WW1 British Officer Selection & Training, c.1914

In this video, I cover the ways in which a potential officer could obtain a commission in the British regular army before the outbreak of the First World War, the factors which impacted the selection process, and a brief overview of the type of training he received.
Select Bibliography:
Regulations under which Commissions in the Army may be Obtained by University Candidates, (London, HMSO, 1906).
Regulations under which Commissions in the Regular Forces may be Obtained by Officers of the Militia and Imperial Yeomanry, (London: HMSO, 1904).
Regulations Respecting Admission to the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and for First Appointments therefrom to the Army, (London: HMSO, 1904).
R.F. Legge, The Officers' Training Corps Examiner for Certificate "A", (Aldershot: Gale & Polden, 1909).
R.M. Milne, Mathematical Papers for Admission into the Royal Military Academy and the Royal Military College for the Years 1905-1912, (London: MacMillan, 1913).

[@thehighlandsubaltern8139]

Just to clarify one point, there were no interviews or other form of subjective vetting for admission to Sandhurst until after WW1. No member of the army or War Office had any contact with the candidates until they turned up for their medical after being accepted (hence the point of outsourcing selection to the Civil Service Commissioners). The process of appointing to officers to regiments after they had obtained their commissions was a bit different, but I hope to cover this in another video soon. Also, as this is the subject of my PhD, I will hopefully publish it all as a book one day!

[@adbraham]

Viewed through lens of someone who served as an officer for six years on what was then called a short service commission, following university, back in the late late ‘80s; I found this very interesting. I’m looking forward to the next instalment, presumably dealing with how WW1 shaped recruitment and training.

[@mikewinston8709]

Thank goodness…a new video. Brilliant stuff. More please.

[@evinchester7820]

I remember meeting a SGM when I was deployed last time back in 1996. This was the US Army. His mother was a War Bride from England. His grandfather, was an "Old Reliable." After the first battle of the Somme, the chain of command was 8 corporals, which is grandfather was one of. They gave him two choices. 1. A commission. 2. SGM of the Battalion. He took the SGM. I asked him why his grandfather did that. He said his grandfather was a working class lad. Had h taken the commission, it would have been seen as presumptuous. The being a SGM, well, that was something. But untold, it might have also been the fact they all the officers were gone. Seems that had a short life expectance. His grandfather did tell him that about every three months he train up a new company. Having toured Verdun, and they are still finding remains and unexploded shells, and the tactics they used, I can see how it became a meat grinder. And also in the UK there was a shortage of men after the war for women to marry.

[@dannymlpl]

So glad this was recommended to me, very interesting, nice to see a well crafted and informative video.

[@miketickner6108]

An excellent well researched and interesting presentation. A welcome return to KZbin after too long a gap. Look forward to follow up presentations to which you hinted.

[@stevekaczynski3793]

The phenomenon of the "temporary gentlemen" is an interesting one, necessitated by the dramatic expansion of the British Army in WW1 referenced at the end of this video. I look forward to you covering this in a future video. 2:08 - Quite challenging exam questions even today, with the use of a calculator.

[@kevelliott]

"Quite challenging exam questions even today". My thoughts exactly!

[@vhuttyu]

Not especially. Question 1 is quite interesting though - requires you to think about the optimal orientation of the tiles.

[@garypointing5825]

6 weeks was the average life expectancy of an officer. They were brave men, who lead from the front...leading to high casualty rates

[@evinchester7820]

I don't think Kipling's son lasted that long. Sadly.

[@stevekaczynski3793]

@@evinchester7820 Commissioned into the Irish Guards, despite being near-sighted, although as the war went on they increasingly became less choosy about such things. (Altered with correction)

[@thefuunylaughguy]

Good to see you posting again!

[@schoonerist]

Very good to see you back. Please post more often.

[@formicapple2]

Absolutely fascinating. Ty for posting this. Just subscribed.

[@sirfox950]

He's back 🥺

[@Jsi01]

Amazing video! Thanks so much and best of luck with your PhD, I’ll be following you!

[@tandemcompound2]

yup, knowledge of Greek, Latin, Hebrew and Homer definitely kept the whizz bangs away.

[@arslongavitabrevis5136]

LOL

[@stevekaczynski3793]

Reflects what was considered to be a good education in 1914 Britain, especially for the elite.

[@Mishima505]

And poetry.

