County territorial association

Last updated

A county territorial association was a body created to administer units of the Territorial Force located within an area largely defined by existing county boundaries of the United Kingdom. Ninety-four associations were established when the Territorial Force was created on 1 April 1908, later rising to 104. [1]

Contents

Constitution

Each association was led by a lord lieutenant acting as president, along with a chairman and a vice-chairmen. The association membership comprised officers from each of the territorial units administered by the association, representatives of civic institutions, and leaders of business and worker interests. [2] The democratic constitution of the associations was a deliberate effort by the architect of the Territorial Force, Richard Haldane, to bring military and society closer together and create a nation that could be mobilised for war without resorting to conscription. [3] In this, Haldane was only partially successful. Opposition from the commanders of the Volunteer Force and Yeomanry, the two auxiliary institutions that were consolidated to form the Territorial Force, forced Haldane to compromise on his plans for strong civilian representation. Instead of being elected, civic leaders were to be appointed by the Army Council, which also controlled the appointment of the association leadership and military members. Business and worker interests were represented by members co-opted by the association, but the civilian members were not allowed to outnumber Territorial Force members. In practice, many co-opted members had military backgrounds, while strong representation of workers' interests proved difficult in the face of fundamental opposition to the Territorial Force by trade unions. [4] [5] [6] Associations varied in size according to the number of territorial units administered; the smallest had less than 20 members, the largest 75. [7]

To address the military deficiencies of the previous volunteer auxiliaries, the War Office was responsible for the finance, training and command of the Territorial Force, while the associations were responsible for its recruitment, equipping and administration. [8] [9] The actual work of an association was completed by sub-committees which usually met quarterly. Most decisions were taken by a General Purposes Committee, based on the recommendations of committees which oversaw finance, buildings and ranges, clothing and equipment, and transport. Their work was under-pinned by the association's secretary, a salaried employee recognised by both the associations and the War Office to be the key to the success of the territorial concept. The position was subject to the approval of the Army Council, and very few secretaries were without military rank. Those associations which chose to advertise for the position rather than simply nominate often received large numbers of applications. [10]

Finance

The salary to be paid to secretaries was a source of friction that became a constant theme in relations between associations and a parsimonious War Office. Finance was made available from army funds under four headings:

Grants for administration and clothing was based on the number of men in the units administered, at an allocation of £1 (equivalent to £107in 2019) and £1 3s (equivalent to £123in 2019) per man respectively. Rent was allocated as required and travel expenses were derived from a complicated system of allowances. [11] [12] As one of the largest associations, West Lancashire spent £62,000 (equivalent to £6,638,384in 2019) in its first year and, due to the maintenance and construction of drill halls, double that amount the year after. [13]

Facilities

Associations took over the facilities of the former auxiliary institutions, though many were in a poor state of repair or in the wrong locations for the newly formed territorial units. Much of the initial work of the associations was involved in completing surveys of the facilities they were to administer, sorting through myriad and often complex legal ownership and tenancy agreements, and deciding on which buildings were to be used, improved, built or released. In this, too, there was friction between the War Office and the associations. The County of London, for example, was denied £1,000 of the £5,000 it needed to build a new headquarters for one of its artillery batteries, and Kent was permitted only £1,500 of the £5,096 it needed to repair and adapt its facilities. The War Office restricted the cost of structural repairs to one per cent of the value of a building, but in response to numerous complaints from the associations about the inadequacy of this figure, it began to make grants available for major alterations. [14] It nevertheless rejected increasing numbers of applications as too expensive, and angered the associations further with its bureaucracy. [15] In 1909, the Gloucestershire association complained that "most of our association are businessmen and are unable to understand why it takes ten weeks and upwards to reply" when it submitted a proposal for the purchase of a site for its field ambulance unit, then had to wait a further eight weeks for a response. To add insult to injury, the War Office refused to reimburse the additional costs incurred by its procrastination. [16] The Somerset association lost three sites for a proposed new drill hall because the War Office took so long to approve plans. [17]

Training

Although training was the responsibility of the War Office, there was some confusion over whether this included weekend camps. Associations were responsible for travel costs and the provision of horses, and the expense incurred meant that many would refuse to sanction such camps for their units. [18] The mandatory annual camp was a source of friction between the associations and the officers commanding the territorial divisions, and demonstrated the gulf in priorities between the two. For the associations, camp was a significant showcase and a major attraction for recruitment, more so than financial incentives. They were anxious that camps should run smoothly, and regarded coastal venues as a key benefit. Dates were planned well in advance, based on employers' needs and the requirement to arrange the hire of horses in a competitive market. Divisional commanders would often complicate the associations' work by suggesting different dates or even rescheduling previously agreed dates. It wasn't until 1912 that the military authorities began to appreciate the difficulties in scheduling that the associations faced. The same year, the Army Council ruled that coastal venues would only be allowed to a unit once every three years, based on commanders' concerns that camps were being treated more as a holiday than a training exercise. [19]

