First World War question

[ElizabethHerts]

Would a dock labourer have been called up to fight?

I have a man who died in 1919. He was a dock labourer on his death certificate. I can't find any WWI record for him. As the docks would have been important in the war effort, would he have worked there for the duration of the war?

[WendyPusey]

His WW1 records might have been destroyed. My Grandfather was killed in 1918 and he has no records.

Can't answer your other question though I would have thought he would have stayed at the docks.

[ElizabethHerts]

Thanks for the reply, Wendy. There are conflicting stories about what happened to him.

[Phoenix]

My grandfather was in the army, went into the dockyards as a labourer c 1919 and was laid off later. So that's one alternative scenario.

I know Portsmouth expanded dramatically a century earlier for the Napoleonic wars and then had to lay men off.

Are you talking naval dockyards here?

My other grandfather was in the police force, as he thought that that was a reserved occupation, but he got conscripted in 1917.

[ElizabethHerts]

Phoenix, he was a dock labourer in 1911 in Liverpool, and also at death in 1919.

[Phoenix]

My grandfathers weren't demobbed until about May 1919. When did he die? If early in the year, he possibly didn't fight. If he went abroad there ought to be a medal card.

[ElizabethHerts]

He died in March 1919, Phoenix.

[Tom Tom]

Maybe dock labouring was a reserved occupation so he would never have been conscripted?

[ElizabethHerts]

I think he'd been ill for some time when he died, so probably he didn't fight.

[Nell]

How old was he when he died, Elizabeth?

[ElizabethHerts]

Nell, he was 41.

[Muggins in Sussex]

Hi Elizabeth

I don't think it will answer your question, but if the know the name of the specific dock in Liverpool, you can see a history of it here - http://www.diduknow.info/docks/index2.html#

(you have to hover over the docks to bring up their names)

[ElizabethHerts]

Thanks, Joan. Very interesting.