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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

Age of enlistment


Lynn owen

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Welcome to the forum.

  The minimum age for serving abroad was set at 19, but in April 1918 this was changed to 18 years and 6 months, provided the recruit had 6 months training. It would therefore depend on when in 1899 your bloke was born, assuming he didn't lie about his age. 

 

Regards,

 

Alf McM

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24 minutes ago, Lynn owen said:

If a bloke was born in 1899 would he have been too young to serve even though he would be 19 when war ended.

 

If he was born, say 31 Dec 1899 then he would be 18 on 31 Dec 1917 and deemed to be in the Army Reserve.

He almost certainly would have been called up for training shortly after his 18th Birthday unless he had some exemption. 

Once he had reached the age(s) given by Alf above, he would have been liable for overseas service with the BEF but may have spent the remainder of the war on Home Service.

 

If you are enquiring about a specific person, the medal rolls will almost certainly confirm whether he had overseas service or not. 

 

It is also possible that he could have ended up in one of the young soldier battalions serving with the British Army on the Rhine (BAOR). If he went overseas after 11.11.1918 he would not have qualified for the Victory or British War medals.

 

Regards

 

Alan.

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not to young to serve - to serve wasnt just going into theatre

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younger people joined up  - so many factors played a part in whether someone went to war 

lots of factors influenced whether someone went to war or not

 

is your question whether he went into a theatre of war or served in the forces generally ?

 

there is plenty of examples of men of this age doing both

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Hi Coldstreamer he was in the same regiment as you but a general question really as to whether he would have been in the horror of conflict that was ww1

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who was he ?  even in the UK seeing men coming home with all sorts of injuries could have been pretty horrific 

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tell me first though - I have hundreds of service papers

send me a PM if you dont want to say who he is

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Oh thanks worth a shot. William Owen born 18/3/1899 in Consett Co Durham. I don't have the full address, think it was Coldstream Guards regiment though.

Edited by Lynn owen
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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks, I'll see what I can find

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On 08/01/2020 at 16:56, Lynn owen said:

Oh thanks worth a shot. William Owen born 18/3/1899 in Consett Co Durham. I don't have the full address, think it was Coldstream Guards regiment though.

My home town.

 

What was his father's name?


If Coldstreamer doesn't find anything I'll be surprised.

 

Craig

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there are 2 men called William Owen in the Coldstream Gds

 

#5318 we can instantly rule out as the enlistment date means circa Jan 1904 

#21894 is a later enlistment so would fit much better for a man born 1899

 

I cant add anything else sorry

 

His papers should survive, when held at Coldstream RHQ I had pretty much a 100% find rate

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I did  try the absent sent voters roll with no joy 

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6 hours ago, ss002d6252 said:

My home town.

 

What was his father's name?


If Coldstreamer doesn't find anything I'll be surprised.

 

Craig. Father's name was Robert. 

 

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and older ones too :) 

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11 hours ago, Lynn owen said:

No didn't know they had them then! Thanks will check.

I couldn't see anyone around Consett with the right family details - there was a family in Blackhill but the details didn't match

 

Craig

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