Alfred-William-Tivey-of-The-Territorial-Force
| Born Alfred William Tivey and known as Alfred,
he was born in the Derbyshire market town of Melbourne. He was
the fourth child of nine children born to parents George Henry
Tivey and Martha Fitchett. Alfred joined the Territorial Force on 7th February 1912 at his hometown of Melbourne. His army record states that he served "at home" between 1912 and 1916: Since 1908 the British Army offered three different types of recruitment; These were Professional Full Time Soldier in the Regular Army, Special Reserve and the Territorial Force. Parliament regularly debated whether Britain should have a nationally conscripted service like the systems in other parts of Europe, but a decision on its implementation was never reached and as a result on the onset of war 1914 the entire British Army was voluntary consisting of men who were recruited as either Regular Army, Special Reserve or Territorial Force. The Territorial Force was formed in 1908 when volunteer units and other army units were reorganised. It gave those who wanted to try the army on a part-time basis (usually before full commitment) a taste of army life. Most Infantry Battalions had a Territorial branch, recruiting locally, Alfred joined up in Melbourne to the Territorial Branch of the 5th Battalion Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire & Derbyshire Regiment) The men trained at weekends whilst carrying on with their regular week-time jobs. Sometimes the men were taken for weeks away at summer camps but they were under no obligation to serve abroad. The idea was that if the country was ever at war, the Territorials could be called upon for full-time service. |
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Click on the image below to see Alfred's Territorial Army record.  Alfred went on to marry three times to Elizabeth Ford (1916) Maria E Taylor (1920) and Clara Walton (1925) He had 3 children with Maria - Martha, Sydney & Ernest |
The Military Service Act of 1916 stated
that Every British male subject who - on 15 August 1915 was a
resident in Great Britain and who had attained the age of 19 but
was not yet 41 and; on 2 November 1915 was unmarried or a
widower without dependent children; was deemed to be called upon
for conscription to the armed forces. This included those
serving in the Territorial Forces who could be transferred to
the regular army under the act. This meant that Alfred was
legible for conscription to the regular army, as he was
unmarried, aged 24 and was already part of the Territorial
Force. However, he was not conscripted but was instead discharged from the Territorial Force. Alfred's father worked as a market gardener, farming the land and growing vegetables, flowers and crops, as did his grandparents - a business which Alfred was also actively persuing whilst his weekends were spent with the TF. This was one of the agricultural occupations deemed essential to keep the war effort going with food supplies and therefore exempt from conscription to the regular Army. Alfred was also encouraged to marry which he did in the autumn of 1916, thus becoming a married man. It is known that before conscription Alfred's brothers Edgar Henry Tivey and Leonard Noble Tivey were already serving abroad with the Sherwood Foresters - his brother Private Edgar Tivey was tragically killed in action in November 1915, early in 1916 his brother Leonard was wounded but survived. Tragically, Leonard was sent back to the front after recovering from his wounds and was killed in Ypres 7th July 1917. |
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