Background
The Special Reserve came into existence through Part III of the Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907, a key part of the Haldane reforms of the British Army. Its primary purpose was the creation of a pool of trained men who could be called upon to reinforce the regular army in the event of war.
The introduction of the Special Reserve was accompanied by the elimination of the existing Militia. 23 of 124 battalions of the Militia were disbanded completely, and the remainder were in effect converted into units of the new Special Reserve. Of those, 74 become Reserve Battalions and 27 Extra Reserve of the existing infantry regiments of the army. A £2 inducement was offered for a man who was serving on Militia terms to re-enlist into the new SR.
The role of the Special Reserve was essentially in training men who could transfer to the regular units to bring them up to war establishment, and after that to make good any wastage in those units (casualties and losses for any other reason). The Special Reserve units also acted as training centres for the officers and NCOs of Territorial Force, another new part of the army introduced by the Act.
There was a separate Category B Special Reserve for men in certain circumstances.
In Ireland, where the Territorial Force was not created, the Special Reserve provided the only form of part-time soldiering. The North Irish Horse and South Irish Horse were regiments entirely composed of Special Reservists, as were the Antrim, Cork and Londonderry Royal Garrison Artiller .
Terms of engagement
Any man aged between 17 and 35 could enlist into the Special Reserve. He would start with six months full-time training and receive fifteen days of training at annual camp, extended by six days of musketry training for the infantry.
A key part of his terms was that he could be sent overseas if needed.
Enlistment began on 16 January 1908.
There were some nuances for men enlisting into the Royal Artillery or Royal Engineers’ Special Reserve.

There were also variations to the basic terms. For example, skilled musicians might be enlisted up to and including the age of 36 for employment in the battalion band, but they would carry out only one month of preliminary training and be expected to attend weekly band practice and performances as required.
From March 1911, a new category was introduced. Ex-solders of the regular army, up to 36 years of age, could enlist into the Special Reserve as long as they had served at least three years as a regular, been given a character rating of not less that “Fair”, and be otherwise eligible in accordance with regulations. They would not be called upon to go through preliminary training but would attend annual camp. They could not serve beyond the age of 42.
From March 1912 it became possible for a former regular soldier of the cavalry or artillery to enlist into the infantry of the Special Reserve. They would have to complete a month of training before being called out for annual training. For the former gunners, the preliminary training would include the recruit musketry course.
In March 1912 a further development took place, which was the introduction of “Category C” of the SR. As Mechanical Transport drivers of the Army Service Corps would be required to perform duties similar to that in civilian life, they would have the same duties and liabilities as the rest of the Special Reserve but would not be called out for annual training. Recruits in this category would join for one year, be aged between 18 and 45, and at least 5 feet 3 inches in height.
Re-enlisting into the regular army
Many Special Reservists found that they had benefited from service in the SR and decided to join as a regular. There were some restrictions to this.
If Special Reservist had completed the full period of his preliminary training, or if he could not complete it due to lack of time available to him on the firing ranges, he could freely re-enlist as long as he was aged 17 years and six months or more and would receive a normal recruit’s bounty on re-enlistment.
If certain regulations required him to perform more than three months training on enlistment and he had done so and was aged 18 or more, he could also freely re-enlist and receive the bounty.
No Special Reservist could re-enlist into the Cavalry of the Line until he was 18.
From October 1911, men of the SR of the Royal Field Artillery who had enlisted on or after 1 April 1909, along with those of the Army Veterinary Corps and Royal Army Medical Corps, who have to purchase their way out of their SR contract before they could re-enlist into the regular army.
Mobilisation of the Special Reserve


Regulations now allowed members of the National Reserve under the age of 42 to re-enlist into the Special Reserve (of the branch of the army they had served in before) for one year or the duration of the war.
Staffed by regular soldiers, each SR Battalion had a peacetime complement of 8 officers, 1 RSM, 38 NCOs, 10 Drummers and 40 Privates of the regular army, and the official establishment when all reservists were on duty was a little over 600 (that is, smaller than a full-scale fighting battalion when at war establishment).Swelled by the sudden arrival of man of the regular and Special Reserve, the reserve battalions became much larger than this. They left their normal regimental depots: their subsequent locations are described under each in the relevant page of The Long, Long Trail.
Many Special Reservists, who had completed their preliminary recruit training and in most cases several of the annual camps, were soon posted to bring the battalions of the British Expeditionary Force up to strength. Many saw service in the earliest battles of the war.
Research tips

Note that John Ashton’s number was prefixed with a “3/”. This is a good sign that a man was probably a Special Reservist. A more obvious sign is when a man’s number was prefixed “SR” (see Maull, below).


