191: – a unit of deaf mutes which drilled by sign language, and a unit that went by the name of the Ju Jitsu VTC. In May 1915, corps began to be organised into county regiments. Some 2,000 individual corps had appeared by June 1915, numbering 590,000 volunteers. Units raised finances for the purchase of weapons by charging membership fees. Amid concerns that they would compete with the established forces for the limited amount of rifles then available – in October 1915, there were 570,600 in the country for the 1.3 million men who needed them – the government prohibited volunteers from buying service rifles and required any purchase to be first cleared with the local military authority. Those corps which could not afford weapons begged or borrowed wherever they could, and dummy rifles,
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163:, Under-Secretary of State for War, realised that the government could do little to prevent them. Rather than allow the movement to grow unchecked, he decided in September to allow the Central Committee of the London Volunteer Defence Force to continue. Until the War Office had the time and resources to devote to the movement itself, the Central Committee, adopting the name Central Association of Volunteer Training Corps (VTC), became the body to which individual corps could affiliate, and was responsible for drawing up the rules and regulations on a national basis.
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After war had been declared in August 1914, there was a popular demand for a means of service for those men who were over military age or those with business or family commitments which made it difficult for them to volunteer for the armed services. At this stage in the war, Britain relied entirely
234:. The VTC officially remained unrecognised and outside of the nation's home defence scheme, thus depriving members of legal protection in the performance of their duties. There was some doubt that the armband would be recognised by the enemy as uniform, leaving members vulnerable to execution as
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was appointed the
Military Advisor. In November, the association was officially recognised as the administrative body of the VTC and formally subjected to conditions which prevented interference with recruitment into the regular army, barred members from holding military rank or wearing uniforms
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and, if the equipment was available, use of the rifle. In case of a German invasion, battalions were tasked with roles such as line of communication defence and forming the garrison of major towns; 42 battalions were to defend London. Volunteers undertook a wide range of other tasks including;
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c. 65) had never been repealed, it was used in April 1916 to legitimise the movement. VTC Battalions legally became
Volunteer Regiments of the new 'Volunteer Force'. Eventually, they were allowed to wear khaki uniforms and equipment began to be officially supplied. In July 1918, the War Office
206:, at the many new munitions works and on the rail network. Volunteers also dug trenches around London and assisted in bringing in the harvest. The movement grew out of the same spirit of volunteer service that gave birth to the Volunteer Force in the second half of the previous century, and a
152:. Discussions about the nature and role of the movement ranged from simply drilling volunteers in preparation for their enlistment into the regular or home armies, through augmenting the home army's defence of vulnerable points, to providing a force that would actively oppose an invasion with
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from a railway bridge. Part of the VTC force entered the barracks by the front gate, others made their way to the rear and scaled the wall. About 40 men at the rear of the column were pinned down by fire from surrounding houses and four were killed, including the first-class
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played a leading role in the growth of the VTC, providing many of its recruits and lending the nascent organisation an element of martial respectability. Among the many new corps formed were the United Arts Rifles – which numbered in its ranks the
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guarding vulnerable points, munitions handling, digging anti-invasion defence lines, assisting with harvesting, fire fighting and transport for wounded soldiers. In north
Worcestershire some units helped to man anti-aircraft guns ringing
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The
Volunteer Training Corps was suspended in December 1918, and officially disbanded in January 1920, with the exception of the Volunteer Motor Corps which was retained until April 1921 in case of civil disorder.
330:. The force was sometimes ridiculed by the public; there were jokes that the "GR" on their armbands stood for "George's Wrecks", "Grandpa's Regiment", "Genuine Relics", "Gorgeous Wrecks" or "Government Rejects".
367:, who had been second-in-command. The VTC men then assisted the small garrison of regular soldiers to hold the barracks for eight days. In total, five members of the battalion were killed and seven wounded.
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was passed which obliged members to remain in the Corps until the end of the war. By
February 1918, there were 285,000 Volunteers, 101,000 of whom had been directed to the Corps by the Tribunals.
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in 1908, in which recruits voluntarily engaged for a period of service) provided for home defence, and civilian local defence groups began to spring up spontaneously as soon as war was declared.
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starting on Easter Monday, 24 April 1916. Some 120 members of the 1st (Dublin) Battalion, Associated
Volunteer Training Corps were returning from field exercises at
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to order men to join the VTC; however, the clause in the 1863 act which allowed resignation after fourteen days' notice initially made this unenforceable, so a
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on a voluntary system of enlistment and many men still held to the
Victorian principle that it was the task of professional troops to fight a war whilst the
156:. Concerned that such a body would undermine recruitment into the regular army and hinder more than help home defence, the War Office banned the movement.
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British Pathé newsreel: "The King Calls For
Volunteers", showing VTC men digging trenches and rigging a barbed wire entanglement for home defence in 1917
125:(which had converted from conscription to engaging volunteers for periods of service in the 1850s and was converted into the Special Reserve in 1908),
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in
October 1915 sought to revive the Volunteer Act of 1863 as an attempt to place the VTC on a more official footing. It was supported by General Sir
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The volunteer movement gained publicity from discourse in the press advocating civilian participation in home defence, with notable proponents being
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Osborne, John (January 1988). "Defining their own patriotism: British
Volunteer Training Corps in the First World War".
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British Pathé newsreel of the Pharmacists' VTC being inspected by Brigadier General Bridgeman in a London park in 1916
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The Official Regulations for Volunteer Training Corps and for County Volunteer Organisations (England and Wales)
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Demand for the services of the VTC increased, and members were employed as guards by the Admiralty on the
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British Pathé newsreel of the City of London VTC parading past the Lord Mayor at Mansion House in 1916
350:, when they heard the news of the uprising. The commanding officer, Major Harris, decided to march to
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A red VTC brassard bearing the letters "GR" in black, preserved at the Imperial War Museum, London
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1st & 2nd Volunteer Battalions, King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment (Volunteer Training Corps)
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Proficiency Badge of the Volunteer Training Corps, depicting the war goddess
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The Approved Volunteer Training Corps uniforms, published in February 1915
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VTC or "National Guard" assists regular soldiers to find their way around
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by Eric Partridge (8th edition, edited by Paul Beale), pp. 490–1.
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The Central Association Volunteer Training Corps 1916 (p. 10)
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in London, one of many auxiliary tasks undertaken by the VTC.
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were among those pressed into service by various units.
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became the President of the Association and General Sir
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Kent War Memorials Transcription Project - Reports -
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other than an armband and denied any state funding.
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Volunteer military formations of the United Kingdom
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273:decided to include the VTC Battalions into the
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578:, Manchester University Press 1991, (p. 240)
610:Sinn Fein Rebellion handbook, Easter, 1916.
576:The Amateur Military Tradition, 1558-1945
561:Worcestershire VTC & Volunteer Force
650:Beckett, Ian Frederick William (2004).
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633:Beckett,
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