School Board Teachers at War
Our Aberdeen School Board Letter appraisal project brought to light many different events and themes of life in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. One of these events included the Great War of 1914-1918. In the letters written by the teachers to the School Board, many of the male teachers communicated that they were going into service during the war. This occurred frequently during the latter part of 1915, with the introduction of Lord Derby’s Scheme. L ord Derby was appointed the Director-General of Recruiting on the 11 th of October 1915. His scheme, officially known as the ‘Group System ’, followed five days later . The scheme allowed men aged 18-40 to enlist voluntarily or attest with an obligation to be called up later. The men who enlisted under this scheme enlisted between mid-October 1915 and the end of February 1916 (military conscription begins in January 1916 with the passing of the Military Service Act). Despite teachers signing up...
