Review of 'Kitchener’s Mob' by Professor Peter Doyle (December 2017)

At the outbreak of war in 1914, the only men available for fighting were volunteers: The Regular Army and the Territorial Force. The newly appointed Secretary for War, Field Marshall Earl Kitchener decided that the nation required a third volunteer force, he wanted a ‘citizen’s army’, large enough to defeat our continental foes who had conscripted armies. He realised that this war would take years and he would require a large fully trained army for victory.

Kitchener started his recruitment with his ‘Call to Arms’ in August 1914 which aimed to recruit 100, 000 men (aged 19-30, at least 5 ft 3 in tall and with a minimum chest measurement of 34in) to sign up for the duration. The well-known poster ‘Your Country Needs You’ was never an official poster, it started life as a magazine cover, then became a postcard before it became a poster in September 1914. By this time the recruitment had brought in well over the 100, 000 Kitchener wanted.

As the BEF fought it first two battles in France (Mons and Le Cateau), volunteering picked up during late August. K1, K2 and K3 (the first three hundred thousand volunteers) were all in place before the ‘Pals’ battalions were recruited. There were the usual problems regarding supply of uniforms, rifles for drill and accommodation. The first ‘Pals’ battalion’ set up in this way was the Stockbrokers’ Battalion (10th (Service) Battalion Royal Fusiliers) drawn from stockbrokers working in the City of London. The idea was taken up by Lord Derby who recruited a Pals’ battalion in Liverpool. Similar recruiting soon spread especially to the industrial cities of the North of England. The rate of volunteering started to decline after October 1914. There are many reasons for this. Initially inefficiency and incompetence lead to chaos which put off young men. Then the contracts for boots and uniforms etc. and guaranteed good pay locally for these same young men. Eventually the pattern for volunteering settled down.

Why did young men volunteer? Initially it was patriotism and city pride, this was a generation brought up with Sunday Schools and Empire day etc. Then there was widespread indignation against Germany. In August 1914, the general opinion in the UK was that the conflict would be a short war. Young men volunteered together to escape the drudgery of their usual job in the hope of adventure. One must not rule out the effect of sights like the arrival of the wounded soldiers from battles in August 1914 or the recruiting parades which took place in major cities.

There were many common burdens to be endured by the Kitchener volunteers wherever they were. These included poor accommodation, training camps which started out as empty fields, ‘cowboy builders’ who put up inadequate huts and fraudulent caterers who provided very poor-quality food. The solution to all these problems was billeting. Once the young men were assigned to private dwellings, the problems started to evaporate.

With the rate of volunteering decreasing, Bantam divisions were created. These looked-for volunteers below the initial minimum height (5 ft 3 in). The Bantam divisions had a mixed history. They were not all successful – 35th Division had many problems after recruitment concerning replenishment and morale which were not sorted out until later in the war.

Who was going to train and lead these volunteers? Initially the officers were drawn from the Indian Army who were in the UK on leave, then the War Office turned to the ‘dug outs’ – these were retired officers keen to be involved. The NCOs were drawn from young men who were deemed to have confidence and an ordered frame of mind, many were recruited from the policemen who had volunteered. Amongst the miners who volunteered, the men with moustaches made ideal NCOs as their pre-War jobs had been above ground. 

The first of the Kitchener Volunteers saw action at Suvla Bay (August 1915) during the Gallipoli campaign, then in September more divisions of the New Army were put into action during the battle of Loos. Finally, these young men went into action on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. There was nothing wrong with their training but they were not always trained for the conditions of the battles they fought, neither were the tactics and leadership from superior officers up to the challenges of the day.

Report by Peter Palmer