Mobilization notification questions

[Skipman]

The Aberfeldy detachment of the 1/6th Black Watch met at the Armoury on the morning of 5/8/1914, they then marched to the train station (we had one then) heading for Perth, then on to South North Queensferry.

1) I take it the TF battalions were mobilized/embodied on the afternoon of the 4/8/1914, as the regular battalions were?

2) How exactly were they notified, and when?

3) If Britain did not actually declare war till 11 PM on the 4/8/1914, was the mobilization a secret till that time, and how were reservists in regular battalions notified?

4) There were reservists, and TF soldiers in the village. Is it likely, given that this is a rural area, that on 5/8/1914, reservists, and TF men wouldd have gone to the their war stations on the same train. ( I imagine most went to Perth, then on to South North Queensferry, Hamilton Perth etc)?

Feel free to correct me on any points, would appreciate all advice.

Mike

[Guest]

The ever helpful Dycer has directed me to this excellent site that I never thought to check Newbattle at War

So every TF member received a copy of Army form E.635 through their letter box on the morning of 4/8/1915, and had to keep this secret?

Mike

[ss002d6252]

So every TF member received a copy of Army form E.635 through their letter box on the morning of 4/8/1915, and had to keep this secret?

I can't imagine it would have been kept secret - the War Office issued the initial instructions on the evening of the 3rd that the proclamation would be signed the next date and it was widely reported in the press the next morning.

Craig

[ss002d6252]

1) I take it the TF battalions were mobilized/embodied on the afternoon of the 4/8/1914, as the regular battalions were?

They were - many were at camp and already most of the way to being ready for action.

2) How exactly were they notified, and when?

Preliminary works were undertaken before the 4th but the official mobilization, as I understand it, was issued on the 4th.

4) There were reservists, and TF soldiers in the village. Is it likely, given that this is a rural area, that on 5/8/1914, reservists, and TF men wouldd have gone to the their war stations on the same train. ( I imagine most went to Perth, then on to South Queensferry, Hamilton Perth etc)?

It's a possibility in a rural area that the main mobilization point as at the same place so units may have shared trains , at least initially.

Craig

[Guest]

Excellent Craig, thank you.I have a rough idea, but I admit to being quite unsure of the detail.

Cheers Mike

[ss002d6252]

The Mobilization Regs 1914 cover the details.

On the order to mobilize the O.C. was to send out Form E635 in envelope D419 - either hand delivered or posted.

A full stock of mobilization paperwork was to be kept ready at all times.

Craig

[clive_hughes]

Skipman,

if it helps, the Embodiment notice was coloured buff, measuring 14.5 cms across and 16.75 cms high. This is an example below: the stamps were a violet colour in this case.

[clive_hughes]

And here's the envelope it was sent in: Army Form D419, a blue-green colour, and measuring 22.5 cms long by 9.25 cms high:

[Guest]

Thanks again gentlemen. Several reservists were postmen, is it possible that they could have had their own notice to (post) to themselves. So tens of thousands these letters were hand written and ready to be posted on the 3rd August?

Mike

[Guest]

Which Army Form would have been sent to the Reservists?

Mike

[ss002d6252]

This should help you Mike:

Craig

[Guest]

Thanks again Craig. Which book is that; it's probably one i have posted in the library and never looked at?

Mike

[ss002d6252]

'Regulations for Mobilization 1914' (A copy I bought from Ebay) - I think a partial pdf copy (missing the T.F. part) can be found here - http://www.da.mod.uk/wwi/from-the-archives/manuals/Z220-Mobilization-r.pdf/view

Craig

[Guest]

again Craig

Mike

[IRC Kevin]

West Lancs TF Division deployed to their annual camp on 2 August. They were returned to their bases early on 3 August and then sent home with their rifles and warned to expect their mobilisation notice very soon. The HQ's of 4th and 5th King's Own received their mobilisation telegrams at 6 p.m. on the 4th. The mobilisation letters were delivered to the men of the 5th Battalion before 9 a.m. on the 5 August. I can't say when the notifications reached the 4th, but the medicals for their HQ Company began at 5 a.m. on the 5th and by 7.20 a.m. they had already left to mount guard on the Kent, Leven and Duddon viaducts.

[Guest]

Thanks Kevin.

I asked earlier, but don't think I got an answer. Did every Reservist, and TF soldier receive a letter on the 4th of August 1914, or were some told by notices, or word of mouth. The one kindly posted in post 7 is obviously hand written. Were these all written out well in advance, waiting in a pile for the word " Mobilize"?

