Railway clerk on the Great Eastern Railway sent to Guildford in 1918??

[jbml]

This has been bugging me.

One of my Great Grandfathers was a clerk on the Great Eastern Railway, in the East End of London. He somehow managed to avoid service in the Great War (although don't ask me how ... some railwaymen were exempt from call up but surely not pen-pushers?), and towards the end of the war he is found, temporarily, in Guildford.

I know this because one of my Great Uncles was born in Guildford in 1918, at an address in Cemetery Road, although my Great Grandmother (who was the informant) still gives her East End address on the birth certificate. She was not, however, simply visiting in Guildford when she went into labour, because I also have a 1918 press report from the Surrey Advertiser of my Great Grandfather being fined 7/6 for cycling without a rear light, and his address is given in that report, and it is the same address in Cemetery Road which appears on my Great Uncle's birth certificate.

Soon after the end of the Great War, the family is back at the old address in the East End.

So why the temporary relocation to Guildford, which was never served by the Great Eastern Railway? I just don't get it. I mean, I know that the railways were all under the control of the Railway Executive for the duration of the war and a time afterwards, so I can quite see that key staff might be redeployed across company boundaries to meet urgent operational needs ... but clerks???

I simply can't make head or tail of it. So I'm opening it up as an open-ended discussion thread, to see if anyone else has any thoughts or ideas?

[CaroleW]

He somehow managed to avoid service in the Great War (although don't ask me how ... some railwaymen were exempt from call up but surely not pen-pushers?),

Did you not consider he may have failed on medical grounds?

[mazi]

The only remote connection I can see lies in the East London Railway, jointly owned by six companies
one of which was the GER.
It had no staff of its own, the six owning companies providing all services.
It provided a connection round the bottom of London avoiding all the main line termini, not seeing much use normally it was used in wartime to accommodate the vast amount of wartime freight.

Incidentally a clerk did not have to be a penpusher, in head office, the operating division had many clerks.
Mike

[jbml]

He somehow managed to avoid service in the Great War (although don't ask me how ... some railwaymen were exempt from call up but surely not pen-pushers?),

Did you not consider he may have failed on medical grounds?

I ruled that one out because he was a "blue gunner" with the Territorials from 1909 to 1913 ... his liability to be re-embodied expiring in February 1914.  (Yes, I know I didn't mention that in the original post ... was trying to keep it down to bare essentials ... )

[Rena]

Have you researched the WWI Zeppelin bombings?  A quick search showed Guildford was hit early in the war but London had a few bombs dropped on it at the end of the war.  Maybe the railway line was hit and some staff were relocated?  It could be a simple thing that the Guildford staff were old men and were retirement age or ailing and temporary staff was needed until others could be trained up.

My paternal grandfather worked on the railways at the end of the 1800s and according to him, he was sent "all over the place" when small companies merged.

[Redroger]

If he were a clerk in the control office responsible for traffic movements he would have been in a reserved occupation and likely so.
During the first gulf war, my small section responsible for train crew rostering were ordered to give absolute priority to traffic in connection with the conflict. This caused use little difficulty, but that lasted 4 weeks, not 4 years.

[mazi]

Redroger has confirmed my thoughts, that he he was a “clerk” he may not have been a penpusher,
another possible clerk is the roster clerk in an engine shed, responsible for organising the duties of maybe 200 enginemen he was debatedly the second most important man on the railway.

Why Guildford, well it is on the LSWR Portsmouth direct line, and the first place outside Portsmouth
where trains not bound for central London can divert eastward or westward.

I think Portsmouth was a busy place in ww1
Mike

[jbml]

Thanks guys ... I had always envisaged him as a booking clerk; but these other roles would seem to make more sense.

It's still a bit puzzling, though, if it was a reserved occupation - you'd expect the LSWR to have the clerks it needed without having to call on Stratford for additional assistance. But this does seem the most plausible explanation.

[Redroger]

If he was on war service then he would be under war office direction.
My game latterly was supervision of  train crew rosters, both daily and longer term.
At Doncaster I had almost 600 staff, at Birmingham New Street 1000, then I was head hunted to Kings Cross, East Coast rosters South, Kings Cross  Doncaster and Leeds depot. Got out when privatised 1996 still just about sane!!!