OUOTC
The Oxford University Officer Training Corps
The 1st Oxfordshire (Oxford University) Rifle Volunteer Corps was formed in 1859 and was established (together with many other volunteer corps across the country) in response to the threat of war with France while the regular army was preoccupied with the Indian Mutiny.
OU OTC
From 1881, the OURVC served as one of several volunteer battalions of the Oxfordshire Light Infantry and in 1887 became known as the 1st (Oxford University) Volunteer Battalion or the Oxford University Volunteers (OUV). One of the other volunteer battalions in the Oxfordshire Light Infantry was the 4th (Eton College) Volunteer Battalion.
The Oxford University Officers’ Training Corps (OUOTC) was one of 23 such bodies formed at universities in Great Britain following the establishment of the Officers’ Training Corps (OTC) by Royal Warrant in 1908. At Oxford this meant that the Oxford University Rifle Volunteers Corps (OURVC) now formed the basis of the Oxford University Officers’ Training Corps.
Officers' Training Corps
An important aspect of the new OTC was the provision of permanent staff from the regular army to provide rigorous training for the cadets. Training during term took the form of short courses (usually about one per week) which took place at a time that did not interfere with University work or sport. Training included parades, attending camp and studying for voluntary examinations.
Although the examinations were voluntary, successful candidates gained some advantages; for example, the holder of certificate B was entitled to a commission in the Special Reserve of Officers or the Territorial Force.
The First World War broke out in the midst of the Long Vacation in 1914 so most undergraduates and many fellows were away from Oxford during the early rush to enlist. For those who were still in Oxford and for others too, the simplest way to join up was to apply to the Delegacy for Military Instruction.
However, the process of applying through the Delegacy was deemed too slow and cumbersome, so the OUOTC set up an ad hoc committee to speed up the application process. By the end of September 1914, the committee had processed around 2000 applications for commissions.
A School of Instruction for young officers was set up in Oxford in January 1915 and regular army officers previously appointed to train the OUOTC were involved with the training and instruction. By March 1916 about 3000 officers had passed through the School. In 1916, the School was superseded by two Officer Cadet Battalions formed at Oxford (these were No.4 Oxford and No.6 Balliol College; Jesus College served as a Garrison Battalion), in which candidates for commissions, many of whom had served in the ranks, underwent a complete course of training for up to seven months.
The strength of each cadet battalion was about 750 men and they were quartered by companies in Keble, Wadham, Hertford, New, Magdalen, Trinity, Balliol, St John’s and Worcester Colleges.
The majority of cadets who passed through Oxford on this scheme were not members of Oxford University. Entrants to an Officer Cadet Battalion had to be aged over 18 and a half and to have either served in the ranks or with an OTC.
After the First World War, the objective of the OTC continued to be ‘to train leaders for the Territorial Army and the Supplementary Reserve and to build up a potential reserve of Junior Officers to meet a national emergency’.
In 1948, the Senior Divisions of the OTC were reorganised and became part of the Territorial Army; as a result of this, their name was changed to ‘University Training Corps’. This new title remained until 1955 when the term ‘Officer’ was reinstated and it became once more University Officer Training Corps. The first women were permitted to join the University Training Corps in 1948 though they trained in a separate sub-unit from the men until the early 1960s when they were finally allowed to join what had previously been all male units.