[@angusmacdonald3220]

The situation in the 1970s was unless you had gone to a major public school you had zero chance of ever being commissioned to any of the Scottish regiments. Such was the snobbery.

[@joeblow9657]

Was that true for the British army as a whole or just the Scottish regiments?

[@arslongavitabrevis5136]

I believe you!

[@angusmacdonald3220]

@@joeblow9657 It was certainly true re the Household Division (Life Guards, Blues & Royals, Guards regiments as well as every so-called cavalry regiment). I wonder how much has changed?

[@mikes3756]

My father became a officer in WW2 as a university graduate. He then got I think rather less than a year of training before going to El Alamein. As junior officer he was lucky to survive. It seems they were supposed to run to the enemy waving a pistol and shouting ‘follow me boys’

[@NathanDudani]

Over the top now boys

[@KravMagaThailand]

Very interesting. Wonder how the “temporary gentleman” office of Ww1 was received by the original upper class officer types?

[@AntiWokeXyCitizen]

Today it's common that career soldiers once reaching the rank of RSM are offered their commission, I have many colleagues and friends who have achieved that and many reaching the rank of LT Col. I too served however changing careers and having a career break, resulting losing my previous rank, seniority ending up rejoining as a class two private, that scuttled my chances of a commission. I transferred from the infantry once requalifying as a full Corporal and moved to the Supply Controllers trade at the age of 35, but due to the necessary courses and qualifications I simple ran out of time. I would have imagined I would have been a Quarter Master due to my Secondary Depot logistics and SQMS/RQMS qualifications. I left after completing my colour service as a SSgt, imagine if I didn't leave and retrained, I can only wonder...

[@michaelmartin9022]

People think there were still purchased commissions in WW1?

[@JohnSmith-ei2pz]

Royalty were promoted and given many medals.

[@iatsd]

@@JohnSmith-ei2pz Not while serving they weren't. While they had access to the RNC as of right, and Sandhurst if they were minor royalty (Major Royals serve in the Navy, not the army, until the time of Charles, and even he went through the Navy as primary service), but NONE of them get promotions or medals simply for being there, while there. Once they leave and take up public life and start serving as the CoR then they start getting things handed to them, but CoR is purely ceremonial.

[@cp4512]

Enjoyed the video, but the truth is that officer selection in WW1 (and largely up to the 1980s!) was largely based on class and family ties in the Infantry and Armoured regiments. The logistics and corps relaxed this as they needed intelligent professional officers, but the Guards and Cavalry are still dominated today by the upper class and ex-students from public schools. Thankfully the ‘Rodneys’ just do few years and generally leave to join daddy’s company before promoting to major when things become more serious and professional.

[@joeblow9657]

I think something to remember about admission to Sandhurst was included not just the exam at points but an interview which one's social ties could greatly help with.

[@JohnSmith-xi3sq]

However when the officer class was reduced in the carnage of WW1 a selection process was introduced by to select people such as my grandfather who ended the war as a Captain in the Lancashire Machine Gun Regiment, from the ranks

[@arslongavitabrevis5136]

You are right, as an amateur student of British military history (or a "history buff" as the Americans call it) for over 30 years I have got that impression too. The Guards were particularly notorious for attracting rich/pretentious "thickos" as you can appreciate by watching this rare and very interesting old documentary. kzbin.info/www/bejne/pJezip1nq7F1eqM

[@cp4512]

@@arslongavitabrevis5136some Regiments such as the Rifles, Paras and Royal Anglians recruit more based on military ability than the school someone went to or the size of their father’s bank balance!

[@stevekaczynski3793]

@@JohnSmith-xi3sq "Lady Chatterley's Lover" is famous for other things, but Mellors is described as having been one of the "temporary gentlemen" of WW1, who reverted to being a gamekeeper after the war ended.

[@thecount5558]

Great video. I'm wondering though, suppose someone wanted to apply for an officer's position in the militia or one of the numerous rifle volunteer units in the UK during that time, did they have the same standards or undergo a similar procedure to regular army officers? Or was it simply through voting?

