
From 1803 to 1916, young military officers had been trained in conjunction with University education through the Officers Training Corps (OTC), forming the National Reserve of officers. However, due to the unforeseen number of casualties in the first two years of the War, conscription was introduced in 1916 and in the same year the Officer Cadet Battalions (OCBs) were formed. With training no longer conducted alongside University education, the OCBs produced 73,000 commissioned officers at locations around the country, including the 5th OCB, based at Trinity and St. John’s.
The OCBs cultivated an atmosphere of peacetime University life through sport, amateur drama productions and humourous magazines. The Blunderbuss (98.b.91.1), the magazine for the 5th Battalion, ran from July 1916 to October 1918, featuring articles, poems, sport results, photographs, artwork and topical humour for the officers in training.
Whilst humour provided a way of coping with the strain of preparing for war, sporting competitions within and between battalions fostered the camaraderie and fellowship that would become emblematic of the British army during the War. Understanding the importance of this bond and of instilling leadership, H. Montagu Butler, Master of Trinity, wrote of the 5th OCB:
“They will feel that they were wise in Training, not only man by man but together in close league, in the hope of being fitted to lead, to command, to influence, to inspire.”

As the War progressed, the tone of the magazine remained the same, but notes of solemnity did creep in along with the publication of lists of dead and wounded. However, the bonds of friendship and duty grew to characterise the British Army during the First World War, thanks in part to institutions such as the 5th OCB.


Further reading:
Chris Baker (2010) “Training to be an officer”, The Long, Long Trail.
Hew Strachan (1976) History of the Cambridge University Officers Training Corps.
See also our interactive timeline of World War I for a look at some of the events that shaped Trinity’s wartime experience.
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Thanks for your post. I am researching an Australian in my local community Charles PIZZEY who was sent to the Officer Cadet Battalion at Trinity in 1916.
Thanks for your post. My grandfather Edmund BAKER was commisioned 29/5/18 after completeting training with No. 5 Officer Cadet Battalion. I am in posession of the menu card (multiply signed I assume by his fellow Cadets and or instructors) for a dinner given to the Cadets at Trinity College May 31st, 1918. Also a number of photographs from the time, some with names . I am now attempting to research this resource. Is there a publicly available record of each intake to aid my deciphering of the signatures?