"Quite challenging exam questions even today". My thoughts exactly!

Not especially. Question 1 is quite interesting though - requires you to think about the optimal orientation of the tiles.

I don't think Kipling's son lasted that long. Sadly.

@@evinchester7820 Commissioned into the Irish Guards, despite being near-sighted, although as the war went on they increasingly became less choosy about such things. (Altered with correction)

LOL

Reflects what was considered to be a good education in 1914 Britain, especially for the elite.

And poetry.

Great question! Overall, the situation was much more informal than for the Regular Army. For the Militia, officers were selected and appointed by the Lord Lieutenant of the relevant county. Prospective officers had to hold hold a leaving certificate or equivalent, but otherwise it was essentially a case of one person making subjective decisions. New officers were initially on probabtion and could be dismissed if they turned out to be unsuitable. When the Militia was reconstituted as the Special Reserve in 1908 the power was taken away from the Lord Lieutenant and the Commanding Officers of Special Reserve units were able to choose their own officers, again on probation and subject to the educational requirements. For the Volunteers, some of the original officers were actually elected in the 1860s, but by the 20th Century the commanding officers of Volunteer Force units were able to choose their own officers provided they met the basic educational requirement. When the Volunteers became the Territorial Force in 1908 the job of selecting officers was entrusted to the County Territorial Force Associations which administered Territorial units in each county. In the event, this was a notably bad practice, as when war broke out many of these associations (largely made up of civilians) refused to relinquish their perogative to choose officers and slowed up the process of expanding the Territorial Force!

@@thehighlandsubaltern8139 thanks for the answer. It seems like a commission in the militia would have been the perfect past time for a dilettante gentleman who needs something to keep him occupied before inheriting an estate. I'm assuming then that when the educational requirements were instituted in 1908, they weren't as stringent as that of the regular army's? Also, would it be safe to assume that having a commission in the militia/volunteers was also another avenue through which some of the less academically inclined/monetarily challenged officers passed in order to obtain a regular commission?

Was that true for the British army as a whole or just the Scottish regiments?

I believe you!

@@joeblow9657 It was certainly true re the Household Division (Life Guards, Blues & Royals, Guards regiments as well as every so-called cavalry regiment). I wonder how much has changed?

Over the top now boys

I think something to remember about admission to Sandhurst was included not just the exam at points but an interview which one's social ties could greatly help with.

However when the officer class was reduced in the carnage of WW1 a selection process was introduced by to select people such as my grandfather who ended the war as a Captain in the Lancashire Machine Gun Regiment, from the ranks

You are right, as an amateur student of British military history (or a "history buff" as the Americans call it) for over 30 years I have got that impression too. The Guards were particularly notorious for attracting rich/pretentious "thickos" as you can appreciate by watching this rare and very interesting old documentary. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/pMyAjM1i27KmdHU.html

@@arslongavitabrevis5136some Regiments such as the Rifles, Paras and Royal Anglians recruit more based on military ability than the school someone went to or the size of their father’s bank balance!

@@JohnSmith-xi3sq "Lady Chatterley's Lover" is famous for other things, but Mellors is described as having been one of the "temporary gentlemen" of WW1, who reverted to being a gamekeeper after the war ended.

Royalty were promoted and given many medals.

@@JohnSmith-ei2pz Not while serving they weren't. While they had access to the RNC as of right, and Sandhurst if they were minor royalty (Major Royals serve in the Navy, not the army, until the time of Charles, and even he went through the Navy as primary service), but NONE of them get promotions or medals simply for being there, while there. Once they leave and take up public life and start serving as the CoR then they start getting things handed to them, but CoR is purely ceremonial.

Very true. Field Marshal Sir Alan Brooke complained about the mediocre quality of the senior officers in 1944.

Hitler thought the British Army in 1940 was much like it was in WW1 - rather good in defence but disorganised, and the officers were not very good. A German fighting the British in Normandy in 1944 thought the British Army was held together by NCOs, who were usually very good - the officers had book learning but were not practical, and British Army privates were in his view unintelligent. In WW2 senior British officers sometimes complained that the RAF and the Royal Navy got better recruits and the Army got what was left.

Things changed after the outbreak of war and the need for the dramatic expansion of the British Army. To a size never seen before or since.

Same reason Mr Broke (me) got recommended a tour of a £17m 150ft superyacht.

Same..I also got recommended the Mary Burke ..but I watch biker stuff, so I get the connection. lol.

@@michaelmartin9022I got battleship New Jersey…. I’m thinking u tube AI has gone native ,

To help you

Because Rishi Sunak has plans for you.

It's an interesting point, but I don't think it's misleading, rather it represents new research. The class structure was clearly defined, but in the course of my research using The Black Watch as a case study, I've found a surprising culture of acceptance of officers of all social backgrounds, provided they conformed to the lifestyle and behaviour expected of them (if they didn't, they generally didn't last long). Many were initially snobbish of some officers who joined after the 2nd Boer War, but they were eventually accepted. As from 1907 on the Army Council attempted to address the shortage of officers by actively encouraging those from less affluent backgrounds to pursue commissions, I believe we need to seriously reassess the relationship between the social character and the actual demographic of the pre-war officer corps.

@@thehighlandsubaltern8139 Thank you very much for your reply and your analysis. Unfortunately, obtaining books on British military history has been fairly difficult for me as I live in Argentina where imported books have always been expensive; therefore, my knowledge of the subject is rather patchy. However, thanks to the Internet, over the last 25 years, I have discovered many excellent websites and YT channels (like yours) and downloaded many interesting and out-of-print books. Out of curiosity, are you of Scottish descent? I am asking because of your regiment of choice; funny enough, the very first Osprey that I bought in 1974 was dedicated to the "Black Watch". I have been fascinated by the beautiful and colourful uniforms of the Scottish regiments since I was a boy. Regards. PS: I have just subscribed and I have a lot of catching up to do! 😁😁😁

FWIW, Blackadder and more so Jeeves and Wooster do a decent job at portraying how the upper classes could often be well educated and well spoken but not necessarily that competent compared to their peers. Knowing Latin and French does not make for a good officer.

Just think how much of a moron someone would have to be to think that a TV comedy show was in any way "representative" of the actual war.

@@joeblow9657 Very true!

Was going to say, I know they didn't have calculators then but how is being able to answer those question really going to help an infantry officer? An artillery or engineer officer is understandable but you're not doing that much math in the infantry and cavalry.

I do agree with you. While living in Australia (1994-2005) I learned a lot about the usually arrogant attitude of the regular British officers towards the "colonials" as they contemptuously called anyone who was not born in the UK. Australians and New Zealanders in general would not put up with that crap. BTW, Australians are wonderful people, friendly and easy-going; I wish I could go back! 😭😭

Lol

It’s called Living History. A form of public education where people with either a general interest in history up to as far as professional historians come together and try to recreate the uniforms or appearance of those that came before us. In this case it would be the FWW. Something that you admit yourself is that the uniform he is wearing has been out of date for the past 100 years, so being a Walt about something that happened a century ago is quite hard to do. “Modern” living history is actually generally frowned upon to prevent confusion with those currently serving. And living historians generally don’t aim to claim that they are in any way service members or veterans of these past engagements(even though many veterans are in the hobby just of modern conflicts.)