Mike

[ss002d6252]

50th Division were called back from their training camp on the 3rd and ordered to mobilize on the 4th at about 5 p.m. The 5th was spent on final preparations before they embarked for war stations later that same day.

Craig

[Guest]

Thanks Craig. So every soldier not actually at an Army location/Camp/Depot etc, was sent a letter on mobilization?

Mike

[ss002d6252]

Thanks Kevin.

I asked earlier, but don't think I got an answer. Did every Reservist, and TF soldier receive a letter on the 4th of August 1914, or were some told by notices, or word of mouth. The one kindly posted in post 7 is obviously hand written. Were these all written out well in advance, waiting in a pile for the word " Mobilize"?

Mike

Presumably a well prepared adjutant would have them ready in the safe alongside the mobilisation orders but I don't know what happened to the men already at camp - presumably they still had to be formerly mobilized when they got home but I wonder if they bothered sending the notices or just handed them out when they got back to the depot (at least for the men who had been at camp).

Craig

[Guest]

Thanks again Craig. I was making the mistake of assuming these letters were written at the War Office. So these were standard letters held at TF HQ's and filled in by battalion Adjutants and posted from local Head PO, for example Perth?

Mike

[ss002d6252]

Battalion HQ, from my reading of the regulations, issued the mobilisation notices via the local post office or whatever local plan they had in place.

Craig

[NigelS]

The History of the London Rifle Brigade 1859-1919 gives that the LRB (also TF), like the West Lancs, had left for its yearly fortnight's training (at Eastbourne) on the 2nd: ...arriving about 2.30pm, but three hours later it was ordered back to London, where the men were dismissed with the feeling they would soon be called together again... with the order to mobilize being received on the 5th. The History continues with: The mobilisation orders, it may be noted, had been framed some years earlier by Capt JAW Spencer, while he was adjutant, and were so complete that they had been adopted by Head-quarters for the whole Division.

Possibly something worth bearing in mind about the postal notifications is in an age when, certainly in the less rural areas, same day deliveries within a district were the norm, its likely that POs and their staff would, as a matter of pride in their service, have endeavoured to get them delivered 'post haste'

As for the regular army & reserves, Lt-Col Howard Cole in his The Story of Aldershot gives this for the Command:

It was at 6.30 pm on the evening of 3rd August, 1914, that a soldier came out of the side entrance of the Headquarters offices in Stanhope Lines and hoisted three large black balls up to the top of the tall flagstaff on the lawn outside the HQ building. This was the official signal for mobilization.

When the news came for mobilization, Aldershot was already well prepared. A scheme for mobilizing the troops of the Command had formed part of the regular summer training. Never before had preparations been on such an extensive scale or been made so swiftly or secretly.

Reservists poured into the town to join their units, flocking to the barracks, many without the arrival by post of the formal documents recalling them to the Colours, and there was great activity at the station, the Government siding and in the camps adjoining the town...

...The system of mobilization which had been the outcome of seven years of trials and tests worked smoothly and efficiently.

NigelS

[Guest]

That's great Nigel. I take it this is all to do with The War Book by Adrian Grant Duff, Black Watch?

Mike

[NigelS]

No Mike, not a tome I'm familiar with, what's the connection?

Looking at The Times of 31st July, its interesting to note that it reports - in 'A Practise Mobilization' - the summer exercises that were going on at the time - 'officially termed as a practise mobilization of the 2nd Division' - at Aldershot organised by Sir Douglas Haig . The article gives that it was necessary to dispel unfounded speculation that the exercise was in any way connected with the current situation in Europe with 'the order for the present scheme were issued at a period when the possibility of a real campaign were quite unforeseen.' and continues by commenting that only certain units had been brought up to war strength, not the whole command, with men of the 1st Division standing in for those of the reserve. A listing of the units involved in the exercise (some 11,000 men & 2,500 horses) and the additional ones required to bring the Division up to a full war footing (18,073 men & 5,592 horses) is then given.

A few days later they'd be going through it for real, which must have been quite an effort for those involved in the exercise in terms of getting equipment etc back to A1 condition & fully war ready, afterwards.

NigelS

[Guest]

Hi Nigel. I don't think it was published as such, but I think Grant-Duff was instrumental in the years before the war drawing the plans for mobilization.

Mike