What Did You Do In The War Daddy?

[BeppoSapone]

I have been clearing out an old filing cabinet and found some details of a Brighton man wishing to avoid being called up in WW1. On his behalof, his employer has applied to the East Sussex Appeal Tribunal to have his employee made exempt from the Military Service Act ie become a "Starred Man".

The reason being that since the war started every other male assistant in his tailors shop had joined the forces, and been replaced by young women.

The man in question was the only person left in the shop who could take customers inside leg measurements!

Has anyone come across a stranger/funnier reason for not being conscripted?

[charlesmessenger]

Strawberry growers in the Farnham area claimed exemption on the grounds that they were producing food. The local tribunal deliberated and concluded that strawberries were not a foodstuff and so they lost their appeal.

Charles M

[BeppoSapone]

Strawberry growers in the Farnham area claimed exemption on the grounds that they were producing food. The local tribunal deliberated and concluded that strawberries were not a foodstuff and so they lost their appeal.

Charles M

Thats the Tribunals for you! "Strawberries were not a foodstuff"

One member of another Tribunal thought "Mine Sweeping" was sweeping dust out of coal mines.

Another thought that "Tolstoy" was a country, and it was "on our side in this war" - when a man said that he would not fight because he was a "Tolstoyan".

A third Tribunal member got into a theological discussion with a C.O. who objected to war. The C.O attemped to explain the original of a passage written "in the Greek". To this the Chairman said something like "Greek! you dont mean to tell me that Jesus Christ spoke Greek. He was British to the backbone!"