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Parliamentary Recruitment Committee letter
Unknown, 1916, Document
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of 13
Parliamentary Recruitment Committee letter
Parliamentary Recruitment Committee letter
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Item no
30027
Title
Parliamentary Recruitment Committee letter
Description
A page from a World War One scrapbook (vol 1) showing a letter from the Parliamentary Recruiting Committee inviting households to list those willing to enlist in the forces:
December 1914
Dear Sir or Madam
We desire to draw your attention to the enclosed form, in which you are asked to state the names of those of your household who are willing to enlist for the War. By filling in and posting the Householder's Return without delay, you will render material assistance to the War Office. The names returned will be entered in a Register, and the nearest Recruiting Officer will arrange to attest those registered as their services are required.
There has been a generous response to the appeal for men for the new Armies, but the number of recruits, though large, does not nearly meet the Nation's need. In order to maintain and reinforce our troops abroad and to complete the new Armies which we hope within a few months to throw into the field, we need all the best the Nation can give us of its youth and strength.
If we are to repair, as far as may be humanly possible, the innumerable wrongs inflicted on our Allies, if we are to avoid for ourselves the ills which they have suffered, if we honour, freedom, our very life as a Nation - we must fight with the courage and endurance which won for us the struggles of the past.
Every man, therefore, who is eligible will ask his own conscience whether, in this emergency, it is not his duty to hold himself ready to enlist in the forces of the Crown.
The difficulties and dangers which confront us have never been so great; we await the issue with confidence, relying on the spirit and self-sacrifice of our fellow-countrymen to prevail.
We are,
Your obedient servants
Artist / maker
Unknown
Date
1916
Size
35.0 x 28.0 cm
Type
Document
Location
Edinburgh and Scottish Collection
This image is taken from the 1st of 2 scrapbooks compiled during World War One by the Thomson Family who were living at Glengyle Terrace in Edinburgh. Most of the items pasted into the scrapbooks are press cuttings, leaflets and ephemera but a couple of articles, such as letters and a ration book, give personal details and an indication of the impact of war on the family. Many of the letters of correspondence are sent to Thomas Thomson. Thomas Davidson Thomson was only 3 years old at the outbreak of war and so, his parents must have collated and maintained the scrapbooks, which span the full period of the war, on his behalf.
Read history as it happened with free access to the
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Exhibitions with this item
Thomson Family WW1 scrapbooks (volume 1)
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