The National Reserve was created in 1910 as a means of retaining the option to call on the services of ex-military personnel to augment the regular and auxiliary military forces of the United Kingdom in the event of a major war. At its inception it was little more than a register of men with previous military experience who would be willing to return to arms should their services be required. The government refused to grant the reserve any funding, and until three weeks after the start of the First World War, could not definitively say how it would be used. On the outbreak of the war, many of the younger, fitter reservists re-enlisted in the British Army or Territorial Force on their own initiative, without waiting to be called up. When the reserve was finally called to duty, it was used to augment the home defence forces in the guarding of key installations and infrastructure. The older reservists, considered unfit for more active duties, played a leading role in the creation of the Volunteer Training Corps, a civilian auxiliary recruited from those ineligible for military service, largely on account of age. The introduction of conscription early in 1916 resulted in the younger reservists being called up for service in the army. The remaining reservists were transferred into the Royal Defence Corps, established in March 1916 as part of the re-organisation of the home defence forces, and the National Reserve effectively ceased to exist as a distinct organisation.
Formation
The Veteran Reserve was officially established as part of the Territorial Force Reserve in 1910 by Richard Haldane, Secretary of State for War. Haldane was the architect of the Territorial Force and Special Reserve, and concerns that these two institutions were not adequate to defend the country against raids or invasion prompted the establishment of the Veteran Reserve. In its conception, the Veteran Reserve was to be administered by the same County Territorial Associations which administered the Territorial Force, and be recruited from ex-regular soldiers who had completed their time as army reservists. Haldane anticipated that it would provide some 10,000 men who could reinforce the Special Reserve. At its inception, recruitment into the Veteran Reserve was expanded to include almost anyone with military experience, including former members of the Volunteer Force, Militia, Territorial Force and Special Reserve, and anyone who could present a war medal as proof of past military service. While the Territorial Force Reserve itself was a failure – its strength in 1914 was 880 all ranks, from a potential 105,000 eligible former territorials – the Veteran Reserve proved to be highly popular, with 200,000 men registered in 1914. The former Commander-in-Chief of the Forces, Lord Roberts, was appointed Colonel-in-Chief, and in August 1911 the name was changed to National Reserve.
The National Reserve was little more than a register of eligible men willing to offer their services should the need arise. Although the reserve's supporters favoured an active role in the nation's defence scheme, Haldane was anxious not to incur any additional costs. He refused to make any commitments as to how the reservists would be utilised, or even whether they would be equipped by the government. In line with Haldane's concern, the War Office refused to sanction uniforms for National Reservists. It insisted that a buttonhole badge was enough to comply with the Hague Convention on recognition of combatants, and only reluctantly permitted officers to wear the uniforms of their former corps on ceremonial occasions. The War Office also refused to allocate funds for musketry practice for the first three years of the National Reserve's existence, and relied instead on reservists' membership of the National Rifle Association to maintain proficiency. There was no public funding for National Reserve facilities; clubs and permanent facilities were established independently, and such facilities served to give the reserve a physical presence in the local community and helped with recruitment.