Officering Kitchener's Armies: A Case Study of the 36th (Ulster) Division

Abstract

This article reassesses the original composition of the officer corps of the Kitchener armies formed in late 1914 using the recently released offi cers' personal files at the National Archives, Kew. It challenges the existing historiography by showing that many Kitchener units did not draw their officers from pre-war Officer Training Corps products and relied on men with very limited or no previous military experience. It demonstrates that the officer composition of the 36th (Ulster) Division was similar to that of its counterparts in Great Britain, and that the Ulster Volunteer Force influence on officer appointments was much more limited than has been assumed.