Royal Automobile Club Volunteer Force


The Royal Automobile Club Volunteer Force was a group of civilian members of the Royal Automobile Club, who at the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, took their personal cars and joined the British Army in France and Belgium, to act as chauffeurs for senior officers. Following their involvement in the early battles of the war, several of their number were appointed to senior positions in the British military establishment.

Formation

Shortly after departure of the British Expeditionary Force for France on 7 August 1914, the War Office made a request to the Royal Automobile Club, that twenty-five suitable members, together with their own vehicles, make themselves available to the General Headquarters at the front. Volunteers were interviewed and their cars inspected by the RAC themselves under the direction of the club secretary, Julian Orde. Once accepted, the volunteers were told to obtain an officer's khaki Service Dress uniform and whatever else they thought they might need, and to present themselves at Southampton Docks for embarkation on 21 August. The only equipment issued by the RAC was a brassard, described by one volunteer as "somewhat pretentious"; however, the War Office undertook to provide a daily allowance of 10 French Francs, as well as rations and petrol.

Service

The volunteers and their cars arrived in Le Havre on 22 August aboard SS Gloucester Castle. They drove in convoy as far as Amiens where they met Major-General Frederick Robb, the Inspector-General of Lines of Communications. The volunteers were appointed to various corps and divisional headquarters of the BEF, while 6 of them were selected to go to the BEF's General Headquarters which were then located at Le Cateau.
The volunteers served with distinction during the Retreat from Mons, the First Battle of the Marne and the First Battle of Ypres, ferrying around staff officers and dispatches under the most dangerous conditions. In the early part of the campaign there was no defined front line; drivers at various times found themselves being chased by an uhlan cavalry patrol, shot at by a German sentry and detained at bayonet-point by French soldiers as suspected spies. A further group of forty-six volunteers were recruited by the RAC for service in the Siege of Antwerp, some of whom joined the ranks of the RNAS Armoured Car Section. Others were co-opted as staff officers or found other roles in the various divisional headquarters which they operated with. By the end of the war, 226 RAC members and 24 staff had served as volunteers, and between them had gone on to be awarded three Victoria Crosses and twelve Distinguished Service Orders.

Notable Members