Posted by John Wilson on September 07, 2006 at 14:31:06 from 202.154.130.15 user hugo.
In Reply to: A missing generation? (was Bob & his history) posted by Jock on September 07, 2006 at 00:01:09:
Some notes I made on World War One Deaths, from John Costello “Mask of Treachery” (1988); see note 17 page 620-1, though I do not have it to hand now.
Death Rates: from J. M. Winter “World War One and the British People” (1986), the military losses were:
Britain: 723,000 (63 per 1000 males aged 15-49)
France: 1,327,000 (133 per 1000 males aged 15-49)
Germany: 2,037,000 (125 per 1000 males aged 15-49)
The British Army casualty rates were 7.7% of the officer corps against 4.1% for the other ranks ie privates/NCOs. The number of officers lost were 37,452 or only 5% of the total British military losses, which were much lower than for France & Germany. (“Casualty” can mean “death or injuries”, but here means deaths only, I think).
The ‘lost generation” of the British upper class has been described as a “myth” by Robert Wohl in “The Generation of 1914” (1979). But the officer casualty rate was higher than for other ranks and was even higher for Oxbridge & English Public Schools. For Oxford & Cambridge men aged 20-24 it was above 26%, and 53 public schools studied lost about one old boy of five who served (Winter).