British army re-enlistment 1919

[Chris_Baker]

Can any pal enlighten me as to Army Order 4/19 of 1919? A great batch of RASC men were re-enlisted under its definition. Why? I think they had been serving in Salonika. Under what terms were these men re-enlisted?

All help gratefully received.

[Ron Clifton]

Hello Chris

Here is an extract from "General Annual [sic] Report on the British Army, 1914-1920. (They published six years' details in onego, because of the war.)

All calling up under the Military Service Acts was suspended at midday on 11 November 1918, and from that date until 15 January 1919 posting was confined to men who had previously been called up and reported themselves. The Ministry of National Service subsequently to 11 Nov 1918 only recruited and handed over to the Military Authorities men between 18 and 25 years of age who presented themselves voluntarily for enlistment and who were willing to be attested for the full period of 12 years' Army Service to fill vacancies existing in the Regular Establishment. The number of recruits so enlisted during the period 11 Nov 1918 to 15 Jan 1919 was 1,139.

Re-enlistment of serving soldiers

Meanwhile, the necessity for refilling at an early date the depleted ranks of the old Regular Army in order to provide overseas garrisons and reserves at home having become evident, an Army Order was published on 10 December 1918 authorizing the re-enlistment of serving soldiers for periods of, approximately, two, three or four years. Bounties of £20, £40 and £50 respectively were given, in addition to any pension, bounties or gratuities due on account of war or other services, to men re-enlisting for these periods. This Army Order, which became Army Order 4 of 1919, was subsequently further extended by Army Orders 124 and 125 of 1919, of which the former slightly modified the conditions and of which the latter applied them so modified to men serving as members of Overseas Contingents. Re-enlistments under Army Order 124 were closed by Army Order 329 (published on 27 Sept 1919) from the date of its receipt in the various commands. The total number of men re-enlisted under these Army Orders, with bounty, was 74,930.

(Incidentally, to get a modern equivalent cash value, multiply by about 50, so it was quite an incentive.)

Ron

[Chris_Baker]

Thanks very much,. Ron. Excellent. At that rate, I'd have joined up myself.

[Chief_Chum]

...and in 1923 the government decided to cut the army down in size and many of those (like my Grandfather) who had re-enlisted as long-service regulars suddenly found themselves surplus to requirements.

Taff

[Keith_history_buff]

Some very interesting content on this subject has its own webpage on longlongtrail these days.

Interesting to read that, as it would appear, men re-enlisting were given a batch of new service numbers.

 

[bigronhartley]

Hello Keith

Thanks for your help, I'll try to check out his re-enlistment

Regards

Ron