[@thehighlandsubaltern8139]

Great question! Overall, the situation was much more informal than for the Regular Army. For the Militia, officers were selected and appointed by the Lord Lieutenant of the relevant county. Prospective officers had to hold hold a leaving certificate or equivalent, but otherwise it was essentially a case of one person making subjective decisions. New officers were initially on probabtion and could be dismissed if they turned out to be unsuitable. When the Militia was reconstituted as the Special Reserve in 1908 the power was taken away from the Lord Lieutenant and the Commanding Officers of Special Reserve units were able to choose their own officers, again on probation and subject to the educational requirements. For the Volunteers, some of the original officers were actually elected in the 1860s, but by the 20th Century the commanding officers of Volunteer Force units were able to choose their own officers provided they met the basic educational requirement. When the Volunteers became the Territorial Force in 1908 the job of selecting officers was entrusted to the County Territorial Force Associations which administered Territorial units in each county. In the event, this was a notably bad practice, as when war broke out many of these associations (largely made up of civilians) refused to relinquish their perogative to choose officers and slowed up the process of expanding the Territorial Force!

[@thecount5558]

@@thehighlandsubaltern8139 thanks for the answer. It seems like a commission in the militia would have been the perfect past time for a dilettante gentleman who needs something to keep him occupied before inheriting an estate. I'm assuming then that when the educational requirements were instituted in 1908, they weren't as stringent as that of the regular army's? Also, would it be safe to assume that having a commission in the militia/volunteers was also another avenue through which some of the less academically inclined/monetarily challenged officers passed in order to obtain a regular commission?

[@Kitiwake]

The German high command noted in WW2 that the British soldier was often brave and well trained but that their leadership was mediocre.

[@arslongavitabrevis5136]

Very true. Field Marshal Sir Alan Brooke complained about the mediocre quality of the senior officers in 1944.

[@stevekaczynski3793]

Hitler thought the British Army in 1940 was much like it was in WW1 - rather good in defence but disorganised, and the officers were not very good. A German fighting the British in Normandy in 1944 thought the British Army was held together by NCOs, who were usually very good - the officers had book learning but were not practical, and British Army privates were in his view unintelligent. In WW2 senior British officers sometimes complained that the RAF and the Royal Navy got better recruits and the Army got what was left.

[@finlayfraser9952]

Interesting!

[@kallekonttinen1738]

This is situation pre ww1 and just in the beginning of war. So this tells only how officers of that 100 000 strong BEF that went to France in 1914 was trained. What about British army of 1915-1918? How officers of that several million men army was trained?

[@MargretThompson-wm2ku]

Why was this recommended to me?!?!?

[@michaelmartin9022]

Same reason Mr Broke (me) got recommended a tour of a £17m 150ft superyacht.

[@billy4072]

Same..I also got recommended the Mary Burke ..but I watch biker stuff, so I get the connection. lol.

[@billy4072]

@@michaelmartin9022I got battleship New Jersey…. I’m thinking u tube AI has gone native ,

[@doctorshawzy6477]

To help you

[@Thecarman1994]

Because Rishi Sunak has plans for you.

[@GlobalDrifter1000]

Skip the first minute

[@tandemcompound2]

not uncommon for lower ranks to be commissioned to officers particularly after 1916 when the pre-war crop of Sandhurst officers were killed off. The smart enlisted men refused as it was a death sentence as they had to lead the charge into German machine guns.

[@stevekaczynski3793]

Things changed after the outbreak of war and the need for the dramatic expansion of the British Army. To a size never seen before or since.

[@paulyoung4422]

Lord Kitchener look alikes.

[@arslongavitabrevis5136]

Very interesting and well-documented video. Thank you. However, I believe you gave a misleading image of British society and the British officer corps during the Edwardian era. Most people were very class-conscious and that resulted in many cases in a humiliating and demeaning attitude towards the "social inferiors". There is plenty of evidence of this in the literature and documents of the time. Therefore, there was a bias against people who did not belong to the upper-middle class which monopolized the commissions, and by that I mean the sons of wealthy businessmen as well as the members of the gentry. Leaving aside the cartoonish and very biased picture painted by "Blackadder"; the British Army officers of the Edwardian era were, in general, very keen professionals, particularly those of less affluent or privileged backgrounds as in the case of Frederick "Boney" Fuller. However, in the more "fashionable" regiments (i.e.: the Guards and cavalry regiments in general) most officers tended to be arrogant snobs for whom military life was a glamorous extension of their social life. This excellent documentary proves my point. kzbin.info/www/bejne/pJezip1nq7F1eqM

[@thehighlandsubaltern8139]

It's an interesting point, but I don't think it's misleading, rather it represents new research. The class structure was clearly defined, but in the course of my research using The Black Watch as a case study, I've found a surprising culture of acceptance of officers of all social backgrounds, provided they conformed to the lifestyle and behaviour expected of them (if they didn't, they generally didn't last long). Many were initially snobbish of some officers who joined after the 2nd Boer War, but they were eventually accepted. As from 1907 on the Army Council attempted to address the shortage of officers by actively encouraging those from less affluent backgrounds to pursue commissions, I believe we need to seriously reassess the relationship between the social character and the actual demographic of the pre-war officer corps.

