Recruitment and Training (1850-1900) Flashcards
Give 2 reasons why recruitment needed to change
Shortage of troops
Quality of troops
Which Prime Minister was a force for change in recruitment?
William Gladstone
What did Gladstone do to change recruitment?
Appointed Edward Cardwell as his Secretary of State
What 4 changes to recruitment did Cardwell make?
1870 Army Act
1871 Regularisation of the Forces Act
Improvement of service conditions
Improvement of officer recruitment
What 3 changes did the 1870 Army Act bring?
Brought in standard 12 year enlistments (6 in regulars, 6 in reserves)
Paid 4d and did annual retraining
After 12 years, soldier could resign without a pension or sign up again and receive a pension
What 3 changes did the 1871 Regularisation of the Forces Act bring?
Regiments reorganised back into regions
Regiments had 2 linked battalions which reduced service time abroad
Local militia made up 3rd batallion
What ended in 1871?
Sale of commissions
What was banned in 1881?
Corporal punishment
What were the 2 disadvantages of Cardwell’s reforms?
Officers were still from the upper class due to high training costs Recruiting officers had to select unsuitable candidates to fulfill quotas
What improved about the initial training of cadets?
Officers went to Sandhurst and engineering officers went to Woolwich
What happened to the training of existing officers?
In serving training at Camberly
What happens overall to the level of training?
Vastly improved
