View Full Version : World War One - Conscription
Muggins in Sussex
11-12-09, 20:52
I have long wondered how my relative, HW Wicks managed to avoid serving in WW1 - I can understand how he avoided serving in WW2 - he was in Berlin making pro-Nazi radio radio broadcasts to the UK :eek:
But how easy was it to avoid serving your country in WW1 ?
maggie_4_7
11-12-09, 20:56
Have you got proof that he didn't serve?
Could he have claimed an essential occupation or poor health? One of my great uncles was very deaf from his teens so did not serve in WW1.
Our late neighbour, who lived to be 102, didn't serve in WW1 because of flat feet!
Margaret in Burton
11-12-09, 21:16
I know we have all heard of H W Wicks, but remind us.
When was he born?
As said before, he could have had any number of medical problems that prevented him from serving.
Muggins in Sussex
11-12-09, 21:16
Have you got proof that he didn't serve?
No I have no proof, Maggie - but I can find no evidence that he did serve - and in Dec 1918 he got married in Brighton, describing himself as an " Insurance Official"
Could he have claimed an essential occupation or poor health? One of my great uncles was very deaf from his teens so did not serve in WW1.
Hi Jill - I think "poor health" might be the answer - albeit it may have been somewhat imaginary :d
Olde Crone
11-12-09, 22:18
Almost one third of the men who volunteered/were conscripted for WW1, were turned away on health grounds, although these health grounds were lowered as the war took its grim toll of the healthiest.
So poor was the health of the nation's young men, that shocked questions were asked in parliament, (by the middle class and the rich, lol) and it was these questions which started the idea of a national health service and that of free preventative medicine for all.
Many adult men were under 5ft 4inches (I think that was the minimum height requirement) and did not have the necessary chest expansion, due to a mixture of poor nutrition and unhealthy work/living conditions.
OC
Margaret in Burton
11-12-09, 22:29
Almost one third of the men who volunteered/were conscripted for WW1, were turned away on health grounds, although these health grounds were lowered as the war took its grim toll of the healthiest.
So poor was the health of the nation's young men, that shocked questions were asked in parliament, (by the middle class and the rich, lol) and it was these questions which started the idea of a national health service and that of free preventative medicine for all.
Many adult men were under 5ft 4inches (I think that was the minimum height requirement) and did not have the necessary chest expansion, due to a mixture of poor nutrition and unhealthy work/living conditions.
OC
Yes
I have been shocked when reading WW1 records of the height, weight etc of the men involved. Very poor condition most of them.
My great-uncle's WW1 record shows that he had a weak arm, caused by polio, but he was still recruited. This was after 1916 when conscription was brought in.
maggie_4_7
12-12-09, 15:27
My uncle Billy served in WWII (fighting in North Africa, El Alamein) and he was deaf in one ear so I think its fair to assume it depends where, when and how much you wanted to push it. He went right through until the war ended in May 1945 and he was still in the Middle East in Palestine at one time.
It was clear to me when I was small that he was deaf although no one mentioned it, his speech was definitely impaired because of it you couldn't help but notice.
maggie_4_7
12-12-09, 15:39
I have long wondered how my relative, HW Wicks managed to avoid serving in WW1 - I can understand how he avoided serving in WW2 - he was in Berlin making pro-Nazi radio radio broadcasts to the UK :eek:
But how easy was it to avoid serving your country in WW1 ?
Its possible that he was always a pain in the rump as it were and perhaps even then he wasn't thought to be the type they wanted if you know what I mean. Or perhaps through Pyschological grounds maybe he presented himself to be unfit.
What did the W stand for Walter or William and was he born in 1892 in Hoxton/Haggerston, Hackney? I've forgotten.
Olde Crone
12-12-09, 18:19
Nell
they couldn't afford to be so fussy by 1916, as we had already lost so many fit men and the standards were lowered to the point where if you were breathing, you could be conscripted!
Maggie makes a good point though - if Wicks was known as a political troublemaker, he wouldn't be wanted in the ranks, although I would have thought he would have been put to some sort of war work.
He wasn't a conscientious objector, was he?
OC
Rosie Knees
16-12-09, 15:28
Sorry , this is no help to Muggins :rolleyes: and slightly of topic, but just because you had medical exemption didn't mean you couldn't sign up. My dad was exempt from WWII on two counts - deformed foot and limp due to polio and he was in a reserved occupation. At the end of 44 he decided he should join up. And regretted it immediately:eek::rolleyes: but there was no going back.
maggie_4_7
16-12-09, 20:02
I didn't realise that I thought they'd not accept you or you'd have to conceal it some way but I suppose thats how some men got there then even though they could have been exempted due to a disability. Silly fools but thats how a lot of men were then, got to fight for my country! Like I said my uncle was partially deaf and he survived 3 years of fighting and came home after the war!
Alan Bennett wrote a very moving memoir about his uncle, who had an operation to correct a hernia so he could go and fight - and who was killed. During WW1, men who weren't fighting or in uniform were often given white feathers to indicate cowardice. All wars are stupid and futile and a waste of lives, but WW1 was probably the most wasteful and stupid and futile.
Olde Crone
18-12-09, 21:12
Nell
I completely agree with that - WW1 the most stupid, useless war ever.
OC
OC you and I agree on so much. If only we were running the world!
Uncle John
18-12-09, 21:59
Nell
I completely agree with that - WW1 the most stupid, useless war ever.
OC
OC you and I agree on so much. If only we were running the world!
John Knox would turn in his grave:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_First_Blast_of_the_Trumpet_Against_the_Monstro us_Regiment_of_Women
Olde Crone
18-12-09, 23:53
UJ
Nell and I would soon sort John Knox out, have no fear.
OC
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