Book: The Development of the British Army 1899 - 1914

[Guest]

"The Development of the British Army 1899 - 1914: From the eve of the South African War to the eve of the Great War with special reference to the Territorial Force" by Col John K Dunlop. Pub 1938.

Just arrived. for anyone with an interest in the development and structure of the Army from the Boer War to the eve of the Great War this is really quite essential reading. A slip in the book indicated it was the "Thesis approved for a Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the University of London"

CONTENTS

Part 1: The State of the British Army in the Eve of the South African War

1. Introduction

2. Organisation for War

3 The Regular Army

4 The Auxiliary Forces

Part II: The Mobilization and Expansion of the British Army During the South African War 1899-1902

5. The Mobilization of the Regular Army

6. The Employment of the Auxiliary Forces

Part III: 1900-1905. A Period of Attempted Reforms

7. Mr Brodrick as Secretary of State for War

8. The End of the War - Reforms and Commissions

9. Mr Arnold Foster Takes Office

10. The Formation of the Army Council and Committee of Imperial Defence

11. Retrospect

Part IV: The Haldane Reforms

12. Mr Haldane becomes Secretary of State for War

13. The Formation of the Expeditionary Force

14. The Territorial and Reserve Forces Act

15. The creation of the Imperial General Staff and the Training of the Army

Conclusion

Appendices

Bibliography

Index.

There is lots of interesting material on the debates that raged in the inter-war period when the structure of the Army was being hammered out. It is more focused on high level structure etc but does provide Orbats of a proposed Six Corps structure that mixed Regular, Militia and VB battalions pre the Haldane reforms. for example - fascinating given what actually happened subsequently One other snippet: there were 3,762 applicants to join the newly formed Sharpshooters (City of London Yeomanry) immediately after the Boer War, of which 1,205 were accepted. Appendix C compares the Regular army in 1899, 1906, 1914 and 1935. Lots of detailed footnotes.

Bibliography is revealing more material that will be new areas for research, particularly the title of Govt reports (Harrington, Dawkins, Elgin, Norfolk Commissions all covered) and Memoranda. Bibliography runs for 6 pages - worth noting this is nearly all pre-war material. A gem of a book. MG