Boy Soldiers of the Great War (50 page)

Fifteen-year-old Philip Lister’s application for a temporary commission. A year after its approval he was on the Somme serving as an Acting Captain. Lister was killed on the opening day of the Arras offensive in April 1917.

This postcard was widely reproduced for sale during the war. Lord Kitchener himself was doorstepped on occasion by eager boys many years below enlistment age.

All too often, lying proved the most effective passport to service on the front line, as illustrated by this 1915
Punch
cartoon.

A newspaper advertisement placed by the father of Cecil Withers in
The Times
, dated 10 March 1916. On receipt of this proof that his father would not remove him from the army, Cecil gave them his real name.

The microfiche record of Cecil’s medal entitlement as held by The National Archives in Kew, the false name that he gave the army crossed out but still visible.

September 1916 and sixteen-year-old Private Hunt looks through a trench periscope opposite the German lines near Beaumont Hamel, on the Somme.

Second Lieutenant Reginald Battersby aged fifteen, shortly after he was commissioned into the 11th East Lancashire Regiment – known as the Accrington Pals. At sixteen he led his platoon into action on 1 July 1916 and was shot in the leg while engaging a German machine gun. In 1917 he was wounded again in the leg, which was subsequently amputated.

The appeal made in
The Times
of 19 August for young men of the right upbringing and education to apply for a temporary commission as an officer.

Sir Arthur Markham, Midlands industrialist and Liberal MP. Markham fought for over a year to secure the release of underage soldiers serving at home and abroad.

One of the few surviving letters written to Sir Arthur Markham by a relative of an underage soldier, appealing for his help. The MP received as many as 300 letters a day from distraught parents.

Former Private John Flint
(sitting)
was a constituent of Sir Arthur Markham’s. Aged fifteen, he enlisted in the 11th Sherwood Foresters and went to France to serve in the trenches. Sir Arthur campaigned vigorously for his discharge and eventually he was sent home. This picture was taken just after the war.

Fourteen-year-old Private Priest as featured in the
Daily Mail
. The newspaper ran short articles on the youngest recruits and appeared to condone the enlistment of underage boys.

Lance Corporal Christopher Paget-Clark enlisted in 1914 into the Devonshire Regiment. His proud father sent the boy’s picture to several national newspapers in response to the Priest article.