The Derby Scheme
The Great War
GROUP SYSTEM
known as the
DERBY SCHEME
This armband No. 93036 was issued by the Epsom Recruiting Office.
Armband courtesy Bill Owen.
Images courtesy Clive Gilbert © 2023
The 17th Lord Derby (Edward Stanley) was appointed Director General of Recruiting on 11 October 1915. On 16 October he introduced the ‘Group System’ also called the ‘Derby Scheme’. The scheme applied to men aged 18 to 40.
There were 46 ‘Groups’ based on year of birth (from 1897 to 1875). Groups 1 to 23 applied to single men and groups 24 to 46 applied to married men. The idea was that men would attest immediately but would only be called up when needed. Single men in group 1, the youngest, would be called up first, and not until the oldest single men in group 23 had been called up would married men be called, starting with group 24.
Men who had joined the scheme were given an armband to show that they had volunteered and to avoid being given a ‘white feather’.
I presume that when the armbands were issued the number written on the armband was recorded on a list showing who the armband was issued to. It appears that no such list has survived, so we will never know who it was issued to.
The scheme was basically a form of voluntary enlistment but with the start date deferred. Not enough men joined the scheme so conscription was introduced early in 1916.
Click these links to read much more detail about the scheme:
- Long long trail https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/soldiers/a-soldiers-life-1914-1918/enlisting-into-the-army/the-group-scheme-derby-scheme/
- Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derby_Scheme
Clive Gilbert 2023
With thanks to Bill Owen