ABSTRACT
In his examination of the culture of “militarism” that preceded the First World War, John Springhall wrote in 1971 that:
One might speculate that the boys’ adventure fiction of G.A. Henty, the 12th Earl of Meath’s Empire Day, the Church Lads Brigade, and Baden-Powell’s Boy Scouts had all made their contributions towards creating that mood of sustained patriotism among the young that led to mass volunteering on the outbreak of war in August 1914. But empirical verification of these influences on the young has so far proved difficult to document unless the statements of the youth leaders themselves are taken at their face value. (1971: 151)
