Genealogy Chat

Does any know, or suggest how I can find out, what was the criteria for the call up for both the first and second world wars? Thanks for your help. Gill

Hi Gill, I think the criteria for call up varied for both wars and altered as each war went on. Are you talking about conscription into the army? Or National registration for war service (which included females in WW2)? Have you tried googling conscription+WW1 or call up+WW2 etc etc? Sorry to be so vague, but not sure exactly what you are trying to find out. If you could be a bit more specific, perhaps someone would have the answer to your query? Good luck - Jay

I've a thread about this for WW1, if I could only remember the name of it!! from memory.....WW1 - volunteers only from Aug 1914. Min age requirement....18 for joining up and 19 for overseas service. Officers, 18 for both. By about March 1916 they needed conscription, but had first to tighten up the laws for the large number of underage soldiers who had either slipped through the net or been allowed to slip through deliberately. The men in the country were given a rating number 1-20 (or was it 1-40????) depending on age, marital status and type of employment. Those rated 1 were called up first. In 1918 the min age for overseas service was 18 for everyone, as they were running out of available men. Merry

Thanks to you both for your response. My line of thought was that my father, b 1901 would have been 13 in 1914, and wondered whether he would have been called up, obviously when he reached the right age. He also never served in the second world war although probably because he was too old. He was also a plumber by trade and can remember in the dim and distant past that he said he was in a reserved occupation. That might just have been to shut me up! Gill

Yes, if he was born 1901 then officially he would never have been old enough to serve in WW1. However, lots of ''boys'' did serve underage.........I think the non-official estimate is around 200,000 or so.....maybe more. Merry