Raggytash - 22 May 16 - 10:38 AM

Trust you enjoyed your break.

Ever heard of the Derby Scheme launched in the Autumn of 1915? It was an exercise carried out to see if conscription was necessary.

A National Register was compiled from July 1915

The Military Service Bill introduced in 27th January 1916 became the Military Service Act 2nd March 1916.

Those listed as being conscripts in your table prior to March came from the Derby Scheme those after were conscripts under the Act.

215,000 men enlisted while the scheme was on and another 2,185,000 attested for deferred enlistment. - so numbers seem to match

Call up under the Derby Scheme began: Groups 2 to 5 were called up in the last two weeks of January 1916, and Groups 6 to 13 in February. The last single groups other than the 18 year-olds were called up in March. This last batch were called up in parallel to the first men to be summoned under conscription under the Military Service Act. Attestation under the scheme ceased on 1 March 1916. - Source: Derby Scheme The Long, Long Trail