheatley (Hutchinson, 1978); and
H. F. and G. Witherby Ltd. for Roundabout by Viscount Buckmaster (1969).
Every effort has been made to trace and acknowledge the holders of all
copyright material, but some have proved elusive. I trust that anyone whose
copyright I have unwittingly infringed will accept my sincere apologies.
Finally I must express my gratitude to Jean Lucas and Rosemary Sharman for
their help with the typing; to Annette Musker for her work on the index; and, last
but not least, to my wife Jane, my daughter Catherine and my mother Peggy for
supporting me in so many ways. I am only sorry that my late father did not live
to see the publication of a book in which he took such a lively interest.
Peter Simkins
Imperial War Museum, May 1988
Imperial War Museum, May 1988
Abbreviations
Used in the text
ASC Army Service Corps
BEF British Expeditionary Force
CID Committee of Imperial Defence
CIGS Chief of the Imperial General Staff
CO Commanding officer
DCLI Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry
GHQ General headquarters
GOC General Officer Commanding
ILP Independent Labour Party
MP Member of Parliament
MT Mechanical Transport
NCF No Conscription Fellowship
NCO Non commissioned officer
OTC Officers’ Training Corps
PRC Parliamentary Recruiting Committee
RE Royal Engineers
RSM Regimental sergeant-major
TUC Trades Union Congress
UDC Union of Democratic Control
UPS University and Public Schools’ Brigade
UVF Ulster Volunteer Force
WAC Welsh Army Corps
WNEC Welsh National Executive Committee
Used in the notes
AC