England's Last Hope: The Territorial Force, 1908-14

England’s Last Hope studies how the part-time auxiliary Territorial Force was raised, clothed, trained, housed and administered during the crucial years of its development in the years before the Great War. As such, it fills a fundamental gap in the understanding of how the force’s units were able to take the field as part of the BEF in 1914.

England’s Last Hope studies how the part-time auxiliary Territorial Force was raised, clothed, trained, housed and administered during the crucial years of its development in the years before the Great War. As such, it fills a fundamental gap in the understanding of how the force’s units were able to take the field as part of the BEF in 1914.

BILL MITCHINSON has written prolifically on the Great War. Besides three guides for the Battleground Europe series, his books include Cotton Town Comrades (1993), Gentlemen and Officers: The Impact and Experience of War on a Territorial Regiment (1995), and Pioneer Battalions in the Great War (1997). England’s Last Hope is the second in a trilogy examining Britain’s auxiliary forces, the first volume of which, Defending Albion, was shortlisted for the 2005 Templar Prize. Dr Mitchinson is a member of the Centre for First World War Studies at the University of Birmingham and works as a freelance editorial consultant.