A SchoolsHistory.org.uk project. Online for testing and editing by participating students. Please excuse any typographical errors, inaccuracies or broken links: or better still, e-mail me and let me know where they are!

Conscription - The First World War - 1916

Conscription was something that the government had sought to avoid at all costs. The war of attrition in France and Flanders had however brought about a situation whereby the armed forces were severely weakened. The original British Expeditionary Force had been shattered and the enthusiastic volunteers mauled on the battlefields of Western Europe. In great need of a victory, and the manpower to achieve it, the Prime Minister, Herbert Asquith, introduced the bill for compulsory attestation of men in early January 1916.

Find out about other events on the Home Front and in the Dominions by clicking here.

This act of parliament would require none married men to join the army, it was enforced enlisting: conscription. Below is a contemporary report on the introduction of conscription:

Thursday January 6, 1916

Mr. Asquith introduced the Government's bill for the compulsory attestation of single men of military age in the House of Commons yesterday. At the end of his speech he said that the bill would prove to be a dead letter if the men would come in now of their own free will, for the group system was reopened and the military authorities would continue to allow them to attest under it.
The following is an outline of the provisions of the bill:- Single men or widowers without children of military age who have no ground or excuse for exemption to be treated as though they had attested for enlistment. The bill is limited to Great Britain and to the period of the war.

The Act to come into operation on a date fixed by proclamation within 14 days after it has received the Royal Assent. The appointed day will be the 21st day after the day the Act comes into operation (i.e. a maximum of five weeks and a minimum of three weeks after the Royal assent). 2. Men in holy orders or regular ministers of any denomination. Applications for exemption may be made at any time before the appointed day in respect of any man or any class of men.

Those entitled to exemption will include men engaged on necessary national work, single men who are the stay and support of their relatives, those suffering from ill-health or infirmity, and conscientious objectors to the undertaking of combatant service.