Temporary Gentlemen

The old saying goes, 'in every soldier's knapsack is a Field Marshall's baton.' A case in point was Sir William Robertson, Bt., or "Wullie" as he was known. He commenced his career as a lowly trooper in the 16th (The Queen's) Lancers, distressing his mother in the process, who despaired at him having 'gone for a soldier.' However, his example was the exception rather than the rule, and inherent class prejudice (and often the need for a private income to maintain the lifestyle), generally militated against men from the ranks joining the officer elite.

The First World War did a lot to tumble these barriers. It was all very well having a huge army, but that body required officers, and the Public Schools simply could not provide enough of them, such was the rate of attrition. It was only a matter of time before the stuffier elements of the Military Establishment bowed to the inevitable and nodded approval to the routine commissioning of men from the ranks.

Three such individuals were Arthur Rigg and Harry Robinson, from Dalton-in-Furness, and Alfred Burns, from Ulverston. Arthur and Harry both enlisted in the 4th Battalion on the outbreak of war, whereas Alfred was already a serving Territorial, having enlisted in April, 1914. Alfred was grammar-school educated and I suspect that Arthur and Harry were too.

Ian Lewis has provided this lovely photograph including Arthur and Harry, presumably taken soon after they had enlisted and been issued with their uniforms.

(l to r) Pte. Tom Corkhill; 2380, Pte. Arthur Rigg; Pte. "Bob"; 2393, Pte. Harry (Hal) Robinson.

As far as I can tell, Tom Corkhill never served abroad, or if he did, it wasn't with any battalion of the King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment). Judging from the close sequence of Service Numbers, "Bob" may be 2377, Private Robert Henderson, but I'll need to check that with Ian to see if my identification is correct. A job for the future!

Arthur and Harry both landed in France with the 4th Battalion on May 3rd, 1915, Arthur by then already a sergeant, Harry still a private. By the time of the Territorial renumbering exercise in Februray, 1917, Arthur was a Company Sergeant Major and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant (Temporary) soon afterwards. Meanwhile, Harry had been transferred to the Machine Gun Corps, initially as 22452, Private Harry Robinson, and then later as Second Lieutenant Harry Robinson (I've never consulted his Service Records but I suspect he served in the 164th Company of the Machine Gun Corps).

Second Lieutenant Arthur Rigg.

Alfred Burns followed a slightly different Army career path. His Medal Index Card only quotes his 6-figure Territorial Service Number, indicating that he never went abroad until after February, 1917. He was then subsequently commissioned into the Labour Corps as a Second Lieutenant. His late posting to the British Expeditionary Force and his transfer to the Labour Corps may hint at a lower medical grading, although he didn't qualify for the Territorial Force War Medal so he obviously hadn't signed the Imperial Service Obligation, agreeing to serve overseas at the time when it was still voluntary for Territorial soldiers.

Private (later Second Lieutenant) Alfred Burns.

I sometimes wonder about the impact of such promotions on both the men themselves and also the men they served with. It's not something I'm knowledgeable about but I suspect that the general rule would not be to commission a man in the battalion he was serving in as it could have made life somewhat awkward, especially in a Territorial battalion where a lot of the men would have known and worked alongside each other as equals in civilian life. I also wonder how they overcame some of the social barriers when mixing with other officers who had originated from a more privileged background. No doubt there was a degree of latent snobbery in some quarters concerning these 'temporary gentlemen' but, generally speaking, they probably would have been acknowledged as being men of merit whose experience was to be learned from; they had, after all, risen to their position by virtue of ability rather than patronage.

Happily, all three of these 'temporary gentlemen' survived the war.