Notes and References Preface and Acknowledgements 1. See Michael Powicke. Military Obligations in Medieval England (Oxford. 1962); Stephen J. Stearns, 'Conscription and English Society in the 1620s', the Journal of British Studies, May 1972; and J. R. Western, The English Militia in the Eighteenth Century (London, 1965). 1 Victorian Legacy 1. The latest interpretation of the South African conflict is Thomas Pakenham, The Boer War (London, 1979). See also Maj.-Gen. Sir Frederick Maurice and M. H. Grant, History of the War in South Africa, 1899-1902, 4 vols (London, 1906-10); and L. S. Amery (ed.), The Times History of the War in South Africa, 6 vols (London, 1900--9). 2. G. R. Searle, The Quest for National Efficiency (Oxford, 1971) p. 37. 3. The Times, 4 January 1902. 4. Samuel Hynes, The Edwardian Turn of Mind (Princeton, 1968) p. 21. 5. The best study of British invasion literature remains I. F. Clarke, Voices Prophesying War, 1763-1984 (Oxford, 1966). 6. Hynes, Edwardian Turn of Mind, pp. 40-41. See also H. R. Moon, 'The Invasion of the United Kingdom: Public Controversy and Official Planning, 1888--1918', unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of London, 1968. 7. Zara S. Steiner, Britain and the Origins of the First World War (London, 1977) p. 156. 8. See John Springhall, Youth, Empire and Society: British Youth Move­ ments, 1883-1940 (London, 1977). 9. The tie to 'muscular Christianity' was not broken, however, as the secularized drill associations maintained an inoffensive but suitably 'manly' Protestant outlook. See ibid, p. 58. Lord Meath, an advocate of compulsory military service, merged his Lads' Drill Association with the National Service League in 1906. Haldane, it should be added, found the boys' drill organizations so useful that he tried to absorb them into his Territorial Force scheme. Ibid, p. 29. 10. See William Hillcourt and Lady Baden-Powell, Baden-Powell (London, 1964) p. 302. 11. Springhall, Youth, Empire and Society, p. 57. 12. Report of the Inter-Department Committee on Physical Deterioration, Cd 2175 (1904), cited in Anne Summers, 'Militarism in Great Britain Before the Great War', History Workshop Journal, 2 (August 1976) p. 111. See also the article, 'The Deteriorization of the National Physique' by George F. Shee, one of the principal founders of the National Service League, in The Nineteenth Century and After, vol. 53 (1903) pp. 797-805. 13. See Arthur Marder, From the Dreadnought to Scapa Flow: The Royal Navy in the Fisher Era, vol. I (London, 1961), which remains the best work on the Dreadnought programme. 253 254 Notes and References 14. Pakenham, Boer War, pp. 607-8. 15. Royal Commission on the War in South Africa, Cd 1789--1792 (1903). 16. Elie Halevy, A History of the English People in the Nineteenth Century, vol. VI, The Rule of Democracy, 1905-1914 (London, 1961 ed.) p. 165. 17. Balfour revealed this information to Parliament on 16 May 1901: 94 H. C. Deb., 4 s. col. 382-3. See also Lowell J. Satre, 'The Unionists and Army Reform, 1900--1903: The Abortive Proposals of St. John Brodrick', unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of South Carolina, 1968, pp. 25-6. 18. See The Report of the Royal Commission on the Militia and Volunteers, Cd 2061-2063 (1904). 19. Ibid. Two members of the commission, Col. Satherwaite and Col. Dalmahoy, submitted a minority report recording their opposition to this section of the report - though neither opposed compulsory service, they refused to accede to any reference to conscription on the continental model. See Denis Hayes, Conscription Conflict (London, 1949) p. 31. Wilkinson claimed that he was the only commissioner who did not favour conscription, though he did sign the majority report. See Hugh Cunning­ ham, The Volunteer Force: A Social and Political History, 1859--1908 (London, 1975) p. 132. 20. Cd 2061-2063 (1904). 21. See 'Remarks on Report by the RC on Militia and Volunteers', 30 May 1904, CAB 37/71/73. See also Col. J. K. Dunlop, The Development of The British Army, 1899--1914 (London, 1938) p. 176; and Hayes, Conscription Conflict, p. 33. 22. Esher was the prototype of the political 'insider'; he wielded great influence without the necessity of assuming responsible office, and did so not because of who he was or what he did, but because of who he knew. See Oliver Viscount Esher (ed.), The Captains and the Kings Depart: Journals and Letters of Reginald Viscount Esher (New York, 1938), a fascinating, though massive, collection of memorabilia of a man who literally knew everyone worth knowing. See also the excellent modern biography, Peter Fraser, Lord Esher (London, 1973). 