Veterans' Associations (Great Britain and Ireland)

No British government had ever formed or provided for an army of the size required to honour its military commitments during the Great War. The initial treatment and ongoing support for veterans thus led to unprecedented demands on the government to provide adequate pensions and help to gain employment. The government’s failure to satisfy these requirements led to high levels of dissatisfaction among ex-servicemen who were deeply unhappy with their treatment by the state. This led to the formation of various veterans’ organisations from 1916. In many cases these organisations were at war with each other until they joined forces with the founding of the British Legion in 1921. Receiving a Royal Charter in 1925, the Legion was at the centre of fundraising activities and the developing remembrance rituals of the interwar period. The organisation was then drawn into the political and economic turmoil of the 1920s and 1930s.