The Special Reserve "from Militia": and Reservists in General

[Keith_history_buff]

An interesting Q&A from another thread
 

  

On 22/02/2015 at 18:25, johnboy said:

I can understand that you are showing numbers of men over a short period of time. Thanks.

Can I go a step back, were men signed up as Special Reservists or were they specifically for Reserve Battalions? Was the job of Reserve Battalions to train men to join battalions already overseas as 'reserves'?

 

  

On 22/02/2015 at 18:54, Muerrisch said:

This might help:

The Special Reserve.

One of Viscount Haldane’s most contentious and far-reaching reforms of 1907 was the creation of the Special Reserve to provide more backing for the regular battalions. Prolonged negotiations with the Militias had reached deadlock. The Militia was 1000 officers and 40,000 men short of establishment, many Militiamen were but boys of 17 years and the budget was escalating. Amid deafening cries of woe from the shires, the Militia was to cease to recruit and Militiamen were to be invited to enlist in the new Special Reserve of their parent infantry regiment. The Special AO of 23^rd December 1907 explained that such reservists would not normally be required as drafts for regular battalions at the outset of war. Medical acceptance standards were lower than for the regular infantry. They would enlist for six years, train for six months, attend annual camp under their own officers for 15 days, and receive an additional six days of musketry. This annual training was extended to 27 days in 1911.

During training and war they would draw full pay of their rank. The official precedence rank for rank would be: regular, special reservist, and territorial soldier. The Territorial Force - another Haldane reform (successor to the Volunteer Force) is outside the scope of this article, although a vital contributor as matters turned out.

Each infantry regiment was to have “a Reserve battalion composed of Special Reservists”, not to go to war as a unit, but to provide drafts. The battalion was to be located at the depôt in peace-time and had a substantial nucleus of regular officers, non-commissioned officers and men as the administrative and training staff of the depôt. The regular other rank element was 90 men, creating a hybrid battalion of 670 other ranks. Regular recruits, after swift processing at the depôt, were now to be trained by the home regular battalion. In war the reserve battalion was to move from the depôt and absorb the under-age, unfit and untrained of the regulars and eventually to receive back the sick and wounded. Infantry reserve battalions will on mobilisation take over the surplus reservists and men left behind by the regular battalion. (Regulations for the Special Reserve 1911 paragraph 28). 27 regiments had an “Extra Reserve” battalion of Special Reservists who were to deploy as a unit for home or active service. Recruiting for this was generally poor and they were reduced to providing drafts for war.

Haldane explained the Special Reserve concept: ... so far as they remain merely training battalions, they will never go abroad. [An HON. MEMBER: Do you pay them?] Oh yes, just like the Militia. They have the training and get the pay. They will form mobilisation centres. The Regulars will recruit there; but, instead of training at the depôts, they will, as a rule, we hope, go at once to the second or home battalions. ... When the recruits come in, in large numbers in time of war, and when these battalions expand, they will remove to the barracks which are rendered vacant by troops going abroad, and these officers will go with them. What we hope is that they will form great double-company battalions—four double companies—each of which will be commanded by a regular captain, and that they will form a training school for finding drafts for war much better than anything we have had up to the present time. (Hansard 25^th February 1907).

Official documents varied as to whether these 3^rd battalions were to be called “Reserve” or “Special Reserve”. The Army List retained the latter throughout the war, but after mobilisation, official correspondence and documents fairly consistently refer to the former (and referred to the Expeditionary Force and not the British Expeditionary Force). It should here be noted that recruiting for the SR decreased sharply soon after the outbreak of war, when better, shorter terms were offered to the New Armies. No authority to cease recruitment has been traced but for many regiments it was indeed over by Christmas.

The Depôt.

Under the 1907 scheme the Depôt took on a new rôle. It became a complicated construct. The Depôt was classed as a “unit”, commanded by a regular army major. This major was not a part of the establishment of the Reserve battalion but commanded it except when it was training collectively. It was emphasized that the six resident regular officers and 90 regular soldiers were on the Peace Establishment of the reserve battalion, not the depôt. The division of duties between the depôt major and the lieutenant-colonel commanding the battalion were left deliberately and unusually vague. (Regulations for the Special Reserve 1911 paragraphs 44, 45). The depôt would be nearly empty during the summer training. On mobilisation it was to go on to a war establishment under its lieutenant-colonel assisted by a major, a lieutenant, a quartermaster sergeant, an orderly room clerk and 31 other ranks. Regulations for the Special Reserve 1911 paragraph 28. ... Depôts will continue to receive recruits and after clothing them will despatch them to special reserve battalions to be trained”.

In brief, the Depôt was:

· Bricks and mortar

· The regular component of the 3^rd battalion

· Responsible for recruiting, administering, and clothing of regular soldiers and special reservists

· Responsible for receiving, processing and equipping reservists on mobilisation

· To review mobilisation arrangements annually and hold mobilisation equipment for issue.

AND THIS:

Relevant Army Orders (AO) and War Office Instructions (WOI) up to the end of March 1915

6^th August. Ex-regular soldiers invited to enlist in SR for one year or the duration AO.295.

