Age at Call Up

[SMG65]

I have a relative who was 18 in August 1916.

When would he have been called up/been able to volunteer?

Would he have been called up then or at 18 and a half?

Would he have been conscripted or would he have been a volunteer?

[DirtyDick]

The minimum age for service overseas was 19, but I believe men could be called up at 18 - 18.5 yrs, but would remain in UK until attaining 19yrs: makes sense since most would then be trained when they attained this age. (The deployable age limit was lowered to 18.5yrs in 1918.) A bit like Northern Ireland, I suppose, where soldiers have to be 18+ to serve after the killing of some 17yr old soldiers in the early '70s, yet could deploy to other conflicts aged 17.5yrs.

The National MIlitary Service Act (?) introduced in stages in early 1916 deemed every fit man aged 18-41 as liable for conscription.

Although there was little choice involved once conscripted, if he expressed a desire to serve in a certain Service or branch, and if this was agreed to by said Service or branch, he was usually allowed to do so.

Richard

[Simon Furnell]

Minimum service age,overseas,was cut during the German offensives of early 1918.

Many 18 year olds,found themselves on the frontline,after March of that year.

Conscription came in,i believe,in February of 1916.

It was slow to start,but picked up after the Somme battles,in 1916,and kept on growing,rapidly,right up to the end of the war.

I am not sure if there were deferments,as there were during 1950's National Service,for education,during WW1,but there was a reserved occupation,which meant you couldn't even volunteer.

Same during WW2.

As far as your speed was concerned,getting to the front as a conscript,well that depended on the need for men at the time.

My Great-grandad,was a kind of conscript,and served with a Division,largely made up of Derby Men,Conscripts,and a few Veterans,from the middle of 1917,through 3rd Ypres,until he was KIA,in 1918.

He was training from July,1916,and didn't land in France,until New Years Day,1917.

I seem to remember,maybe on this Forum,someone saying a soldier had only 15 weeks training,before ending up in the frontline!!

During WW1,if anyone got the call up,they would have probably answered the call, at the first time of asking,or though there may have been a few,who,much like their children,during WW2,left the letter on the mantel piece,for a few weeks,before they opened it.

They all did their bit,in the end,and many never came back,from the start of National Service,in 1916,until it finished in the late 50's.

The Virgin Soldiers,all of them.

It was a different world,in those days,so it could be that he volunteered the day after his 18th Birthday.

If he did,i bet his Mum wasn't happy,but there wasn't a lot she could do about it,if that was what he wanted.

Do you have any more info on him,like a regiment,name or Army number?

I would have said he was in the war,unless he was disabled in any way.

However,that doesn't always follow.

All the best,and good hunting.

Simon Furnell.

[Chris_Baker]

In August 1916, an 18 year old was subject to call up under the Military Service Act. As others have said, he was not eligible fo posting overseas until aged 19. He could not have volunteered at that date, such routes by then being closed.