At the beginning of 1914 the British Army had a reported strength of 710,000 men including reserves, of which around 80,000 were professional soldiers ready for war. By the end of the First World War almost 25 percent of the total male population of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland had joined up, over five million men. Of these, 2.67 million joined as volunteers and 2.77 million as conscripts. Monthly recruiting rates for the army varied dramatically.
The Kingdom of Portugal had been allied with England since 1373, and thus the Republic of Portugal was an ally of the United Kingdom. However, Portugal remained neutral from the start of World War I in 1914 until early 1916. However, in that year and a half there were many hostile engagements between Germany and Portugal. Portugal wanted to meet British requests for aid and protect its colonies in Africa, causing clashes with German troops in the south of Portuguese Angola, which bordered German South West Africa, in 1914 and 1915.
Thomas Orde Lawder Wilkinson VC, was an English-born Canadian and British Army officer who was a recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. A soldier with the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment during the First World War, he was posthumously awarded the VC for his actions on 10 July 1916, during the Battle of the Somme.
The Derby Scheme was introduced during World War I in Britain in the autumn of 1915 by Herbert Kitchener's new Director General of Recruiting, Edward Stanley, 17th Earl of Derby (1865–1948) after which it was named.
Arthur Halestrap MBE was one of the last surviving British soldiers of World War I.
John Henry Parr was an English soldier. He is believed to be the first soldier of the British Empire to be killed during World War I.
Gilbert Waterhouse, was an English architect and, later, war poet. He was killed on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, in World War I, while serving as a second lieutenant in the 2nd Bn Essex Regiment. A volume of his poems, Rail-Head and other poems, was published posthumously in 1916.
The 38th Battalion, CEF was a unit of the First World War Canadian Expeditionary Force. It was mobilized in Ottawa and recruited in Ottawa, Brockville, Perth, Prescott and Alexandria. An initial draft of five officers and 251 other ranks was sent to England on 24 June 1915. The battalion embarked at Montreal on 1 August 1915, aboard the Caledonian, disembarking in Bermuda on 12 August 1915. Its strength was 35 officers and 959 other ranks. The battalion embarked at Bermuda on 30 May 1916, aboard the Grampian, disembarking in England on 9 June 1916. Its strength was 35 officers and 1001 other ranks. The battalion arrived in France on 13 August 1916, becoming part of the 4th Canadian Division, 12th Canadian Infantry Brigade. It was later reinforced by the 7th Canadian Reserve Battalion. The battalion returned to England on 6 May 1919, arrived in Canada on 13 June 1919, was demobilized in Ottawa on 15 June 1919, and was disbanded by General Order 149 of 15 September 1920.
The 87th Battalion, CEF was a Household Foot Guards infantry unit in the Canadian Expeditionary Force during the First World War.
The Silver War Badge was issued in the United Kingdom and the British Empire to service personnel who had been honourably discharged due to wounds or sickness from military service in World War I.
Cricket in World War I was severely curtailed in all nations where first-class cricket was then played except India. In England, South Africa and the West Indies, first-class cricket was entirely abandoned for the whole of the war, whilst in Australia and New Zealand regular competitions were played for the 1914–15 season but first-class matches were afterwards abandoned. In South Africa, first-class cricket did not recommence until a series of matches against the Australian Imperial Forces cricket team in late 1919, and provincial cricket was not played until a one-off match between Transvaal and Natal in April 1920.
Andrew Christopher Fogarty was an Australian rules footballer who played with Essendon and University in the Victorian Football League (VFL).
During World War I (1914–1918), Ireland was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, which entered the war in August 1914 as one of the Entente Powers, along with France and Russia. In part as an effect of chain ganging, the UK decided due to geopolitical power issues to declare war on the Central Powers, consisting of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and later the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria.
Bright Ernest Williams was, at the time of his death, the last New Zealand veteran of the First World War, out of the 100,444 New Zealanders to fight in that war.
The youngest authenticated British soldier in World War I was twelve-year-old Sidney Lewis, who fought at the Battle of the Somme in 1916. Lewis' claim was not authenticated until 2013. In World War I, a large number of young boys joined up to serve as soldiers before they were eighteen, the legal age to serve in the army. It was previously reported that the youngest British soldier was an unnamed boy, also twelve, sent home from France in 1917 with other underage boys from various regiments.
Essex Farm Cemetery is a World War I, Commonwealth War Graves Commission burial ground within the John McCrae Memorial Site near Ypres, Belgium. There are 1,204 dead commemorated, of which 104 are unidentified. The cemetery was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield and has an area of 6,032 square metres (64,930 sq ft).
A mercy dog was a dog that served in a paramedical role in the military, most notably during World War I. They were often sent out after large battles, where they would seek out wounded soldiers, and they were well-suited to the conditions of trench warfare. They carried first-aid supplies that could then be used by wounded soldiers, and comforted dying soldiers who were mortally wounded. They were also trained to guide combat medics to soldiers who required extensive care. Many mercy dogs were trained by national Red Cross societies to serve the country in which the specific society operated. The German army called such dogs medical dogs. As many as 20,000 dogs are estimated to have served as mercy dogs in World War I and World War II, and they have been credited with saving thousands of lives. Such dogs were also used by the United States in the Korean War.
Henry Bligh Fortescue Parnell, 5th Baron Congleton was an Anglo-Irish soldier and aristocrat of the British peerage. At the age of 24, he was killed in action in the Ypres Salient, becoming the second British parliamentarian to die on the front line during the First World War.
British Army