The Civil Service Rifles in the Great War : 'all bloody gentlemen'

Civil servants are not generally known for their soldierly qualities.

Yet in the Great War a volunteer regiment of 'civil servants and their friends' served with distinction in the front line, fighting in many of the major battles.

This new study, the first since the 1920s, draws on previously unpublished material - personal memoirs, diaries and interviews - to tell their extraordinary story, and is supported by a wealth of marvellous photographs.