LOOKING back from the vantage point of all we know about the First World War, not least the human cost of it, the enthusiasm with which young men volunteered to join up in the late summer of 1914 is hard to comprehend.

Nevertheless Tricia Platts, secretary of Bradford’s World War 1 Group, has been discovering what the mood was like 100 years ago.

“On September 3, a month after Britain’s declaration of war against Germany, the Bradford Daily Telegraph reported that “the Citizens’ Army League was inaugurated at an enthusiastic meeting held at the Mechanics’ Institute last evening.”

Similar local arrangements were being made in many other towns and cities across the country in response to Kitchener’s call to raise more men. The League was to create a brand new Bradford Battalion, lasting for the duration of the war and quite distinct from the Territorials and the old Regulars.

In an inspiring address, Sir George Scott-Robinson MP described the greatest crisis ever faced by civilisation. A long list of leading citizens, “putting politics aside”, formed a Committee to raise £7,000 from the city to support a new Bradford Battalion.

Despite many names being bandied around, the Telegraph made clear that it was a single battalion: “Commercial”, “Bradford Trade”, “City of Bradford” were one and the same “Pals Battalion”. Recruitment for the regiments of the Regular Army continued briskly at the Labour Exchange but this new Battalion would have separate arrangements. The Council of the Mechanics’ Institute had voted to permit use of the Lecture Theatre and other offices at no charge to the city council. On September 8, the Telegraph declared it an “ideal recruiting station. It looked very inviting, being well equipped with recruiting and clerical staff”.

Much emphasis was placed on the “special inducement, in that young men will serve shoulder to shoulder with their friends and colleagues in civil life”.

Mr Philip Main Crowther, a 24-year old solicitor from Highfield Place, Manningham, was first to sign up. Two days later an analysis of trades and professions showed 106 occupations listed.

More than 1,000 men assembled in Manningham Park on September 15 and proceeded to the recently vacated Belle Vue barracks for elementary drill training. It was estimated that ten per cent would fall short of the height requirement. For a few weeks, in the absence of khaki, the men were wore navy blue uniforms and returned home in the evening. On November 5, 1914, the Bradford Daily Telegraph carried a banner headline and the un-named journalist swelled with pride: “When the history of our time comes to be written, the local historians will have abundant information as to how the citizens of Bradford rallied to serve their country. “Perhaps the most notable chapter of that history will be the story of the formation of the Bradford Battalion of PWO, WYR – a Battalion 1,064 strong, with 25 officers and one which we are hoping will win such fame in the future as to respect the greatest credit upon a great city.”

There followed a list of 1,000 names. Most of the officers listed were known as “dug-outs” and comprised older men with army experience dating back to Victorian times. Winter quarters were found at Skipton and in Spring 1915 the men, now joined by an entire second battalion of Bradford Pals, moved to Ripon and later to Fovant in Wiltshire.

War still seemed a long way off.