HISTORY OF THE ARMY CADET FORCE

INTRODUCTION

1. The Army Cadet Force is one of the oldest youth organisations in the country, dating back to 1859-60. As can be expected of any organisation more than a hundred years old, its fortunes have varied considerably, and its progress to the present happy state of full acceptance and support has been erratic.

THE BEGINNINGS

2. The cadet movement is generally held to have started in the general alarm caused in 1859 by the expectation that France would invade this country. The British Army was in disarray in the aftermath of the Crimean War and the Indian Mutiny, and the Government launched the Volunteer Force with a call for 100,000 recruits to be raised and organised on a territorial basis. Many volunteer battalions formed cadet companies, usually drawn from the sons of volunteers, and some public schools, notably Eton, Harrow, and Rugby, raised their own cadet companies outside the volunteer organisation.

3. These early cadets were not made official until 1863 when Volunteer Force regulations gave authority for all volunteer battalions to raise cadet companies. Military instruction was to be given, and it seems that the sole object was to provide pre-service training for boys who would automatically join the volunteers when they reached the prescribed age.

4. The heat gradually faded from the French problem, and there was a change in the cadet philosophy. The National Rifle Association had been formed in 1860, and the school cadet companies became rifle clubs within the NRA in about 1870. Open cadet units gradually became adopted by social welfare organisations between 1870 and 1880.

5. Two notable cadet units with a particular place in ACF history were formed in the 1880s. The 1st Manchester Cadet Battalion started in 1884 and has continued without a break until the present time, and Miss Octavia Hill, the great housing reformer raised the East London Cadet Corps, which still exists as the 1st London Cadet Battalion The Queen's.

6. The Volunteers disbanded in 1908 and were replaced by the Territorial Force. An Officers Training Corps was started for universities and public schools, and many cadet units at these establishments merged into this corps. Other units were formed into the Territorial Cadet Force.  The Church Lads’ Brigade which joined the cadet movement in 1911 became the largest single group within the Force, having some 30,000 cadets.

7. There was a big expansion in the cadet force during the 1914-18 war, and many additional units, some based on large firms, and were raised in Durham.

THE MIDDLE YEARS

8. After the 1914-18 war the cadet movement encountered difficulties. Faced with an economic crisis in 1924, the Government slashed public expenditure, and such grants as the cadet forces had were withdrawn. Some companies of The Boys' Brigade, which had been part of the cadet movement since 1917, left the movement but the Church Lads’ Brigade remained. The Boys' Brigade was formed in 1883 in Glasgow to hold the interest of Boys in the Church. Similarly, the Church Lads’ Brigade, had been formed in 1891 for Anglican Churches only. Small grants to cadets were restored in 1925, but by this time many units had closed down. Others continued, but received another blow in 1930 when government recognition was withdrawn, and the British National Cadet Association was formed as a private body to provide a focal point for units able to carry on with private support. Few non-school units were left, however, when recognition (but not grants) was restored two years later.  In 1936 the Church Lads' Brigade left the cadet movement, faced with the choice of being governed by their own leaders or the BNCA it had little choice. In 1939 it was decided that all commissions required previous service in the ranks, and the Officers' Training Corps in schools and universities became known as ‘The Junior Training Corps’.

9. The cadet movement received a severe battering in the 1930s. It was depleted in numbers but high in spirit, and in the face of all difficulties it retained a foundation upon which to build the structure, which was to come.

WAR

10. The early months of the 1939‑45 war were a matter of ‘shadow boxing’. This period of the 'Phoney War' as it became known, ended with stunning suddenness when the enemy launched the blitzkrieg. In a matter of weeks nearly all Europe, from Norway to the South of France, was under German occupation. The analogy with 1860 was inescapable: the Army in disarray and the threat of the invasion immanent. 1860 brought about the birth of the cadet movement: 1940 was to bring about its expansion to undreamed of heights.

 11. The expansion was ordered in 1941 and was put in hand by County Territorial Associations. Units sprang up almost overnight, many of them based on boys' clubs, which provided recruits, premises and sometimes leaders in one package. There was a great air of improvisation in the early days, and some units were virtually private armies. The title 'Cadet Force' was changed to 'Army Cadet Force' and Officers were commissioned by Lord Lieutenants. Clothing was rapidly produced, but it was some time before arms were issued. Rifles, Lewis guns and Browning guns were borrowed from the Home Guard, which had been formed in 1940. It is worth noting that the cadets never developed the close association with the Home Guard which their predecessors in the 19th century had with the Volunteers. The pre‑war Certificate 'A' examination of the OTC was adapted and renamed 'War Certificate 'A’ and became the training aim. With half the nation in uniform of one sort or another, there was a never-ending flood of recruits. It was during this period that Colonel Sir Laurie Edwards, Commandant, motivated the cadets of Durham, and established the reforming of 19 Battalions in 1941.

 12. Gradually this spirited but often unruly force was brought under closer control. Most Companies (as detachments were then called) were organised into battalions, often 800 to 1,000 strong. County Regiments, to which Battalions were badged, provided permanent staff instructors. Capitation grants had been introduced, and TA Associations put finance on a firm basis. Regular Army units with their war commitments, could give little help with training (though permanent establishments such as Infantry Training Centres gave valuable assistance with camps and courses). The main professional support was provided by 'Travelling Wings', each consisting of about half a dozen officers, WOs and NCOs drawn from a variety of units and arms. By 1944 the ACF had shaken down into a well‑organised body providing many recruits for the forces, a fairly high proportion of whom became officers and NCOs

MATURITY

 At the end of the war, the ACF was tremendously strong and in great heart. Many officers wondered whether the historical repetition of expansion would be followed by the repetition of cuts. Sighs of relief were heard in 1947, when the Government announced its plans for the reconstitution of the Territorial Army and at the same time affirmed its support for the ACF. Over the next ten years the movement shed some of its size and slimmed down into a more streamlined and effective body. The Junior Training Corps in schools became the Combined Cadet Force, and a hundred ACF school units transferred to it. Some open companies closed and some of the older leaders who had given fine service retired. Permanent staffs were appointed at county levels, and the War Office decided that now was the time to chart the future. The Amery Committee was appointed to review the ACF in 1957, and it was clear beyond doubt that the future was assured. New and more