What percentage of men actually served in the forces ?

[Simon Cains]

Hello, I just wondered roughly what percentage of men served in all the armed forces in WW1 ?  There is a plaque in our village listing 53 men, "Residents of the village, who have joined His Majesty's Forces".  But in 1911 there were only 40 men of working age living in the village.  Even if there was some growth in the years between, could it really be that every man had to go away and serve ?  The village had a furniture factory which probably made aircraft parts, there were regular requests for exemptions.

I wondered if there was an part-time home defense force like the WW2 Home Guard, so men could work during the day and parade in the evening ?  Or any other ways that men could be considered to have "joined the forces" but not actually gone away ?  Maybe even the Derby men who were not called up.

Are there other plaques like this, showing every man who served ?

It looks as though only 4 men from the village actually died during the war, one in Salonika.

Thanks very much,

Simon

[ss002d6252]

Roughly 20% of men served.

 

Craig

[kenf48]

I think you may have answered your own question.  You would need to know the criteria that was set for inclusion on the Roll of Honour.  There was a a part time defence force - the Volunteer Training Corps and men who secured an exemption from military service were often directed to serve with that unit.

The easiest but most time consuming way to address the problem would be, as many have done before, to research each name on the Roll.

As for your more general query this table is taken from "A Nation in Arms' Beckett and Simpson it builds on the table from 'Statistics etc' as posted above but gives much the same percentage.

There were wide local variations within each of the nations, voluntary enlistment was especially slow in rural areas compared to the cities and towns.  There are many reasons for this but not least the general isolation of rural communities, that said recruitment was strong in the Scottish Highlands.

There are many plaques that show men who served as well as those who died, as a generalisation especially so in Churches - the non Conformists seemed especially keen to record all who served.

[TEW]

I suspect the term Residents has been used with some license. What % of those names were resident in 1911?

Not sure of the date the list was compiled but Ernest Plumridge had moved by May 1919.

Similar ethos to war memorials for Men of this Village, research often finds no link between man & village or a very tenuous one.

TEW

[Simon Cains]

Thank you all for your replies.  Tew, I think you must be right, even though "Residents of Piddington" seems very precise, the numbers can't make sense, so it probably includes the 100+ workers who commuted into the factory every day, and those who worked the land nearby, etc.    I hadn't heard of the Volunteer training corps. I have just found a number of 285,000 men,  which would only be a small part of the nearly 5 million enlistments.     I don't know any shortcuts to tracing survivors, nothing like as easy as tracing men in the CWGC.    Thanks.

[TEW]

I found two other men.

Gilbert Bristow enlisted 1915 from an address in River near Dover but gave NOK's address in Piddington. 1920 Discharge address is Colchester.

Had former service in 1901, address in Bledlow Ridge. Could be on Rolls of honour for all these places.

Sydney Bates. Enlistment address is Piddington but on his death 1918 (natural causes) during service in UK his wife was informed at an address in High Wycombe.

Bit confused by some addresses given on Ancestry, some have Piddington, Bucks others have Piddington, Thame, Oxon. Are these one and the same? Has it moved counties at all?

The above plus Plumridge are Piddington, Bucks.

TEW

[exXIX]

2 hours ago, ss002d6252 said:

Roughly 20% of men served.

 

Craig

I read somewhere that of all those who served in 1914-18, 80% came through unscathed. Can't remember where I read that little nugget I'll have to try and find it again...

[Moonraker]

5 minutes ago, TEW said:

... Bit confused by some addresses given on Ancestry, some have Piddington, Bucks others have Piddington, Thame, Oxon. Are these one and the same? Has it moved counties at all?

They are different, about 24 miles apart. The Oxfordshire one is 4 miles south east of Bicester, the Bucks one is 4 miles west of High Wycombe. There's also a Piddington in Northamptonshire. Plenty of scope for confusion, given the simplicity of addresses on cards and envelopes in the early 20th century.

[Martin Lepley]

There was indeed a home guard. Quite often they would not accept men who were eligible to fight.