BEF 1914: Mobilisation and Reservists

[Glengarry1950]

Martin,

Further to,( the 2nd Bn KOSB .......700 Reservists to be Collected). Capt Stair Gillon,(late KOSB) author of "The KOSB in the Great War" states:- The 2nd Battalion was stationed at Dublin. Its depot was at Berwick-on-Tweed, ( England some times Scotland) and there were some-thing like 700 Reservists to be collected there and sent in parties to Dublin to bring the unit up to full strength. The task however, was accomplished in four days, and the reservists turn up to a man. Whether they or the recruits could be classed as " the most expert army in the world"(as the Old Contemptibles" have been styled) is doubtful. But they would soon work into the very fine machine, and, as will be seen, the general standard of endurance and efficiency was high, and some on the younger men were only nineteen years old. Mobilization orders arrived at 6 pm on the 4th August 1914, and the next 9 days all ranks worked from morning to night. The Battalion paraded at full battle strength on 10th August 1914 in Phoenix Park Dublin, Embarkation began on 13th August 1914 at 8 am and completed by 12 noon. The Bibby liner SS Gloucestershire was overcrowded to an insanitary degree. Besides the Borderers were the HQ 13 I.B., 2nd Duke of Wellington's(West Riding) Regiment, 1st Queen's Own( the Royal West Kent Regiment). No Borderer can read that thrilling story of the R.W.K Regiment without realizing that the standard set by the 1st R.W.K. was a stimulus to the 2nd K.O.S.B. To mention one exploit only, the defence of Neuve Chapelle in the last days of October 1914 was one of the most glorious action fought in the whole war.

Cheers Great Thread.

Hiram

[Guest]

Hiram - many tanks for sharing the detail.

[Guest]

Here is something that was a rather nice discovery in the 13th Inf Bde diary: The Telegram from the War Office instructing Battalions to reduce establishment by three Officers.

[ss002d6252]

Interesting - the stamp seems to read 8 Aug 14.

Presumably it was when they were stripping officers to fill the Kitchener Battalions and other various posts that urgently needed filling.

Craig

[Jacki5]

Hello Martin. Very much a novice to all this so bear with me. The Daily Mail issued a WW1 supplement in July 2014. In it were photos which had been coloured by a photo technician. One of these photos (presumably chose at random from the IWM) contained a photo of my grandfather who was in The Coldstream Guards. The caption said it was soldiers returning from the battle of Loos in Sept 1915. This was incorrect as he was wounded and captured at the first battle if Ypres (Oct/Nov 1914). Therefore I'm sure it's Mons not Loos. I found another photo when I Googled Mons images and this second one came up which is clearly taken in the same place, presumably by the same photographer. I would like to know where they were marching back to. Any ideas? Jacki Photo too big to upload sadly.

[Black Maria]

Is this the photo?

[Guest]

Thought I would post an update on the 74 Line Infantry battalions in the UK. 46 battalions managed to preserve some kind of record of the number of Reservists taken in during mobilisation. The five columns of data show :

Strength of the Battalion on 31st Jul 1914

War Establishment

Number of Reservists Required (War Establishment less Strength)

Number of Reservists Taken in

Excess Reservists Taken in (replacing less fit and Under Age Regulars)

Example: 2nd Bn Royal Scots had 586 ORs on the eve of the Great War, meaning it would in theory require 484 Reservists to come up to War Establishment. It actually took in 700 Army Reservists meaning some 216 Regular ORs were also replaced in addition. Many would be under-age for Active Service (under 19) plus some unfits and less desirable men. COs took the opportunity to swap out some men with Reservists who had recently left the Colours.

We have data for 46 of the 74 battalions. To save you the calculation, that is a 62% sample. Mostly sourced from unit diaries and a few published histories. The ranges are very wide so averages might have little meaning, however for the record the 46 battalions, on average, took in 606 Reservists or 185 more Reservists than theoretically required - this perhaps gives some indication of the level of under-aged and unfits in these battalions.

Note the totals in the last two columns are only for the 46 battalions where we have data. If anyone is able to fill the gaps, the info would be very gratefully received. MG

Edit: Data is shown in regimental order of precedence.

[Guest]

This version sorted by the battalions taking in the highest number of Reservists

[ss002d6252]

An interesting house of commons debate

96. Mr. TOUCHE asked what steps have been taken for the transportation from the United States of America to Europe, at the expense of the Government, of ex-Service men, being Boer War, Indian, China, and Mexican War veterans, time-expired Reservists, Special Reservists, ex-Territorials, and ex-Volunteers, who are anxious to serve in the British Expeditionary Force; does the provision made by the Government provide only for transportation from New York or does it provide the cost of medical examination in the various States and of transportation to New York; and are similar arrangements being made for the examination and transportation of the men scattered throughout the States, some of them untrained, but many of them aviators, chauffeurs, engineers, electricians, and craftsmen of all kinds, all of British birth, who are known to be willing and anxious to serve?

Mr. TENNANT: British subjects residing in the Dominions or in foreign countries who offer their services in the Army are accepted, provided they are physically and otherwise qualified, if they present themselves for enlistment at any recruiting office in the United Kingdom. It is impossible to undertake to pay the passage home of these men, whose fitness or otherwise for Army service can only in most cases be determined after arrival at home. Passage has, however, as an exception been paid in the case of about 5,000 men who have been certified by our Consul-General in New York to have had previous military training, to have passed a medical examination equivalent to the examination on enlistment, and to be to all appearances in every way suitable men.

Commons Sitting of Monday, 16th November, 1914.

Craig

[Keith_history_buff]

An interesting quote, and I was able to find the page number, too.

I am surprised this percentage info did not get a mention in Part 3 of the article in Stand To! that was published in 2015  

On 27/08/2014 at 10:31, Guest said:

Home Based Battalions. The average strength of a Home based battalion was around 550-600 men, or nearly half of War Establishment. The numbers varied considerably with some regiments having nearly 800 and some a low as 500.
[Edit - for detail see post #12 below].
https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/216944-british-army-regimental-system-questions/#comment-2147218
It would depend on where they were in the recruitment cycle and the draft cycle for their overseas battalion as periodically large drafts of trained men would be sent to the overseas battalion. While this was seasonal and troopships consolidated men for the journey, there were considerable variations It is important to recognise that Home based battalions had a much higher proportion of young soldiers ineligible for active service/overseas service and would need to be replaced with Reservists on mobilisation. I have spreadsheets on this as well.

There is a thread on Mobilisation of the BEF which contains much of the info.[Link removed, have posted this to the tail end of the thread that was referenced.] 

Battalion experiences varied considerably as a function of current strength, proportion of young soldiers, proportion of unfit, number of available Reservists etc. During mobilisation there is strong evidence that CO's asked for Reservists who had left the colours most recently and at least two cases of COs returning Reservists to the Depot as unsuitable. The OH Vol 1 [on page 88] records the BEF was made up of 60% Reservists. My calcs (based on monthly returns, diaries and published histories give a slightly lower figure of 57% (average for line infantry). This still means that there were around 400-430 Regular serving men in each Bn as they deployed. Other Arms required far fewer reservists as a % of War Establishment. Cavalry was around 25% from memory.

I hope this helps answer some of your questions. MG

 

[Muerrisch]

I rather think it was covered to a degree by parts I and II?