6^th August. Enlistments invited for Regulars (New Armies) three years or the duration. AO.296.

6^th August. 100,000 regulars to be enlisted. Large influx at Depôts expected WOI.32.

7^th August . Kitchener’s Appeal for 100,000 men. WOI.37.

7^th August. Home Line battalions to send one captain, two subalterns, two serving sergeants, 13 other sergeants and corporals as drill instructors for New Army unit, the latter may be reservists. WOI.41

10^th August. Reserve battalions to send one captain, one subaltern to Depôt to assist training new units. WOI.59.

11^th August. Depôts to train New Army units. WOI.65.

16^th August. As each 100 New Army men become clothed at Depôt to be sent to Training Centre. WOI.112.

17^th August. All new recruits aged 30 years and over to Reserve battalion not to New Army. WOI.117.

20^th August. Reserve battalions to be grown to 2000 Other Ranks but only after “the service battalion” has been formed. After this, fill the Depôt, after this, divert to another regiment. WOI.288.

24^th August. Discharges on termination of engagement are suspended, soldiers held to serve extra year or demobilisation. AO.328.

1^st Sep. Reserve Battalion to be at 1018 all ranks. An extra company to be formed for each 100 recruits in excess. As a company becomes trained is to be drafted to service companies ie to Service battalions. WOI.2.

2^nd Sep. When Service battalions of new division are filled, Reserve battalions to grow to 2000 all ranks. Surplus intended for next new division. WOI.11

4^th Sep. Surplus recruits to be passed to reserve on half pay ie not trained until needed. WOI.49.

11^th Sep. Recall those recruits sent to reserve on half pay. WOI.151.

19^th Sep. Reserve battalions to grow to 2600 men. WOI.258.

(No date, but before October). Depôt establishment to be 550 Other Ranks once Reserve and Service units filled. WOI.190.

8^th Oct. To form a Service battalion from each Reserve battalion for Fourth New Army. WOI.76.

26^th Oct. Maximum number of battalions in the field to be supported by one Reserve unit to be six, assuming 2600 at Reserve unit and 500 at Depôt. Appendix lists regiments needing extra WE at Depôt and includes RWF, extra 500 men. WOI.293.

2^nd Feb 1915. Reserve units to be 2080 all ranks, and additionally convalescents and those permanently unfit for active service. WOI.16

 

[johnboy]

thank you for your comprehensive reply

[Keith_history_buff]

To recap

  

On 22/11/2020 at 21:33, Muerrisch said:

From Stand To!, special publication. 

The Special Reserve.

One of Viscount Haldane’s most contentious and far-reaching reforms of 1907 was the creation of the Special Reserve to provide more backing for the regular battalions. Prolonged negotiations with the Militias had reached deadlock. The Militia was 1000 officers and 40,000 men short of establishment, many Militiamen were but boys of 17 years and the budget was escalating. Amid deafening cries of woe from the shires, the Militia was to cease to recruit and Militiamen were to be invited to enlist in the new Special Reserve of their parent infantry regiment. The Special AO of 23^rd December 1907 explained that such reservists would not normally be required as drafts for regular battalions at the outset of war. Medical acceptance standards were lower than for the regular infantry. They would enlist for six years, train for six months, attend annual camp under their own officers for 15 days, and receive an additional six days of musketry. This annual training was extended to 27 days in 1911.

[snip]

 

 

An observation from two service records to follow.

[Keith_history_buff]

4610 Charles Coles enlisted in the 3rd Militia Battalion South Wales Borderers in 1893, and his surviving service record documents that he undertook '49 days drill on enlistment'. 

Image downloaded with technical difficulties, and provided courtesy of FindMyPast

[Keith_history_buff]

Fast forward 20 years.

11402 Frederick Rees, formerly serving in the Territorial Force, enlists in the Special Reserve of the South Wales Borderers on 17 September 1913. 

This extended training regime is recorded on his service record. 

The clerks at Shrewsbury record that he was mobilised on 8 August 1914, and this date often appears for the SWB. For reasons that are not readily apparent, the clerks at Shrewsbury record that the reserves of the RWF were mobilised on 5 August 1914.

He joins the 1st Battalion just after their recent participation at the First Battle of Ypres and is with the battalion up to the fighting at Aubers, around Richebourg.

It was the training regime that was of interest.

Image downloaded without technical difficulties, and provided courtesy of FindMyPast

[Richard Cawthorn]

Reference the dates of mobilization, I'm sure I have seen it stated that regular battalions and their reservists mobilised first, with SR battalions mobilizing a few days later. This was to avoid congesting the depots by trying to deal with all the men at once.

[Keith_history_buff]

4053 Joseph Farnsworth enlists, under Special Reserve terms of service, in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers on 20 October 1909. He was mobilised on 5 August 1914. He was notionally time expired on 20 October 1916, after 6 + 1 years of service, but his service was prolonged under the Military Service Act.

Image courtesy FindMyPast

[Keith_history_buff]

An excerpt from the Annual Report on Recruiting (1912).

This was sourced by the late Martin Gillott, and more of the report can be seen on the following thread: