Territorials

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Territorials. With a large navy to support, it was always necessary for Britain to augment her army with a reserve force. The militia was not always popular, nor particularly effective, and in periods of crisis was supplemented by volunteer and fencible corps, often regarded as personal fiefdoms by their colonels. In 1907, Haldane, Liberal secretary of state for war, determined to bring order into a confused situation by establishing a Territorial Force, which absorbed the militia. In 1921 it became the Territorial Army and remains in existence, on a reduced scale. Though intended initially for home defence, its members fought overseas in both the world wars.

J. A. Cannon

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