Transport

Associations were responsible for the provision of horses and vehicles for weekly drills, camp and mobilisation. Infantry units had minimal need for such transport, and yeomanry units generally supplied their own, but demand from the artillery, engineer and ambulance units could be considerable. The methods adopted varied; some associations hired horses, others bought them. Rather than keep horses idle, many associations that purchased them entered into bailments, in which third parties were allowed to make use of the horses when not required for territorial duties in return for their care and upkeep. Some also attempted to recoup part of the purchase costs by hiring out horses for private or trade use. From 1910, associations were able to take advantage of interest-free loans made available by the War Office to increase the proportion of owned stock. [20] The finances made available for transport was criticised by the associations as inadequate. In particular, no provision was made for the training of drivers in infantry battalions until 1910 when, after pressure from the associations, the War Office made funds available for this purpose. [21]

The government had no clear idea of the quantity of horses that could be pressed into service in any given area, and no system for the collection of animals should the army be mobilised. To address this, the War Office attempted in 1910 to implement what it regarded as an efficient, centralised system and devolved the responsibility for operating it to local institutions. The police were tasked with an annual census of horses in each county, while the associations were to maintain the register thus obtained and be responsible for collecting the horses on mobilisation, both for their own needs and those of the regular army. The associations, who were not consulted, were outraged by the imposition of additional work of such vital national importance, for which they had no legal authority and would not be remunerated. It did not help that the army would be prioritised in the allocation of horses, and that a general lack of sufficient numbers would leave the Territorial Force effectively immobile. Some associations made efforts to comply with the scheme, but the War Office was forced to relent in the face of widespread protest, and in 1911 it implemented a revised scheme in which remount officers of the regular army undertook the bulk of the work. [22]

See also

Territorial, Auxiliary and Volunteer Reserve Association

Related Research Articles

Army Reserve (United Kingdom) Element of the British Army

The Army Reserve is the active-duty volunteer reserve force of the British Army. It is separate from the Regular Reserve whose members are ex-Regular personnel who retain a statutory liability for service. The Army Reserve was known as the Territorial Force from 1908 to 1921, the Territorial Army (TA) from 1921 to 1967, the Territorial and Army Volunteer Reserve (TAVR) from 1967 to 1979, and again the Territorial Army (TA) from 1979 to 2014.

Territorial Force former volunteer reserve component of the British Army

The Territorial Force was a part-time volunteer component of the British Army, created in 1908 to augment British land forces without resorting to conscription. The new organisation consolidated the 19th-century Volunteer Force and yeomanry into a unified auxiliary, commanded by the War Office and administered by local County Territorial Associations. The Territorial Force was designed to reinforce the regular army in expeditionary operations abroad, but because of political opposition it was assigned to home defence. Members were liable for service anywhere in the UK and could not be compelled to serve overseas. In the first two months of the First World War, territorials volunteered for foreign service in significant numbers, allowing territorial units to be deployed abroad. They saw their first action on the Western Front during the initial German offensive of 1914, and the force filled the gap between the near destruction of the regular army that year and the arrival of the New Army in 1915. Territorial units were deployed to Gallipoli in 1915 and, following the failure of that campaign, provided the bulk of the British contribution to allied forces in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign. By the war's end, the Territorial Force had fielded twenty-three infantry divisions and two mounted divisions on foreign soil. It was demobilised after the war and reconstituted in 1921 as the Territorial Army.

48th (South Midland) Division Military unit

The 48th Division was an infantry division of the British Army. Part of the Territorial Force (TF) and raised in 1908, the division was originally called the South Midland Division, and was redesignated as the 48th Division in 1915. During the First World War, the division saw service on the Western Front before being transferred to the Italian Front in November 1917 and remaining there for the rest of the war.

Auxiliaries An organized group supplementing the military or law enforcement

Auxiliaries are support personnel that assist the military or police but are organised differently from regular forces. Auxiliary may be military volunteers undertaking support functions or performing certain duties such as garrison troops, usually on a part-time basis. Unlike a military reserve force, an auxiliary force does not necessarily have the same degree of training or ranking structure as regular soldiers, and may or may not be integrated into a fighting force. Some auxiliaries however are militias composed of former active duty military personnel and actually have better training and combat experience than their regular counterparts.

Imperial Yeomanry Military unit

The Imperial Yeomanry was a volunteer mounted force of the British Army that mainly saw action during the Second Boer War. Created on 2 January 1900, the force was initially recruited from the middle classes and traditional yeomanry sources, but subsequent contingents were more significantly working class in their composition. The existing yeomanry regiments contributed only a small proportion of the total Imperial Yeomanry establishment. In Ireland 120 men were recruited in February 1900. It was officially disbanded in 1908, with individual Yeomanry regiments incorporated into the new Territorial Force.

Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907 United Kingdom legislation

The Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed the auxiliary forces of the British Army by transferring existing Volunteer and Yeomanry units into a new Territorial Force (TF); and disbanding the Militia to form a new Special Reserve of the Regular Army. This reorganisation formed a major part of the Haldane Reforms, named after the creator of the Act, Richard Haldane.

The Volunteer Force was a citizen army of part-time rifle, artillery and engineer corps, created as a popular movement throughout the British Empire in 1859. Originally highly autonomous, the units of volunteers became increasingly integrated with the British Army after the Childers Reforms in 1881, before forming part of the Territorial Force in 1908. Most of the regiments of the present Territorial Army Infantry, Artillery, Engineers and Signals units are directly descended from Volunteer Force units.

Territorial Force Nursing Service Military unit

The Territorial Force Nursing Service (TFNS) was established in 1908, part of the reform of the British auxiliary forces introduced by Richard Haldane which created the Territorial Force. Nurses with at least three years of training were able to volunteer for the service, and facilities comprised 23 large buildings earmarked for use as hospitals in the event of war. The TFNS was augmented by the affiliation of Voluntary Aid Detachments. On the outbreak of the First World War, the hospitals were commissioned and up to 2,784 nurses mobilised to staff them. By the end of the war, up to 8,140 nurses had served with the TFNS, 2,280 of them in hospitals and casualty clearing stations abroad. After the war, the TFNS became the Territorial Army Nursing Service in line with the reconstitution of the Territorial Force as the Territorial Army.

Reserve Forces' and Cadets' Associations(RFCAs) are Crown bodies in the United Kingdom which give advice and assistance to the Defence Council, and to the Army, Royal Navy and RAF, on matters that concern reserves and cadets. They are contracted by the Ministry of Defence to provide services including management of the volunteer estate, employer support, cadets and youth and to establish and maintain links with the civilian community. Established in 1908, they are today organised as 13 regional associations, comprising voluntary members and a small full-time secretariat.

Special Reserve British Army reserve 1908–1919

The Special Reserve was established on 1 April 1908 with the function of maintaining a reservoir of manpower for the British Army and training replacement drafts in times of war. Its formation was part of the military reforms implemented by Richard Haldane, the Secretary of State for War, which also created the Territorial Force. Haldane originally intended that the Militia would provide the reserve, but opposition from its representatives forced him to abolish it and create the Special Reserve instead. Only 60 per cent of the Militia transferred into the new reserve, and it was consistently under strength, particularly in officers. Reservists enlisted for a six-year term of service, and had to undergo six months of basic training on recruitment and three to four weeks training annually. The Special Reserve was organised into battalions, providing a third for each of the regular army's 64 two-battalion infantry regiments and a fifth and sixth for the five four-battalion infantry regiments. In addition to providing replacements to the regular army, the Special Reserve was deployed on home defence duties guarding the coast and key installations during the First World War. The routine nature of its duties meant that scant attention was paid to it in regimental histories. After the war, the Special Reserve was abolished and the Militia was resurrected in 1921 to take on its former role. No effort was made to restart recruitment, and in 1924 the new Militia's functions were absorbed into the Supplementary Reserve.

Haldane Reforms Reforms of the British Army from 1906 to 1912

The Haldane Reforms were a series of far-ranging reforms of the British Army made from 1906 to 1912, and named after the Secretary of State for War, Richard Burdon Haldane. They were the first major reforms since the "Childers Reforms" of the early 1880s, and were made in the light of lessons newly learned in the Second Boer War.

140th (4th London) Brigade Military unit

The 140th Brigade was an infantry brigade formation of the British Army's Territorial Army (TA) that had its origins in a South London Brigade of the former Volunteer Force. It served on the Western Front in the First World War and was recreated during the Second World War where it served only in the United Kingdom as a training formation.

Volunteer Training Corps Military unit

The Volunteer Training Corps was a voluntary home defence militia in the United Kingdom during World War I.

Yeomanry Cavalry British volunteer military force

The Yeomanry Cavalry was the mounted component of the British Volunteer Corps, a military auxiliary established in the late 18th century amid fears of invasion and insurrection during the French Revolutionary Wars. A yeoman was a person of respectable standing, one social rank below a gentleman, and the yeomanry was initially a rural, county-based force. Members were required to provide their own horses and were recruited mainly from landholders and tenant farmers, though the middle class also featured prominently in the rank and file. Officers were largely recruited from among the nobility and landed gentry. A commission generally involved significant personal expense, and although social status was an important qualification, the primary factor was personal wealth. From the beginning, the newly rich, who found in the yeomanry a means of enhancing their social standing, were welcomed into the officer corps for their ability to support the force financially. Urban recruitment increased towards the end of the 19th century, reflected in the early 20th century by increasingly common use of hired mounts.

