Within
a few days of the outbreak of war a small British expeditionary force
had set sail for France. A popular thought at the time was that the war
would be over by Christmas. Lord KItchener, the newly appointed secretary
of State for war believed that the war would be a long conflict with which
the regular army could not cope, so a bill was passed in Parliment to
permit Kitchener to raise half a million volunteers for his ‘New
Army’,
As news filtered back to Britain of the severe difficulties facing the
British soldiers, up against the power of the German ‘war-machine’,
a surge of patriotism swept across the country. Men responded from every
walk of life, from city clerks to coal miners, farm and factory workers
to university, all of who were itching to get to France to face the ‘Hun’
before the war reached its soon-expected conclusion. This surge of patriotism
was to take two million volunteers into the forces before the horrors
of war became fully known and conscription finally had to be introduced
in early 1916.
In troubled Ireland there was mixed reactions to the call to arms. Just
hours after the hostilities commenced both Edward Carson for the Ulster
unionists and John Redmond, on behalf of the Nationalists declared their
loyalty to the British Government in this time of crisis. Each assured
that their followers (Carsons Ulster Volunteer Force and Redmonds Irish
volunteers) would be prepared to serve in the defence of the country.
Each presumed that a show of loyalty to the Empire would be a sure way
of strengthening his claims to his political objectives when the war was
over.
On August 8 forms were distruibited to UVF units on which they could sign
up for service and on the 11 August a large advertisement proclaiming
‘Your King and Country needs you’ appeared
for the first time in the Belfast News-Letter, along with the news of
the new ‘pals’ battalions being formed in
England, in which groups of friends enlisted together. Throughout August
a number of the UVF who were impatient to serve in the army joined up
before the decision was made to create a division of the ‘New
Army’ out of the Ulster Volunteers.
Newspapers of the time had shown that the UVF were the best prepared civilians
in Britain to go into the army and train for battle and this fact of the
UVFs potential had not gone unnoticed by Lord Kitchener, for two days
after his appointment to secretary-of-war, Kitchener sent for Colonel
T.E. Hickman MP, president of the British League for the Defence of Ulster
and told him : “I want the Ulster Volunteers”.
At an Ulster Council meeting in Belfast on September 3, Carson announced the formation of the 36th (Ulster) Division.
Field telephones were
part of the
equipment that made the UVF a
"modern' force.
Recruitment was
to begin immediately at the old town and at civil buildings all across
Ulster. The men would be trained initially in camps at Ballykinler,
Clandeboye and Newtownards in Co.Down and at Finner in Co.Donegal and
they would be enrolled in territorial units formed out of the local
volunteer regiments and whilst those who joined up and went abroad to
fight, sufficient members of the UVF would be kept organised and alert
at home to take care of Ulster and ensure that it was not invaded.
Firearms training at one of the
camps of instruction On
manoeuvres at Clandeboye Estate 1914
View
and sign Guestbook
South Belfast Friends of the Somme Association and its
website belfastsomme.com do not necessarily agree with all comments
and statements made in the guest book, and cannot be held responsible
for the content of external links placed on the guestbook. The guestbook
is moderated and IP address recorded, so any vulgar, sectarian, degrading,
raciast or bigoted comments will be removed and the violaters Internet
Service Provider informed.
