Magdalen Men in the Great War

On the outbreak of the Great War the British Army consisted of volunteer regular soldiers reinforced by reservists, and the Territorial Force. The total strength (excluding Native Troops stationed in India) was about 734,000 men: 10,800 officers and 236,632 other ranks, in the Regular Army; 2,557 officers and 206,723 other ranks in the Army Reserve and Special Reserve; and a Territorial Force of 10,684 officers and 258,093 other ranks.[1] About half the Regular Army was stationed overseas to garrison the Empire, but six infantry divisions remained in Britain and Ireland, and it was agreed that four of these plus a cavalry division should be sent to France, about 100,000 men. The two remaining divisions were kept back because of the fear of a German invasion and the troubles in Ireland. By the end of 1914 10,588 men or about 10% of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) had been killed, wounded or taken prisoner.[2]

In a long war, predicted by the Secretary of State for War, Lord Kitchener (1850–1916), there was a need for reinforcements. This need was met initially by volunteers, who formed Kitchener’s Army, and by the end of 1914, thanks to volunteers, the army total was 1,686,890, officers and men,[3] albeit largely untrained. In all 2.5 million men volunteered to serve during the war. But the losses were heavy and between October 1914 and October 1915 the monthly increase in the size of the Army dropped from 213,000 to 54,000 as fewer men came forward to volunteer.[4]

A census taken in 1915 showed that nearly 5 million men of military age had not volunteered, 1.5 million of whom were in protected work. And although the possibility of conscription was discussed, the Prime Minister, Herbert Asquith (1852–1928), was aware that some members of the Government were against it. Instead, the Earl of Derby (1865–1948), Director General of Recruiting, proposed a programme now known as the Derby Scheme, under which men between 18 and 40 could volunteer as before, or they could attest with an obligation to join the army if called up. This had some initial success, and the size of the army in the month after the introduction of the scheme increased by nearly 200,000, but three months later in January 1916, the increase was down to 37,000 volunteers.

An important element of the Derby scheme was that married men, once they had attested, would not be called up until after all the attested unmarried men. But the failure of the scheme was shown by the fact that 38% of unmarried men and 54% of married men did not attest. More important, for propaganda purposes, was the fact that so many unattested unmarried men remained at home while thousands of attested married men would be sent to the front. With this in mind, the Liberal Government introduced conscription in January 1916 – whereupon the Home Secretary, Sir John Simon (1873–1954), resigned, and thirty-five Liberal MPs voted against their own government. However, with Tory support the first reading of the first Military Services Act was passed on 6 January by 403 to 105 votes, a majority of 298.[5]

The Military Service Act 1916 was given royal assent on 27 January and came into force on 2 March. It required ‘that every male British subject who on the fifteenth day of August nineteen hundred and fifteen […] had attained the age of eighteen years and had not attained the age of forty-one years and on the second day of November nineteen hundred and fifteen was unmarried or a widower without any child dependent on him […] be deemed as from the appointed date to have been duly enlisted in His Majesty’s regular forces’.

There were other exceptions – Irish citizens, ministers of religion, civilians working in the national interest, the unfit, and conscientious objectors. But a second Act of 25 May 1916 removed protection from married men.

A third Act was passed in April 1918 which extended the upper age limit to fifty-one at the time of the passing of the bill, removed the exemption for ministers of religion, (although without their consent they did not have to serve in a combatant role), and tightened up exemptions by tribunals and the government. Moreover, it allowed the king to extend the Act to Ireland by an Order in Council. The bill came into effect on 28 April 1918. But “at the date of the armistice no more civilians were called up under the Military Service Acts”. [6]

It is not clear how many of those who were made eligible for conscription under the 1918 Act were actually called to the colours. The increase in the monthly totals for enlistment to the army was significant after the first Military Service Act: 65,965 in January 1916, i.e. before the Act came into force, and 106,908 in April 1916, i.e. the first full month after the Act came into force. In 1918, however, the number of men enlisting actually fell, since the monthly total for May was 84,019 and for July, i.e. the first full month after the Act came into force, 59,360.[7] But it seems likely that many of the older group were never called to the colours.

Taking these two dates together means that all Magdalen men born between 18 April 1867 and 11 November 1900 were, after 18 April 1918, eligible for conscription unless they were exempted as described above.[8] Indeed, most were eligible from the earlier date of 2 March 1916.

Here we consider the nearly 1500 Magdalen men who served in the war or would have been eligible to be called to the colours. The list includes some men who served in the armed forces and matriculated after the war, and twenty-four men who had been accepted by the College but were killed in action before they could matriculate. But we only consider Magdalen men who were either Fellows of the College, or were or were to become undergraduates. College servants and choristers attending Magdalen College School who are included on the Magdalen list of the fallen and considered in our biographies are not included here.

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[1] Statistics of the Military Effort of the British Empire During the Great War 1914–1920. (London: HMSO, The War Office, March 1922), p. 30.

[2] ibid. p. 253.

[3] ibid. p. 228.

[4] ibid. p. 227.

[5] The Times, no. 41057 (7 January, 1916) p. 12.

[6] (Viscount Peel, Under-Secretary for War) reported in The Times, no. 42070 (9 April 1919), p. 16.

[7] Statistics of the Military Effort of the British Empire During the Great War 1914–1920. (London: HMSO, The War Office, March 1922), p. 364.

[8] W. Grist-Hawtin, The Law and Practice of Military Conscription under the Military Service Acts, 1916 to 1918 (London: Harrison and Sons, 1918).