Impression of Military
Service Act Poster - by Jamie. From an original image that can be seen at: <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Poster_Military_Service_Act_1916_Attest_Now.jpg>
[Accessed: 8 April 2016]
With the need to
replace losses,
A voluntary
system had proved
Not to be enough
- on the back
Of Derby Scheme, autumn
1915,
Compulsory service
act by 1916,
Was introduced.
A Derby scheme
had set goals,
To give men
chance to enlist
Voluntarily, for
a future date -
Assigned to Class
B reserve -
Awarded a days
wages with
A khaki armband.
Such enlisted, or
attested men,
Would be called
on when later
Required - the
Derby scheme
A recruitment stepping-stone,
To compulsory
service would
End December 1915.
A parliamentary
report had,
By 20 December, included
Numbers who attested, that
Reached
2,832,210 - being
Men
of starred occupations
To total 915,491.
With
complete paperwork
Of
these men, being known
By attestation papers, to give
Their
personal details - with
Compulsory
service arrival,
Men
might protest.
Tribunals
were set to hear
And
judge every individual
Case
- merits covered under
Seven
areas - men recorded
In
two ways; non attested
And
attested men.
By April 1916,
numbers
Of meetings had
already
Been held by National
Union of Attested
Married
Men. Another
gathering was
Held on Tower
Hill.
Although there
was no
Evidence for
attested
Married men set
to evade
Their voluntary
promise,
The meeting 5
April 1916
Saw crowds jeers.
With three
speakers taking
To the stage,
only one man
Had attested -
during the
Meetings course, one man
Confessed that he
had not
Attested, from
advice.
A relative, who
was an officer,
Suggested he
should not
Take that step -
the crowd
Retorted - was
this his advice
To married men? His reply
Was for
conscription.
One speaker
challenged
A youth in crowd,
to stand
And explain why
he did
Not wear khaki - the
crowd
Taunted youth's
hesitation,
To push him
forward.
Reacting to the
mass, the
Youth held up his
papers
To show how four
times
That he had been
rejected
And finally
accepted; only
Two days before.
Fired up, this
Irish youth
Refused to get
down, to state
How this speaker,
over nine
Months, had at
Tower Hill
Attacked the government;
'Liar Liar!'
The speaker replied
to his
Words 'no I'm not.'
as crowd
Demanded fair
play - with
His speaking, the
Irish youth
Told how that
speaker was
Anti government.
First, to be
against questions
Over cotton - then
the anti
German campaign
and being
Against liqueur
restrictions -
He addressed the speaker
With a raised voice.
With a raised voice.
'Now you are
telling attested
Married men not
to go,' saw
Reactions by
people's cheers -
Amused by speaker's
protests
The crowd and
meeting finally,
Slowly dispersed.
Slowly dispersed.
by Jamie Mann.
Anon.,1916.
Married Men's Agitation - An Unrehearsed Incident. The Daily Telegraph,
[online] 6 April 1916.
P.7. Col.5. Available at:
<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12206739/Daily-Telegraph-April-5-1916.html> [Accessed: 8 April 2016].
Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal
communication, 8 April 2016).
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