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Remembered Today:

Was ‘pipe-fitter’ a reserved occupation?


Connor Bishop

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Hello all, I am just wondering if being a pipe-fitter was a reserved occupation during WW1 or not please? 
 

My Great-Great Grandfather James Peacock was listed as a pipe fitter working in a iron works in the 1911 census while living in Durham and I am presuming that he would have continued to do that up until C.1916 when conscription was introduced as he was still under the age of 41 (just about! He was born in March 1976!) and as it was an industrial type occupation I am of the opinion that it was but I would just like confirmation please.

 

thank you for any help you can provide, it’ll be much appreciated

 

Connor 

Edited by Connor Bishop
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It depends very much on what the factory making iron pipes actually produced. There are 2 considerations here:

 

1)  If the factory produced  "pipes" needed for war work, then yes, he may well be exempt-  though it would usually need a specific letter from the management to say he was essential

2) An iron works would likely be diverted over to war work anyway- so he could still have been at the same factory but producing shell cases instead of pipes.

 

   Best way is to track his name on Ancestry/FMP  -If he is there on Medal Rolls, Medal Index Cards, then he likely served.

 

Despite this, many skilled metal workers were recruited/head hunted even before conscription- I have a local casualty who was a plumber  before the war and entered the Royal Navy as an artificer in 1915, essentially doing the same job of bending copper pipes and fixing leaks-only this time below decks on a battleship -He perished with the loss of "Indefatigable" at Jutland. After conscription, a skilled metal worker would likely have been picked out for skilled work by the army- armourer for instance.

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5 hours ago, Connor Bishop said:

Hello all, I am just wondering if being a pipe-fitter was a reserved occupation during WW1 or not please? 
 

My Great-Great Grandfather James Peacock was listed as a pipe fitter working in a iron works in the 1911 census while living in Durham and I am presuming that he would have continued to do that up until C.1916 when conscription was introduced as he was still under the age of 41 (just about! He was born in March 1976!) and as it was an industrial type occupation I am of the opinion that it was but I would just like confirmation please.

 

thank you for any help you can provide, it’ll be much appreciated

 

Connor 

 

It was not so much a ‘pipe fitter’ who was exempt from Military Service but the fact he worked in the iron works.  The guidance to the Local Tribunal stated, “ OTHER ENGINEERING WORK AND IRON FOUNDRIES ENGAGED IN MANUFACTURING, ERECTING OR REPAIRING MACHINERY OR PLANT FOR USE IN THE INDUSTRY

All classes of workmen”. The age limit for exemption was 25 for married men and 41 for those who were single.

In addition all classes of workmen, irrespective of age or marital status who were engaged in the manufacture of pig iron or blast furnaces were exempt from military service.

Presumably as a pipe fitter he would be engaged in maintaining the gas and water pies essential to the manufacturing process within the iron works.  He would have been exempt.

 

It should be noted this was the original list of certified occupations published in 1916.  There were changes as the war progressed and it was contingent  on remaining in the occupation.  

 

As an aside less than 25% of men of military age in England served in the Army in the Great War.

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