soldiers enlisting

[mags_greenwood@yahoo.co.uk]

In the past I have heard about young boys lying about their age and adding a few years on to enlist, but has anyone heard of someone taking years off to enlist? I ask this because I have just discovered that my Gt. Grandfather lied about his age. He was 41 when he died, but the army death certificate I recently received says that he was 37. At first, I thought I had been researching the wrong chap, and so backtracked everything very carefully, but it is most definitely him. (There is too much supporting evidence for it not to be him). Also, he was a coal miner by profession which I think was a reserved occupation (could someone confirm or deny this for me?). If this was the case, technically he did not need to go to war. Why lie about his age? Surely they would have taken him anyway if he wanted to go so much.

Any thoughts?

Margaret

[the gunners dream]

Margaret,

Yes, that is the case with many who joined.

For a point of interest they had to raise the upper age limit of joining from 30 to 35 when war broke out as there was uproar that many veterans of past conflicts could not join.

My own Great Grandfather joined like this at the age of 34, he was 38 when he died in 1918.

The oldest enlistee is a chap called Henry Webber. See the link below:

http://www.cwgc.org/cwgcinternet/casualty_...?casualty=39319

who was 68 when he died! He continually pestered the war office until they relented and he became a transport officer in the South Lancashire Regiment.

So what happened with your relative is perfectly feasable.

Steve Smith

[paul guthrie]

And yes coal miner was a reserved occupation though I can't tell you details of that.

[mags_greenwood@yahoo.co.uk]

And yes coal miner was a reserved occupation though I can't tell you details of that.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks chaps,

That explains why Gt Grandfather lied about his age, although he must have been 40 when he first went over to France in 1915. (He died 5 July 1916) and oddly enough was in the same battalion as Henry Webber. I should imagine that Henry must have been extremely fit for his age or they wouldn't have let him go no matter how much he pestered. Also, it must have been extremely hard on their wives knowing that their husbands would rather go away and fight than stay safe in the comfort of their own home. I wonder if they were just like Corporal Jones out of the old TV series "Dad's Army" or whether they just wanted to be with their mates. There must have been so much hype around at the time.

Regards

Margaret

[Steven Broomfield]

My grandfather joined up in 1915 - he was married with 4 children and aged around his 30's (I can't remember exactly). There was no need to go, but he went voluntarily.

You have to remember that poverty was a factor - my gardfather was a Carter - i.e., he carried heavy loads around the villages of north Hampshire, earning very little in a depressed rural economy. he had 4 kids and a wife to keep, so he was probably better off, financially, in the Army, being fed and clothed and remitting something to his wife, than he was in civvie street.

Frankly, being a miner was reserved, but only after conscription, I'm guessing, (else why were Miners' Battalions formed?), and getting into the army (fresh air, daylight, and probably not a hell of a lot more dangerous), and I think it would have been quite an improvement in some ways.

I don't know whether his 'mates' had gone, but a lot of lads from the village had gone, so that may well have been a factor.

Add in excitement, foreign travel and the fact that getting away from my grandmother must have been a bonus (she was an old dragon!), and there you are.

Oddly, he was discharged after 2 weeks with Flat Feet and Hammer Toes - "Unlikely ever to make an efficient soldier", which took the gloss off it, I guess!

Oh yes, nearly forgot. How about patriotism? Not hype.

[ian turner]

Margaret,

We must be thankful to men like your Gt grandad that they did foresake their comfort, 'hype' or not!

Ian

[squirrel]

My mother's uncle's cousin from Ireland joined the NZEF in 1916; he was on a merchant ship at the time. His age would have been mid 30's and he gave his age as 27.

He was seriously wounded in 1917 and lost a leg eventually being discharged as medically unfit in 1920.

Family talk had it that it was just the sort of mad thing he would do and apparently he said he joined the NZEF because the pay was better.