Bedford Volunteer Training Corps

 

Bedfordshire Volunteer Training Corps on parade, June 1915 [Z1306/12/4]

Saturday 12th December 1914: A number of men from Bedford attended a meeting held at the Guildhall in London on 25th November by the Central Association Volunteer Training Corps, which now has formal approval from the War Office. A meeting was then held yesterday evening at the Midland Hotel where it was unanimously agreed to form a Local Civil Corps for home defence, to be made up of men who are unable to enlist in the regular forces due to their age or for other reasons. It is hoped that this corps will soon be affiliated to the Central Association Volunteer Training Corps. 

A meeting is to be held at the Town Hall on Tuesday 22nd December at which the objects and scope of the Corps will be explained. A drill hall is  to be found and a provisional committee set up. It is intended that members of the corps will master military drill and musketry so that they can be called on in case of invasion or other national emergency. An increasing number of men have already been drilling with the help of qualified instructors on one or two evenings a week. 

Source: Bedfordshire Times 18th November 1914