Middlesex Regiment alien labour units

A number of alien labour units were established in the British Army's Middlesex Regiment during the First World War. The introduction of conscription of British citizens in 1916 led to a dilemma about what to do with the naturalised sons of enemy citizens. An instruction from the Army Council established the 30th and 31st (Works) Battalions of the Middlesex Regiment to take these men. These units would provide labour only and not serve in combat; in this way the units were similar to those of the Labour Corps but were distinct from it.

The two battalions served only in Britain until 1917 when a shortage of labour led to independent companies being formed to serve in France on the lines of communication. Following the Russian withdrawal from the war, additional foreign-born men serving in the British Army were also sent to the units. In total eight companies were formed. There was some criticism in the House of Commons over the decision to deploy the men abroad and the length of time it took to demobilise them after the war.

During the early part of the First World War aliens (i.e. foreign nationals) of hostile states, such as the Central Powers, were relatively unaffected. The naturalised sons of some of these aliens volunteered, and were accepted, to serve in the British Army. The rise of anti-German sentiment after the 7 May 1915 sinking of the RMS Lusitania saw the implementation of a general internment programme for aliens from hostile states.

The introduction of conscription from March 1916 provided a dilemma to the British government. The War Office was reluctant to take conscripted British citizens of enemy parentage into combat units but to exempt them from conscription was likely to lead to anger among other British citizens. Army Council Instruction 1209 of June 1916 attempted to provide a solution; a non-combatant labour unit was to be established to accept such citizens.

The 30th (Works) Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment was the first to be established in August 1916. It was soon filled and a second unit, the 31st (Works) Battalion, was also raised. Citizens liable to serve were only those who had been born in Britain or brought there before the age of 10 and who had remained resident since that point. Existing citizens of this type who were already serving in the army were also transferred to the unit, though a later Army Council Instruction allowed for an exemption to be made at the request of the combat unit's commanding officer. Those already serving as non-commissioned officers (NCOs) were permitted to keep their ranks when transferred. Additional personnel were drawn from Western, Southern and Northern Commands, who were each asked to supply enough officers and NCOs to command one company of each battalion.

Men serving in the battalions were largely of German, Austrian, Hungarian, Bulgarian and Turkish origin. The only exceptions made were for those of Czech origin whose parents had been exempted from internment. This was because Czechs were generally regarded as unwilling subjects of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and because a Czech Legion was already fighting for the Entente. The War Office declined a Home Office suggestion that interned Czechs should be posted to the units, proposing instead that the Home Office form its own civilian units.

The two battalions were administered by the Labour Directorate but did not form part of that organisation's Labour Corps, by request of the War Office. The men of the Labour Corps were generally those considered unfit for combat duty while the 30th and 31st Battalions were formed of fit men, indeed Brigadier-General Edward Gurth Wace of the Labour Directorate described them as "excellent workers". The battalions initially provided labour to the Eastern and Southern Commands. The 30th Battalion was based firstly at Crawley, West Sussex, before moving to Reading, Berkshire, in September 1916. The 31st Battalion was first based at Mill Hill, London, moving to Sevenoaks, Kent, in 1917 and Reigate, Surrey; Harpenden, Hertfordshire; and Croydon, London, in 1918.

The units were the subject of an article in the London Evening Standard in September 1916. A journalist had come across one of the battalions after covering the case of a deserting soldier who had absconded after being posted there. The journalist described it as the "queerest battalion in the British Army". He noted that many serving soldiers were unaware of it and that the parent regiment did not want to be associated with what had been described as a "foreign legion" and nicknamed the "Kaiser's Own". The latter was a play on the Middlesex Regiment's designation as "Duke of Cambridge's Own".