Minimum age for army enlistment?

[oldcrone]

Can anyone please tell me what was the minimum age requirement for a man joining the army in 1900?

My grandfather joined the Prince of Wales' Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians) in 1900 in London, giving his age as 19 (ie born in 1881).  However, on a later document, he gives his birthdate as 1884.

If he was really aged 16 in 1900, would this have been too young to join up?  I'm really trying to ascertain whether he was lying about his age (very probable!), or whether there was just a mistake made with his birthdate.

Any help would be appreciated!   

Clara

[M.T.H]

Hi Clara,

The 'official' age to join the army was 18, in practice though a great many younger lads were able to convince the authorities that they were older than they were.

The age of 19 was often given by underage lads wanting to join up rather than 18 which aroused suspicion and could lead to further checks being made,a simple ruse, but it worked!

In 1900 the Boer war was being fought and lots of young  lads wanted to join up to fight for Queen and Country,so it's quite possible that your grandfather added a couple of years to his real age in order to get in.

Although some years later, the book 'Boy soldiers of the great war" by Richard Van Emden tells the stories of some shockingly young boys who joined the army to fight in WW1, a real eye opener!

Mick

[manmack]

many army orphans were enrolled into the regt as drummer boys as young as 13,they were the orphans of soldirs who died with the regt and the regt became their guardians,he can enlist at 16,but he needed permission from his parents,if he was a orphan the colonel of the regt he was joining would decide wether they would take him or not,you could not serve overseas on active service till you were 19,unofficially there was no age limit,it was down to the discretion of the colonel of the regt,in the time period you are talking about,it was a common thing,usually farm lads bored with farming,mack

[harribobs]

i believe the ratio was one 'boy' per company and i don't think they had to be orphans either

these two were serving overseas ( singapore and india) in 1902

[oldcrone]

Thanks everyone for the replies! 

Well, I wouldn't be surprised if he was an underage enlister then..... it somehow figures with all the other stories he told.....

How could I find out whether he fought in the Boer War?  I've found his Leinster army records at TNA but it just states dates of service, rather than where he was posted. 

Thanks again for the help!

Clara

[manmack]

if he served in the boer war his name will be in the queens and kings south africa medal rolls held at kew,mack

[M.T.H]

if he served in the boer war his name will be in the queens and kings south africa medal rolls held at kew,mack

If you can get to the National Archives, or can get someone else to go for you, the medal rolls for the QSA and KSA medals awarded to the men of the Prince of Wales' Leinster Regiment are in;

WO100/207 - For the Queen's S.A.  medal

WO100/346 - For the King's S.A. medal

Good luck,

Mick

[oldcrone]

Cheers, Mick and Mack! 

Clara

[Deb Clark Rennie]

know this post it quite old but came across it when doing some research on my grandfather.  We've had a bit if a mystery turn up with a photograph of my great grandfather Ted Clark.  My dad, his siblings and cousins have thought the photo was of Ted in his WW1 uniform but when posting in a different forum trying to find information about where he might have served it came back the uniform he was wearing was not from WW1 but the Boer War!  We have several of his WW1 records but most were from when he was with RGA as a gunner and then the labour corps which we think was after he was injured.  But the records that were from when he was with a Gloucestershire regiment are the missing ones part of the "burnt" records.  Ted has also lied about his age and put down 1883 instead of 1885 which I thought odd as he was plenty old enough by time WW1 came along but if he did go to the Boer War that might make sense ... still again though I thought I found him on the 1901 cencus which one would think that not possible.  My family insist it's his photo.  So I was wondering with the list of medal recipients mentioned here would that also go for the Gloucestershire regiments?   Might be one way to see if this photo is him.  The medals look like the South Africa ones and the uniform is one from Gloucestershire.

Regards
Deb