The Reserve Battalion, originally known as the 4th Battalion, sprang into existence at the School of Mines at the London University at Kensington as soon as war was declared in 1914. Within five days one thousand seven hundred reservists had arrived from all parts of England and Wales, and retired officers appeared on the scene, whether they belonged to the Reserve or not. This mass of men had to be converted into a disciplined Battalion, non-commissioned officers appointed, and the whole machinery of a battalion created. Yet so smoothly did the mobilisation work that within a few days every man was fully equipped, and companies were drilling in the Park, with N.C.O.'s shouting out their drill as if they had never been away. Lieut.-Colonel G. D. White was appointed Commanding Officer, Major G. W. Duberly Second-in-Command, Captain E. N. E. M. Vaughan, Adjutant, and Lieutenant J. C. Rolinson, Quartermaster. The whole conditions of service were now different. Instead of the usual apathy on the part of the men to learn anything new, they now eagerly seized every occasion to acquire knowledge. The Army was no longer a profession, where a man could reduce to a science the practice of doing the least possible amount of work without getting into trouble. It was now a matter of life and death. The latest developments of modern warfare had to be learnt quickly, and the men, who were already seasoned soldiers, set to work with a will to learn from officers and N.C.O.'s at first as ignorant as themselves, the new drill and the latest method of attack and defence. By the time the Reserve Battalion moved to Chelsea Barracks, about three weeks later, it had already become a serviceable body of men. A large number of N.C.O.'s and old soldiers, mostly "D" section reserve, were selected and sent as instructors to train the new battalions of "Kitchener's Army." Nearly all proved excellent instructors, and many privates rose almost at once to be sergeants and even warrant officers. In the early days of the war the National Guard and Volunteers did not exist, and consequently the duty of finding guards to protect the reservoirs, electric power stations, and other vulnerable points, devolved on the regular troops in London. The number of small guards all over London was so great that it took the field officer, whose duty it was to visit them, over five hours in a motor to go his rounds. About October 1914 the majority of these guards were taken over by the Special Home Service Units.