[@arslongavitabrevis5136]

@@thehighlandsubaltern8139 Thank you very much for your reply and your analysis. Unfortunately, obtaining books on British military history has been fairly difficult for me as I live in Argentina where imported books have always been expensive; therefore, my knowledge of the subject is rather patchy. However, thanks to the Internet, over the last 25 years, I have discovered many excellent websites and YT channels (like yours) and downloaded many interesting and out-of-print books. Out of curiosity, are you of Scottish descent? I am asking because of your regiment of choice; funny enough, the very first Osprey that I bought in 1974 was dedicated to the "Black Watch". I have been fascinated by the beautiful and colourful uniforms of the Scottish regiments since I was a boy. Regards. PS: I have just subscribed and I have a lot of catching up to do! 😁😁😁

[@Cheers22283]

Just think, how much damage the Blackadder and similar stories dreamt up and presented as representatives, have done

[@joeblow9657]

FWIW, Blackadder and more so Jeeves and Wooster do a decent job at portraying how the upper classes could often be well educated and well spoken but not necessarily that competent compared to their peers. Knowing Latin and French does not make for a good officer.

[@iatsd]

Just think how much of a moron someone would have to be to think that a TV comedy show was in any way "representative" of the actual war.

[@arslongavitabrevis5136]

@@joeblow9657 Very true!

[@sidm3300]

2:01 I made private.....just.

[@joeblow9657]

Was going to say, I know they didn't have calculators then but how is being able to answer those question really going to help an infantry officer? An artillery or engineer officer is understandable but you're not doing that much math in the infantry and cavalry.

[@granitesevan6243]

They obviously weren't idiots, but let's not pretend they weren't privileged. Not many officers from rural Wales, my dear boys...

[@mikeflegal347]

Sorry I must disagree. There is no excuse for the bloodbath. Res ipse loquitur. The officer class in British units was heavily class stratified. A fact that you dance around and then tacitly admit. The other ranks in the British army were treated like and trained to be mindless automations because of this class structure. The "Colonials" were repeatedly found to be better soldiers because there was less class difference. They showed more initiative and were more likely to carry on even their officers were killed.

[@arslongavitabrevis5136]

I do agree with you. While living in Australia (1994-2005) I learned a lot about the usually arrogant attitude of the regular British officers towards the "colonials" as they contemptuously called anyone who was not born in the UK. Australians and New Zealanders in general would not put up with that crap. BTW, Australians are wonderful people, friendly and easy-going; I wish I could go back! 😭😭

[@erikgood732]

Thank Christ,I thought this was Rishi political broadcast.

[@billy4072]

Lol

[@RPe-jk6dv]

Sacrificed for a stupid government.

[@christianblake3997]

I have no idea how this video got into my feed but as I’m here I just wanted to ask you one question? Why on earth are you wearing that uniform? When I just listened to the description of entry requirements it was quite interesting but when I look at you wearing that uniform which I believe you’re not entitled to even wear even though it’s over 100 years out of date, I think it makes you look quite ridiculous and hard to take seriously? As a former British soldier myself (not an officer) I’m pretty sure most of my former colleagues would call you something of a Walter Mitty?😂

[@Bawbag0815]

It’s called Living History. A form of public education where people with either a general interest in history up to as far as professional historians come together and try to recreate the uniforms or appearance of those that came before us. In this case it would be the FWW. Something that you admit yourself is that the uniform he is wearing has been out of date for the past 100 years, so being a Walt about something that happened a century ago is quite hard to do. “Modern” living history is actually generally frowned upon to prevent confusion with those currently serving. And living historians generally don’t aim to claim that they are in any way service members or veterans of these past engagements(even though many veterans are in the hobby just of modern conflicts.)

[@VinceMoran-en5sv]

There is no such thing as a 'self made' man. It always requires help, inheritance, privalige, connections, snobbery and elements bootlicking. Then as now.