Army enlistment form, Viscount Bolingbroke, 1917

This torn fragment, preserved in The National Archives, is all that remains of the the 6th Viscount Bolingbroke's World War I army enlistment form. It was discovered by researchers at The Keep Military Museum in Dorset, while compiling material for their 2023 book 'The Keep in 60 People'.

The form is signed V (Vernon) Henry St.John, Viscount Bolingbroke and dated 5 June 1917. The 21 year old Viscount joined the Dorsetshire Regiment despite his written preference, shown on this form, to enlist in his local Wiltshire Regiment. Choosing your regiment might have been possible in the early years of the war but The Military Service Act which came into effect on 2nd March 1916, meant men were sent where the army saw fit. Remarkably, for a peer of the realm, Vernon joined up as a private soldier rather than an officer.

See items of Interest: Letter from Dorsetshire Regiment to Vernon St.John, 6th Viscount Bolingbroke, 1917