Thanks are due to Graham Stewart who has sent me much useful information in the form of Queen's and King's Regulations, Army Orders, and Army Council Instructions relating to army service numbers. I've re-published some of this information already, and my post concerning the creation of the Special Reserve in 1908 is now wonderfully augmented with a copy of the Army Order of 23rd December 1907 which dealt with the "Scheme for the provision, organization, and training of the Special Reserve required to supplement the Regular Army, and the application of the Scheme to the existing Militia".
Digging through some of my files, I also came across the image above which illustrates the choices which Militiamen were offered when the Special Reserve was created.
As can be seen, Militiamen were strongly encouraged to join the Special Reserve and a £2 bonus in 1908 would have probably been ample persuasion for many.
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