At the end of his book, Peter Stanley quotes Nigel Woodyatt, author of
a 1922 memoir Under Ten Viceroys, in which he had devoted a chapter
to the Territorials in India, advising that if readers found the subject
‘dull....I hope they will skip the chapter altogether’. I have not read
Woodyatt, but I would be astounded if anyone found Peter Stanley’s
account of the Territorials in India to be ‘dull’. Those familiar with the
author’s style and the depth of his research will not be disappointed and
it is, as the publisher’s distributors point out, astonishing that it has
taken a century for a book to be written about them. This is not
because of a lack of resource material. Territorial units in India, drawn
largely from the southern counties of England and those on the
English/Welsh border, were not required to maintain war diaries since
they were not at war, though they did become embroiled in internal
security duties; those who were subsequently sent to Aden,
Mesopotamia, Persia, Siberia and, later, the Third Afghan War, did
maintain war diaries for the duration of their deployments, but the
author uses these sparingly in his brief description of those campaigns.
Much of his source material, and therefore the joy of the detail in this
book, comes from the many letters home that Territorials wrote to their
families and friends (in the case of one soldier, a teacher by profession,
to his former pupils) or from the regimental newsletters they compiled,
copied to their home Depots where they were preserved. They also wrote to their local newspapers, many of which published their
contributions. In addition, many turned to photography and their
albums, combined with ‘scrap’ albums that they kept, are now held by
regimental museums and county archives. It is here that the author has
dug deep to get inside the minds and attitudes of those citizen soldiers
who, in 1914, volunteered for ‘Imperial Service’ at the request of Lord
Kitchener, Secretary of State for War. Kitchener’s distrust of the
Territorial Army, and his determination to recruit a separate ‘New
Army’ to fight on the Western Front, meant that a comparatively small
proportion of Terriers were to see active service.
Against the will of the high command in India (the Commander-in-
Chief described them as ‘immature’; the Viceroy dismissed them as
having ‘very small military value’). Kitchener wanted Territorial
battalions sent there in order to release Regulars for service in more
active theatres. ‘Kitchener’s Promise’, that after six months in India
they would be replaced by other troops and would then go on to serve
on the Western Front, was widely reported in diaries and letters. But it
was a promise never to be fulfilled, despite the units and men rising to
the many training challenges of what became known as ‘Kitchener’s
Test’. Many units served there throughout the war and, indeed, were
retained in India for up to a year after the Armistice. Given the
composition of the Territorial units, drawing on tradesmen and
craftsmen as well as those with an education, it is, perhaps, not
surprising that units were ‘raided’ on arrival in India for soldiers with
specialist skills to fill gaps in the Indian Army. It is this same
combination of education, skills and experiences that give the
documents and letters produced by them such a variety of depth and
colour and from which the author draws his inspiration.
Some 50,000 British Territorials served in India during the war,
initially on garrison duties but later, as their military training and skills
improved, as front-line troops in other theatres of war - ten Territorial
battalions posted to India eventually served in Mesopotamia, including
thousands of reinforcements, where a number were lost at the siege of
Kut, or in the subsequent attempt to relieve the garrison. Others were
sent beyond India to serve in Burma (guarding Ottoman prisoners of
war), Singapore (following the mutiny of the 5th Light Infantry), Hong
Kong, the Andaman Islands (a precaution against a possible German
invasion to release prisoners) and even Australia (escorting German
internees). The main theme throughout the book, however, is based on
a Territorial soldier’s life in India and is repeated in successive chapters
for 1915, 1916 (when the introduction of the Military Service Act
changed the terms of their service), 1917 and finally 1918-1919. We see them adjusting to life in cantonment barracks and bungalows spread
all over the sub-continent with their attendant followers, servants and
vendors; the development of their attitudes towards and relationships
with India, its people and cultures - sometimes, though not always,
showing more sensitivity and understanding than the Regulars they had
replaced; and over succeeding years their introduction to and embrace
of sport, in many cases games or activities that were new to them or
generally unavailable to their ‘class’ at home. It was not until 1916 that
Territorial units began to train for operations on the North West
Frontier and by 1917 they had taken their place alongside British and
Indian Regulars as active defenders of the frontier, allowing them to
feel that, even if they were ‘missing out’ on active service elsewhere,
they were still ‘doing their bit’. Less comforting is the description of
the role of some in support of General Dyer at Amritsar, whereas
elsewhere in India they handled disturbances much more
sympathetically. With eventual demobilisation and return to UK many
of the units were given a civic reception on arrival at their home town,
but knowledge of the role they had played in India soon faded and no-one
wrote of their endeavours - until now. This book fills that gap and
will provide an enjoyable read to anyone with an interest in military
history in India. Highly recommended.
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