23. Report of the War Office Reconstitution Committee, Cd 1932 (1904). See also John Gooch, The Plans of War: The General Staff and British Military Strategy c. 1900-1916 (London, 1974) ch. 2, 'The Triumph of Lord Esher'. 24. See Lowell Satre, 'St. John Brodrick and Army Reform, 1901-1903', 'the Journal of British Studies, vol. XV, no. 2 (Spring 1976). 25. See Dunlop, Development of the British Army, ch. 9, 'Mr. Arnold­ Forster Takes Office, October 6, 1903'; and Albert Tucker, 'The Issue of Army Reform in the Unionist Government, 1903-5', the Historical Journal, vol. IX (1966). 26. See The Times, 27 February 1902. See also: Hayes, Conscription Conflict, pp. 36--7; L. S. Amery, My Political Life, vol. I (London, 1953) pp. 215-16; and J. E. B. Seeley, Adventure (London, 1930) p. 92. 27. The National Service League was not the first such organization of its kind. It is probable that the founders of the NSL were inspired by the success of the Navy League, which preceded it by ten years and which Notes and References 255 gave birth, in turn, to the Imperial Maritime League. In 1906, Lt.-Col. Charles a Court Repington founded the National Defense Association, also presided over by Lord Roberts, which sought essentially the same goals as the NSL. See Admiral C. C. Penrose-Fitzgerald, 'The Unrest of Insecurity', the Nineteenth Century and After, July 1908, pp. 162-3. 28. Hayes, Conscription Conflict, p. 37. 29. See National Service Journal, March 1904. 30. The Times, 8 May 1914, where the figure 270 000 is given. It is, no doubt, inflated. However, there is no question that the League had grown enormously from the small band of founders in 1905. 31. The Nineteenth Century and After, LVII (January 1905) pp. 1-26. 32. See David James, Lord Roberts (London, 1959) pp. 414-15. 33. The Times, 2 August 1905. 34. Both Balfour and Arnold-Forster desired Roberts's retirement from the CID, but the Prime Minister lamented to his War Secretary, 'Of course, we cannot get rid of the old man.' Fraser, Lord Esher, p. 159. 35. 3 November 1905, CAB 38178. 36. F. S. Oliver, Ordeal by Battle (London, 1916, abridged version) p. x. 37. See Gooch, Plans of War, pp. 278--9. 38. James, Lord Roberts, p. 456. 39. Draft Report on the Possibility of Serious Invasion: Home Defence, 11 November 1903, CAB 3/1/18A. 40. 146 H.C. Deb., 4 s, col. 118. 41. Halevy, History of the English People, vol. VI, p. 159. 2 Conscription Controversy 1. See Peter Fraser, Lord Esher (London, 1973) p. 159. Lord Roberts, during his term as Commander-in-Chief, had seen first-hand the force of public opinion and the censure of the press over the Kinloch affair, a scandal created by revelations of 'hazing' among junior officers of the Grenadier Guards. The public, however, overwhelmingly supported his position at the time. See Thomas C. Kennedy, 'Airing the Dirty Linen of an Unreformed Army: The Kinloch Affair, 1902-1903', Military Affairs, April 1979. 2. Rt. Hon. H. H. Asquith (The Earl of Oxford and Asquith), Genesis of the War (London, 1923) p. 139. 3. Caroline Playne, The Pre-War Mind in Britain: An Historical Review (London, 1928) p. 147. 4. Ibid, p. 151. 5. See The Times, 29 June 1910, and the Spectator, 8 August 1914, p. 187. 6. L. S. Amery, My Political Life, vol. I, p. 214. 7. See A. M. Gollin, Proconsul in Politics: A Study of Lord Milner in Opposition and in Power (London, 1964) p. 189. 8. Leo Amery attempted to convince Milner to accept the presidency of the Tariff Reform League after Joseph Chamberlain's retirement from 256 Notes and References public life. The plan foundered, however, when funds proved insufficient for Milner's ambitious plans. See ibid, p. 114. 9. See Robert J. Scally, Origins of the Lloyd George Coalition (Princeton, 1975) p. 130. 10. For the Coefficients Club see ibid, p. 79 ff, and G. R. Searle, The Quest for National Efficiency (Oxford, 1971) pp. 150--52. 11. See Amery, My Political Life, vol. I, pp. 264--5. 12. Ibid, p. 53. 13. Halevy, History of the English People, vol. VI, p. 155. 14. Scally, Origins of the Lloyd George Coalition, p. 130. 15. 26 February 1907, Maxse Papers, 457. 16. The Spectator, 27 April 1907. 17. I am grateful for having had the opportunity to read the unpublished paper of Professor Thomas C. Kennedy, 'The Endangered Empire and the Nation in Arms: The National Service League in Edwardian Eng­ land'. See also Anne Summers, 'Militarism in Britain Before the Great War', History Workshop Journal, no. 2 (August 1976) p. 113. 18. See Lord Roberts's letter to The Times of 9 October 1911, for example, in which he wrote: The conditions amid which millions of our people are living appear to me to make it natural that they should not care a straw under what rule they may be called upon to dwell and I quite understand their want of patriotism.