12 year old tries to do his bit!

[Terry Carter]

I found this interesting article in the Birmingham Gazette published on 2 February, 1915

[Coldstreamer]

fascinating - wonder what happened to him ?

[centurion]

Shame we don't have a name to check.

BTW the reference to concentration camp is not as sinister at it might seem - at that time the term meant a place where a lot of people were broght together (concentrated). The British camp for the annual Salisbury Plain exercises pre 1914 was always referred to as a "The Concentration Camp".

[ackimzey]

He certainly was a resourceful young fella!

[Aaron Pegram]

I'm a little skeptical about the validity of this claim. Remember, this is pre-conscription, and recruiting efforts were aimed at the conscience of eligible men. Here the target is eligible men's masculinity; if a 12 year old boy can fight the Hun, why can you? Perhaps a boy existed, but we must not get carried away at some of the claims the media were printing around this time. Im also doubtful that the Germans would let him go seems that they were imprisoning women and children at some camps like Holzminden.

A.

[AlfaMale]

There were some incredibly young boys who did manage to successfully join up though: "Alick James Bryant seems to have been only 13 years 11 months old when he enlisted at Ashfield Drill Hall, Sydney, in March 1917. On his attestation papers, he gave his birth as 7 April 1901, although his birth certificate records that he was born on 7 April 1903." (see: http://www.eurekacouncil.com.au/Australian...est_anzacs.htm)