Young guns

A rather common refrain about the First World War runs along the lines...."He enlisted under-age." In many cases, this was no doubt true, but often it is only a half-truth, with the passage of time having created misconceptions.

The British Army required that a man be 19 years of age before being sent away to fight, although the age limit was much lower in the Navy. For instance, Jack Cornwell was only 16 when he posthumously won his Victoria Cross at Jutland, and a search among naval crew casualty lists will reveal many more who were just boys.

Leaving aside those who lied about their age (of which there were undoubtedly many), there were equally as many who enlisted at a young age quite legally. If fact, one could enlist at the age of 14 and be retained as a Drummer Boy until such time as old enough to join the senior ranks. The following photo shows two such individuals in the King's Own. It has been suggested that they were Regulars but my feeling is that they were Territorials, and are shown at annual camp. Both of them are probably very new recruits to the regiment, one of them still awaiting issue of hs cap badge.

Such boys and young men were held back from front-line service until they came of (military) age. If you trace out the military career path of someone of whom it is claimed that they had enlisted under-age, then you more often than not find that the Army had followed the rules and retained them on Home Service (or similar) until they were old enough to be posted to an active theatre of war.

However, service at home in the UK was not without its dangers. Drummer George Lovell of the 4th Battalion, who had enlisted in mid-March 1914 at the age of 15, was accidentally shot and killed in 1916 while stationed at Margate, guarding strategic locations on the east coast. He is buried in Birchington (All Saints) Churchyard, also the last resting place of the Pre-Raphaelite painter and poet Dante Gabriel Rosetti.

Strictly-speaking, George was serving in the 41st Provisional Battalion at the time of his death, the holding unit for men from the 4th Battalion who were unable to serve overseas either by virtue of age or low medical grade, although the Commonwealth War Graves Commission record him as 4th Battalion. I shall post more about the short life of George Lovell at a later date.