The Yeomanry, styled since 1901 °Imperial and the volunteers, have changed their status. They now form the cavalry and infantry of the territorial army, which also comprises a proportionate strength of artillery (newly created) including horse and field bat teries.
The Territorial Army is intended for home defense, though over 20,000 officers and men accepted liability for service abroad in time of war. Men joining the territorial forces are attested and enlisted instead of simply enrolled. The age for enlistment is from 17 to 35 and the period of engagement four years, with the option of re-engagement for further periods, not exceeding four years, in each case, up to the age of 40.
Discharge can be obtained at any time by giving three months' notice and paying $25, but both notice and payment may be dispensed with in special cases Training is on °Volunteer lines,)) that is to say, there is no period of con tinuous training for recruits, as in all other national militias, and the annual training is 15 days in camp as a maximum and eight as a min imum. Other drills and rifle practise are car ried out in the men's own time. Absence from training, or failure to complete the necessary number of drills, renders the territorial soldier liable to a fine of $25 or less, according to cir cumstances.
The territorial army consits of 36 regiments of Yeomanry, 14 horse artillery batteries, 57 of field artillery, 14 heavy batteries, 89 companies of garrison artillery, 103 com panies of engineers, a railway battalion, 194 battalions of infantry, 15 cyclist battalions, with departmental troops, medical and other sub sidiary services. The officers, except the divi sional generals and some of the brigadiers and staff officers, are non-professional. A scheme for the provision of officers by means of offi cers (volunteer) training corps has been insti tuted. These training corps are merely the pre existing Volunteer Corps at the Universities (senior division) and the similar school cadets (junior division).
All ranks of the territorial forces receive pay when called out, at the same rates as in the Regular Army. A reserve for the terri
torial army has been approved. It is open to all who have served in the territorial army or in the old volunteers for four years, up to the age of 40.
The general officers of commands are re sponsible to the Army Council for the train ing of all the troops in their commands, but the administration of the territorial army is vested in the County Associations, which stand in much the same relation to the territorial forces as the War Office does to the Regular Army. That is to say, they undertake the raising, equipment and maintenance of the force. They are also charged with the care of reservists and discharged soldiers. Each County Asso ciation has its own budget, the funds being provided by the War Office on regularly pre pared estimates, based on previous expendi ture under the various approved heads. On mobilization, the units which are to take the field (called the field.army or °expeditionary force"), comprising about four-fifths of the regular force at home, are brought up to full war strength by the incorporation of the re serves. At the same time the special reservists are called up and fill the 3d and 4th battalions of infantry regiments and other reserve units. A small proportion of these men at once join the field army for service with the ammunition columns, etc. The remainder will be available, after further training, to supply losses in the field. The territorial army, also, is to be em bodied whenever mobilization takes place, and is then to undergo a training of six months, after which it is supposed that the force will be ready to meet the enemy in event of an invasion.
It will be observed that, for the first time in the history of the British army, the necessity for creating a secondary reserve (answering to the Ersatz, or supplementary reserve of con tinental armies, to make good the waste of war), has been recognized. The formation of an organized territorial army was also a great step in advance. The territorial army is con fined to England, Scotland and Wales.