The National Reserve was created in 1910 as a means of retaining the option to call on the services of ex-military personnel to augment the regular and auxiliary military forces of the United Kingdom in the event of a major war. At its inception it was little more than a register of men with previous military experience who would be willing to return to arms should their services be required. The government refused to grant the reserve any funding, and until three weeks after the start of the First World War, could not definitively say how it would be used. On the outbreak of the war, many of the younger, fitter reservists re-enlisted in the British Army or Territorial Force on their own initiative, without waiting to be called up. When the reserve was finally called to duty, it was used to augment the home defence forces in the guarding of key installations and infrastructure. The older reservists, considered unfit for more active duties, played a leading role in the creation of the Volunteer Training Corps, a civilian auxiliary recruited from those ineligible for military service, largely on account of age. The introduction of conscription early in 1916 resulted in the younger reservists being called up for service in the army. The remaining reservists were transferred into the Royal Defence Corps, established in March 1916 as part of the re-organisation of the home defence forces, and the National Reserve effectively ceased to exist as a distinct organisation.

The British home army in the First World War served the dual purpose of defending the country against invasion and training reinforcements for the army overseas. Initial responsibility for defending the nation lay with the Territorial Force, a part-time auxiliary designed in 1908 as a means of expanding the army in a major foreign conflict but, as a result of political compromise, implemented as a home defence army. It was supported in this role by 42,000 regular army troops, primarily belonging to the Royal Garrison Artillery and the Royal Engineers. The 14 infantry divisions and 14 mounted brigades of the Territorial Force were mainly allocated either to the Local Force, stationed near the coast and tasked with disrupting an invasion at the point of landing, or the Central Force, a mobile element tasked with defeating the invading force as it marched on London. The Local Force was augmented by units of the Special Reserve and Extra Reserve, which were the third battalions of the regular army line infantry regiments established to recruit and train replacements for their regiments' two combat battalions. The home army was also largely responsible for guarding vulnerable points, such as the communications infrastructure, rail network and munitions works.

The Gloucestershire Militia was a part-time military force in the county of Gloucestershire in the West of England. From their formal organisation as Trained Bands in 1558 until their final service as a Special Reserve unit of the Gloucestershire Regiment in World War I, the Militia regiments of the county served in home defence in all of Britain's major wars.

The Royal South Gloucestershire Light Infantry (RSGLI), later the 3rd Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment was a Militia regiment raised in the county of Gloucestershire in the West of England. From its formal creation in 1759 the regiment served in home defence in all of Britain's major wars until 1918.

The Royal North Gloucestershire Militia (RNGM), later the 4th (Militia) Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment was a Militia regiment raised in the county of Gloucestershire in the West of England. From its formal creation in 1763 the regiment served in home defence and overseas garrisons in all of Britain's major wars until 1908.

References

  1. ↑ Beckett 2008 p. 43
  2. ↑ Mitchinson 2008 pp. 8-9
  3. ↑ Beckett 2008 p. 28
  4. ↑ Beckett 2011 p. 215
  5. ↑ Mitchinson 2008 pp. 2 & 8–10
  6. ↑ "Provisional Notes on the Formation and Functions of County Associations" (1907). County Lieutenancy, Series: Correspondence, ID: 1000 10 1907—(B389)—448-3wo, p. 1. Gloucester: Gloucestershire Archives, National Archives.
  7. ↑ Mitchinson 2008 p. 8
  8. ↑ Beckett 2008 p. 30 & 43
  9. ↑ Mitchinson 2008 pp. 2 & 7
  10. ↑ Mitchinson 2008 pp. 12–13
  11. ↑ Mitchinson 2008 pp. 12, 23
  12. ↑ "Provisional Notes on the Formation and Functions of County Associations" (1907). County Lieutenancy, Series: Correspondence, ID: 1000 10 1907—(B389)—448-3wo, pp. 2–3. Gloucester: Gloucestershire Archives, National Archives.
  13. ↑ Mitchinson 2008 pp. 25–26
  14. ↑ Mitchinson 2008 pp. 19–21, 25
  15. ↑ Mitchinson 2008 pp. 25, 34
  16. ↑ Mitchinson 2008 pp. 41–42
  17. ↑ Mitchinson 2008 pp. 34–35
  18. ↑ Mitchinson 2008 pp. 69–70
  19. ↑ Mitchinson 2008 pp. 70–73
  20. ↑ Mitchinson 2008 pp. 85–87, 89–90
  21. ↑ Mitchinson 2008 p.90
  22. ↑ Mitchinson 2008 pp.91–98

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.