Poem ~ Armlets for All - Thursday, 4 November to Friday 5 November 1915

Source: File:  Khaki Armlet. jpeg, [online] See original image at: 
<http://www.familyhistorynorthants.co.uk/armlet.htm> Accessed: 2 November 2015].

i. 

Further extensions over

Issues of Khaki Armlets were

Continued - the underlying issues

Became laid out within controversy.

Debates existed between

Employers and employees -

Amendments or modifications

Over the scheme awaited decisions.

Moves being undertaken

By war office for this process

Moving forward - but was seen

Unlikely how armlet would be used.

The ideas origin for khaki

Armlets to be worn by men

Rejected by army - Only days

Prior to start a debate was raised.

ii.

That official scheme's launch on

1 November 1915 for those unfit

Men to wear the khaki armlet -

Symbolic of their inability to fight,

Followed lines of Sir Pragnell.

Sir George Pragnell, Chairman 

Of National Patriotic Society,

On 31 October addressed Red

Cross - to tell how the scheme

Had only been partially accepted.

Seven conditions outlined a short

Act for the duration of the war -

Aimed at ages 16 to 60, for both

Men and women who would

Be asked to volunteer services.

Either the King's service uniform

Or armlet could be worn; any type

Of badge was banned - the official

Armlet would signify the wearer

To be at disposal of government.

Volunteers or servers must wear

The armlet - those accepted to fight,

Those declined and those officers

Who appear in mufti - the armlet

To be marked with national arms.

Prior to acceptance, the mark

Would be G.R. over registered

Numbers, along with county letters.

A govt. committee of businessmen

Would allocate all suitable duties.

Men would be called up in batches

For military service, with employers

Promises to retain their positions  -

Exemption would be those men

Skilled in munitions or equipment.

Sir Pragnell concluded how an

Appeal to all, in wearing armlet's,

Offering their services for wars

Duration, would lead to outcome

Of instant patriotism ever seen.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1915. Khaki Armlets. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 4 November. P.10. Col.2. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11963646/Daily-Telegraph-November-4-1915.html [Accessed: 4 November 2015].

Anon.,1915. Khaki Armlets - Sir Pragnell's Proposal. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 2 November. P.8. Col.7. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11963611/Daily-Telegraph-November-2-1915.html [Accessed: 4 November 2015].

Mann, J., 2015. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 4 November 2015). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11963646/Daily-Telegraph-November-4-1915.html

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