- Title: Britain's Boy Soldiers
- Date: 14th June 2004
- Summary: Documentary looking at the large numbers of underage volunteers during the First World War - some 250,000 - and how the War Office and government turned a blind eye to their enlistments as they were desperate for manpower. Includes interviews with some of those who lied about their age and enlisted and also looks at the cases of some underage soldiers who were killed,including some who were executed for desertion when they cracked and ran away. Also looks at the continuous campaigning during the First World War by Liberal MP Arthur Markham to send underage soldiers back home and discharge them from the Army.
- Description:New research reveals that during the First World War,one million soldiers - around one in six of all those in the British army - were under-age boys. Many in their mid-teens ended up fighting and dying in the trenches. There's evidence that some boys were even shot for cowardice. Interviews with the few surviving boy soldiers tell us how Britain's teenagers wanted to fight for their country,and how the government turned a blind eye.
- Broadcaster:Channel 4
- Collection: Channel 4
- Genre:Documentary and Factual
- Producer:Testimony Films Ltd.
- Programme Episode:Episode 1
- Transmission Date:14/06/2004
- Rights:Worldwide
- Decade: 2000s