Moeran would have travelled home to his parents’ recently built house in Bacton-on-Sea on the Norfolk coast in late July, just as the European political situation was entering a critical phase. A few days later, on 4 August, war was declared. Conversation in the Moeran household, just as in countless other households around the country, must have centred on the prognosis for the immediate future. When it came to the question as to whether the nineteen-year-old music student should enlist, it is likely that the attitude of his family, in common with many others with sons of a similar age, would have been one of reluctant acceptance, although it is probable that Ada Esther would not have been happy to see her younger son become a soldier so soon. However, it seems that Moeran was not swept up in the immediate post-declaration enthusiasm, and it is likely that he planned to spend his summer vacation in much the same way as he had spent it the previous year, devoting himself to music and composition and probably visiting Roland Perceval Garrod at the family home in Hampstead.

Garrod and the other members of Moeran's circle of friends had left Uppingham in July 1914, after having taking part in the Speech Day proceedings so movingly recorded by Vera Brittain. Although Brittain's future fiance Roland A. Leighton had carried off most of the Speech Day prizes, Garrod was an outstanding scholar and had been awarded an exhibition at Clare College, Cambridge. Moeran may have wished to congratulate his friend, and the two would also have been eager to renew their musical collaboration. It is inevitable that they would have discussed the prospect of enlisting, and they perhaps agreed together that they would join the army. According to his entry in De Ruvigny's Roll of Honour, Garrod was given a commission in the 6th London Regiment on 26 August 1914. He would have had to inform Clare College of his decision and request a suspension of his exhibition for the period of his service. Moeran also required the permission of the Royal College of Music to enlist, and he would written to Sir Hubert Parry to request this.

Parry was both proud of and concerned for those of his students and staff who were volunteering to serve their country.