National recruiting statistics 1912-13

[clive_hughes]

Can some kind soul please tell me what the proportion (percentage) of Irish and Scottish army recruits was in the year Oct. 1912- Sept.1913? By that I mean men enlisted in the Northern & Southern Irish Command areas and the Scottish Command area, not their birth nationality.

I thought the details would be in my part-copies of the General Annual Reports on the Army 1913-19 and 1923,published 1921 and 1924 respectively, but for the life of me I can't see the southern Irish figure. It seems to have been excised from the stats in the wake of independence?

Clive

[Guest]

Irish Command No 11 District (North) 2,733 (all arms)

Irish Command No 12 District (South) 3,041 (all arms)

Irish Command Total............................ 5,774 (all arms) = 11.83% of total

Scottish Command Total......................4,159 (all arms) = 8.52% of total

Total British Army (Regular and SR)..48,816 (all arms) = 100%

Source: GARBA 1913

[clive_hughes]

Martin,

That's smashing - thanks very much.

Clive

[Guest]

Martin,

That's smashing - thanks very much.

Clive

Irish recruiting had been in a 20 year decline. The number of Irish Battalions was disproportionately high for the population base relative to the rest of the UK so they were fighting a losing battle. It is an interesting thematic of recruiting and one that is crying out for some detailed analysis.