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Home and Away. The Enlistment of Australian, Canadian, New Zealand, and South African Men in Dominion Expeditionary Forces in the United Kingdom during the Great War

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 January 2015

Abstract

On the outbreak of war, men from the Dominions were scattered across the British Empire. As each Dominion began recruiting their expeditionary forces at home, the issue arose whether these expatriates, especially those resident in the United Kingdom, should join the British Army or be able to enlist in their Dominion's force. Canada and New Zealand allowed recruiting for the CEF and NZEF in the UK. Many Anglophone White South Africans joined a “colonial” battalion of the Royal Fusiliers. The Australian Government refused to allow Australians in the UK to join the AIF, despite the repeated requests of the Australian expatriate community. This paper examines the questions of British and sub-Imperial Dominion identities as well as the practical policy considerations raised by this issue. It argues that there is some evidence of nascent Dominion nationalism—the Canadian High Commission in London issued what became known as “a Certificate of Canadian Citizenship” to expatriates— but that Dominion Governments generally based their decisions on this issue based on cost and domestic political considerations.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Research Institute for History, Leiden University 2014 

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References

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Primary Sources

ANZ = Archives New Zealand/Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington:

WA252 = War Archives Godley Papers

AWM = Australian War Memorial, Canberra: 3DRL/2222 Pearce Papers

AWM27 = First World War Subject Records

LAC = Library and Archives Canada/Bibliothèque et Archives Canada, Ottawa:

RG25 = Office of the Under-Secretary State for External Affairs, 1908-1952

NLA = National Library of Australia, Canberra

MS2919 = Fisher Papers

TNA UK = The National Archives United Kingdom, London:

WO32 = War Office Registered Files (General Series) 1845-1985

WO339 = War Office Officers' Services, First World War, Long Number Papers (Numerical), 1914-22

Canadian Gazette.

Evening Post (Wellington).

New Zealand Herald.

North Otago Times.

The British-Australasian.

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