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At the outbreak of war on 4 August 1914, the British regular army numbered 247,432 serving officers and other ranks. [1] [2] This did not include reservists liable to be recalled to the colours upon general mobilization or the part-time volunteers of the Territorial Force.
This is a table of the number of recruits for the British Army during the First World War, 1914–1918. [1] [2] All recruits were volunteers until January 1916, when men were recruited under the Derby Scheme and as conscripts following the Military Service Act 1916. From July 1917, all recruits were counted as Conscripts.
Establishment and Strength of the British Army (excluding Indian native troops stationed in India) prior to August, 1914. By the First World War, the British military forces (i.e., those raised in British territory, whether in the British Isles or colonies, and also those raised in the Channel Islands, but not the British Indian Army, the military forces of the Dominions, or those of British ...
British Army recruitment poster during the Napoleonic wars offering both limited and unlimited (long-term) service. The United Kingdom's struggle with France during the Napoleonic wars required the British Army to expand rapidly. Ordinary recruiting methods failed to supply the number of men required to fill the Army ranks.
"Pals" departing from Preston railway station, August 1914. The pals battalions of World War I were specially constituted battalions of the British Army comprising men who enlisted together in local recruiting drives, with the promise that they would be able to serve alongside their friends, neighbours and colleagues, rather than being arbitrarily allocated to battalions.
However, 38% of single men and 54% of married men had resisted the mass orchestrated pressure to enlist in the war, so the British Government, determined to ensure a supply of replacements for the mounting casualties overseas, had to pass the Military Service Act 1916, which authorized conscription, on 27 January 1916. [8]
Lewis was awarded the Victory Medal and the British War Medal. He re-enlisted in 1918 and served with the army of occupation in Austria. He joined the police in Kingston upon Thames after the war and served in bomb disposal during World War II. Later, he ran a pub in Frant, East Sussex. He died in 1969. [5] [6] [8]
It depicted Lord Kitchener, the British Secretary of State for War, above the words "WANTS YOU". Kitchener, wearing the cap of a British field marshal, stares and points at the viewer calling them to enlist in the British Army against the Central Powers. The image is considered one of the most iconic and enduring images of World War I.