THE NATIONAL RESERVE. 



By MAJOR-GENERAL SIR JOHN STEEVENS, K.C.B. 



"I AM obliged to you for the perusal of an advance copy of the interesting article, by Major- 

 General Sir John Steevens, on the National Reserve. He is well qualified to explain his position, 

 for he, with one exception, has seen more of the Metropolitan Mayors by whose efforts the 35,000 

 men have been registered in the City and County of London than any of us in the two Associations. 

 The one exception mentioned above is Lieutenant-Colonel W. Campbell Hyslop, who originated the 

 idea and formulated the system of work in the boroughs. The men who have been registered are 

 waiting for some definite appreciation by the War Office of their patriotic offer, which it is to be 

 hoped will soon be published. When a definite annual retaining fee is offered and accepted — either 

 for service to complete existing Territorial Battalions, with additional numbers for those who will 

 fall out on mobilisation, or for any other duties which the War Office may prescribe — it is to be 

 hoped that engagements for drill, musketry and camp attendances may be made very elastic, 

 renderable only by the consent of the soldier and by that of the commanding officer, so long as 

 the numbers in camp do not exceed the establishment. This elasticity is essential on account of 

 the varying positions of National Reservists. Some are opulent, others are in comfortable 

 circumstances, whilst others, again, are working for their daily bread. Moreover, the bulk of the 

 Reservists registered have shot on range annually for years while in the Regular Army, and require 

 neither practice with rifles nor experience of camp life. " — Field- Marshal Sir Evelyn Wood, V.C. 



ONCEIVED by a thought, fostered 

 I by energy, maturing by patriotism — 



such is the life history of the 



National Reserve. 



It emanated from a realisation of 



the fact that many thousands, tens 

 of thousands even, of men passed yearly from a 

 military calling to solely civil life, all the military 

 experience and training which they had acquired, 

 at great cost to the State, during their various 

 periods of engagement, being thus absolutely lost 

 to the war organisation of the country. Until 

 this thought took concrete form the possibility 

 of men voluntarily coming forward with the 

 glorious knowledge that their services might 

 still be relied upon to rejoin the fighting forces 

 of the country, should the need arise, had not 

 been contemplated. 



It must be recorded that the scheme origi- 

 nated in the county of Surrey, primarily to 

 ascertain the number of men who, having left 

 the Services, would possibly be available for 

 active military duty should the state of affairs 

 in this country ever require their services to be 

 called upon. 



Mr. St. Loe Strachey, a resident in Surrey, 

 who is so well known as an ardent student of 

 many difficult questions of military organisa- 

 tion, wrote, some two or three years ago, to 

 the county Press, inviting such officers and men 

 who had completed their military life to send 

 in their names should they be willing to under- 

 take such an obligation. 



The response to this invitation was immediate, 



and, at the time, the large number of names re- 

 ceived was beyond all expectation. They came 

 forward from all parts of the county, and in 

 order to ascertain, and show to the military 

 administrators their value, a parade of Surrey 

 men was held in London (igio), at which 

 the Secretary of State for War, the Adjutant- 

 General, and other distinguished officers were 

 present. Fourteen hundred officers and men 

 appeared on parade, half of whom were ex- 

 Regulars and half ex-Volunteers ; and fully 50 

 per cent, were under forty years of age. Their 

 physique, bearing, and quality clearly demon- 

 strated their possible value as a military asset 

 in connection with home defence, if correctly 

 organised. 



Seeing, however, that men of all ages re- 

 sponded to the call, many of whom, although 

 still imbued with the patriotic vigour of youth, 

 were no longer physically capable of performing 

 active military duty, it was at once apparent 

 that this organisation would also afford the 

 means of recognising in many simple, though 

 public, ways those who had fulftlled their duty 

 to the State by personal service, either in the 

 Regulars defending the Empire's interest and 

 flag in all parts of the world, or with the Aux- 

 iliary Forces in which they had received train- 

 ing, to qualify themselves for the protection of 

 our island home. Such recognition has hitherto 

 been very scantily accorded by the general popu- 

 lace of this country, and has chiefly been con- 

 fined to the work of certain societies for assist- 

 ing cases of " distress," a very small per- 



