Anglo Russian Military Service Convention

[Broznitsky]

Can anybody tell me more about this entente, whereby men of either country could be conscripted in the others' army?

Probably affected Russian-born living in Britain the most, I should think.

[Alan Tucker]

It particularly affected the Lithuanian community in Scotland. Going from memory men of military age were given a choice between the British Army and the Russian army. The majority chose the latter and went 'home' in time for the Bolshevik takeover and a tyranny that was as bad as the Tsars. Most never returned to Scotland.

[charlesmessenger]

The Military Service (Conventions with Allied States) Act came into force in July 1917. It gave the Britiish government the right, with the agreement of the nation concerned, to conscript friendly aliens domiciled in Britain. The only right of appeal was through the relevant ambassador to London. Much of the motivation for the act was the 31,000 Russian and Polish Jews living in Britain who had fled the pogroms in Russia but had not taken out British citizenship. The fact that they could not be conscripted caused unrest in the East End of London, where many lived. They were accused of taking over the businesses of British Jews in uniform. Many ended up in the Jewish battalions of the Royal Fusiliers and latterly the 8th and 9th Battalions of the Labour Corps.

Charles M

[Alan Tucker]

All Russian males resident in Britain aged 18-41 had to choose between conscription into the British Army or deportation for military service in Russia. The British Government decided to make no provision either for the transport of dependents or for their maintenance in Britain. The intention was to force entry into the British Army. The Lithuanians in Scotland were told by their (Catholic) priests to join up and by their socialists to return to Russia.

The majority in Scotland returned. E.g. 1800 in Lanarkshire called up; 700 joined the British Army and the rest returned (called the Conventionists). There were protests against the Convention. On December 5th 1917 the Government conceded maintenance allowances for dependents.

The Conventionists arrived in a post-revolutionary Russia and were scattered to different parts of the country. Less than 350 ever returned to Scotland and these had to prove that they had fought on the Allied side in Russia or in the Slavo-British Legion in North Russia in the Allied intervention campaign. Dependents in Scotland were now a permanent financial liability and their allowances were ended in March 1920. This made repatriation a forced issue and by the end of that month 600 Lithuanian women and children had returned to Russia.

These events from 1917-20 broke the Lithuanian immigrant community in Scotland which dated from the 1880s.

[charlesmessenger]

Alan

Thank you for sharing that with us. Most interesting, but very sad.

Charles M

[Broznitsky]

Alan and Charles, thanks for your replies. Most enlightening.

Peter in B.C.

[stevenbecker]

Mate,

There are a number of documents in the AIF service records about these Russians in the AIF.

It appears these men had to gain approval from the Russian consulate in Australia for there enlistment, not only Russians, Latvians and Finish citizens.

Most enlisted and the approval was sent after they were overseas but it appears thats the case.

We had no concrisption so the above didn't apply to our Russians and they were all vollenteers in the AIF.

S.B

[wrightdw]

Several ex-AIF Russian nationals volunteered for the North Russia Relief Force and were appointed as Sergeant Interpreters in the Middlesex Regiment. They mostly served in North Russia 1919 but at least one also served in South Russia/Crimea 1919-20.

 

One of their number Pte. Minkshlin (who did not enlist as an interpreter) ex-Light Horse was awarded an MSM with 45th Royal Fusiliers, North Russia Relief Force for mounted scouting work on the Dvina River front during summer 1919.

[tishpage10]

My grandfather Jurgis Seniunas was one of those sent to Russia in 1917, leaving my grandmother Ursula and my mother, just a few months old, behind in London. Nothing more was heard of him … 

Any ideas of how to get information about his fate after he was forced to leave London in 1917.