1914-1915

From the first eighteen months of the war there was no overall control of the labour supply in France.  The Army Service Corps provided men to work at the Ports, Bases and Depots. The R.E. men to work on the roads, railways and other engineering tasks.

Local civilian labour was hired but as the Army grew and more and more French and Belgians needed for their own armies the British found they were short of labour.  This meant men resting from the trenches were used for labouring tasks.

Early 1915 saw the creation of Divisional Pioneer Battalions. An Infantry battalion whose men had specific skills in road making, entrenching and demolition.

1916

During 1916 the need for labour to support an Army of a million men led to the creation of Infantry Labour Battalions for service in France made up men medically unfit for front line service, foreign labourers brought from the Caribbean, South Africa and China and 8 companies of the Non Combatant Corps. 

In France men declared as permanently unfit for front line service were retained and used for labouring tasks. From April onwards German Prisoners of War were also retained in France, rather than being sent to camps in the U.K., and used as labourers in the rear areas.

By October 1916 there were almost 100,000 civilians and military being used as labourers on the Western Front but without an overall command structure. The size of units varied from the 100 strong Non Combatant Corps to the 2,000 strong South African Native Labour Corps Battalion.  In November Colonel (later General) Evan Gibb was appointed the first Director of Labour and given command of unskilled labour.

1917

This was to be a year of both growth and change for the labour units and organisation on the Western Front.  British labour was to grow from 82,000 to 150,000, coloured labour from 3,000 to 145,000 and PoW labour from 20,000 to 70,000.

Gibb as Director of Labour was to establish a management system where the discipline and administration of British and foreign labour units in an area were under the direction of a Group Headquarters. 

In March 1917 the first of the 500 strong Middlesex Alien Companies arrived in France. Made up of men of Alien parentage a total of 8 Companies were to serve in France.

In April the Labour Corps was formed with companies that were 500 strong.  Each Infantry Labour Battalion forming two Labour Corps Companies and the Infantry Labour Companies, who had been arriving from the U.K. from February 1917 onwards, one company.   Whilst the Middlesex Alien Companies and Non Combatant Corps did not become part of the Labour Corps they, like the foreign and PoW units were administered by the Labour Directorate.

In May Divisional and Area Employment Companies were added to the Labour Corps. These Companies were 270 strong (with the exception of the Employment Company at Corps HQ which was 120 strong) and used to undertake regimental employment duties and basic labouring tasks. The following month the R.E. and A.S.C. Labour units were to become part of the Labour Corps.

Further changes to the Labour Corps took place I September with the formation of Artizan Companies, made up of tradesmen such a carpenters, bricklayers and masons and Labour Corps Garrison Guard companies. The latter being armed companies used to guard military prisons, petrol and store dumps and as escorts for PoWs.

A major development during 1917 was the arrival of the Indian, Chinese and Egyptian Labour Corps in France. Commanded by White officers and N.C.O.s these three Corps were to supply 160,000 labourers.  Officers with limited or no military experience was a common difficulty often found in these three Corps.

1918 – 1921

At the end of January 1918 the Labour organisation was changed. The Director of Labour becoming the Controller of Labour. This change meant that the organisation now had control over how its labour units could be used.  Although the Controller of Labour did not have any power over the skilled units who were employing his labourers it did mean he could now determine whether their requests for labour were appropriate and allocate as many men as he determined were needed.

In February Colonel (later General) Wace replaced General Gibb.  Wace was to introduce the principles of Scientific Management to the work of the Labour Corps.  These principles included the introduction of Task Work (giving a detachment a specific time in which to complete and task) and Contracting Out (giving Labour Corps officers full responsibility for a task including manpower, materials and transport).

1918 was also to see the introduction of a new unit in France, the agricultural company, the Labour Corps having to cope with the retreat following the German offensive in March and the move from static to mobile warfare from August onwards.

The end of the war saw the role of the Labour Corps and foreign units change to one of battlefield clearance, salvage and the creation of cemeteries, which included exhumation and reburial.  In 1919 men were voluntarily enlisted for one year to work in France on exhumation and reburial duties.  The Labour Corps also moved into Germany to support the Rhine Army, 275 Company being the last to leave Germany in January 1921.