Special Reserve was established on 1 April 1908 with the function of maintaining a reservoir of manpower for the British Army and training replacement drafts in times of war.
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11 Facts About Special Reserve
2.
The Special Reserve was organised into battalions, providing a third for each of the regular army's 64 two-battalion infantry regiments and a fifth and sixth for the five four-battalion infantry regiments.
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3.
Special Reserve improved the army's capability to fight in a major foreign conflict by creating a six-division Expeditionary Force, and the auxiliary forces were re-organised into the better trained, equipped and integrated Territorial Force.
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4.
Special Reserve's reforms did not escape vested interests unscathed, and he was forced to make some fundamental compromises before he could be sure of successfully passing the Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907 in Parliament.
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5.
Infantry of the Special Reserve were integrated into the regular army's regimental system.
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6.
Simultaneously, the Special Reserve battalions began managing not only the flow of their own reservists and their regiments' re-activated Army Reservists, but assisted with the second intake of Kitchener's New Army, which altogether increased battalion strengths to 2,000 men.
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7.
Special Reserve units experienced a high turnover of men in bringing their regular battalions up to strength and, once battle had been joined in France, replacing casualties.
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8.
Similarly, the Special Reserve artillery manned the ammunition columns, but there were no subsequent replacements for this pool of men.
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9.
In 1915, Special Reserve units began assisting in the training of Volunteer Training Corps battalions; the Suffolk Volunteers, for example, received training from the instructors of the 3rd Battalion, Suffolk Regiment, and the Huddersfield Volunteers were attached to the Special Reserve battalion of the Seaforth Highlanders.
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10.
The Special Reserve battalions remained responsible for training replacements for their own regular battalions, but when they were at full establishment, new recruits were sent to the Training Reserve.
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11.
In 1916, after conscription had been introduced a number of Special Reserve battalions were selected for service on the Western Front.
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