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General => Armed Forces => World War One => Topic started by: jaywit on Sunday 30 December 18 19:25 GMT (UK)
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This thought only just hit me.
I know my maternal grandfather didn't serve in WW1, he worked on the railway at the time.
I wondered if any of his 5 brothers served but I can't find any trace, OK I know it's possible records haven't survived but it still seems funny none of them served.
Ages in 1914, the brothers would have been between 28 and 42 years of age
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4 of them were working on the railway. the other 2 were farm workers. ( I have taken this from the 1911 census)
By 1939 one of the farm workers was working on the railway so he could have moved over before 1914.
Do you think it would be normal that not one of the family served in WW1?
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Many worked in certain reserved trades which were exempt from war service. Anyone in food production, armaments, transport etc.
Martin
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I used to think that, of my paternal grandfather and his 5 brothers - born between 1878 and 1893. I have found one brother who served in the army, through recorded occupations and comments on the (Scottish) birth records of his children, which led me to his medal record card.
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Neither my father or his brother served during WW2 and neither did my mother's brother.
My father - making Spitfires from 1938, his brother health reasons, mother's brother on the railways.
My mother did though in the ATS ;D
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Not only were they exempt, but on the railways their employers could refuse to let them sign up.
The railways in ww1 were the lifeblood of the nation, coal to scapa flow for the fleet, troop trains, ambulance trains, munition trains etc etc all had to go by rail.
Mike
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My coalminer ancestors were also exempted from serving! Also there were conscientious objectors, who refused to sign up for many different reasons! They were much maligned by the public!
https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/voices-of-the-first-world-war-conscientious-objection
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As you probably know around 70% of WW1 service records were destroyed in the blitz which makes it difficult to find someone who served without some other source.
I would say it is highly unusual that none of them did serve particularly after conscription in 1916.
Employers couldn't refuse to allow a man to serve. They could present themselves at a tribunal & give reasons but it was a matter for the tribunal if it succeeded.
Railway construction was big business on the Western Front.
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My grandfather was one of 9 out of 12 children surviving to adulthood. 8 males and 1 female. He was 33 in 1914 but put on reserve as engine driver GWR. Other brothers were time expired, except for 1 other a Met. policeman in the Royal Dockyards from 1914 . The sister had a son and stepson. The son died of wound and amputation in France 1915 and the stepson at Gallipoli 1915.
Of grandfathers generation, sons, one was Royal Navy WWI and WWII. armoured cruiser HMS Achilles, see avatar, later battleship HMS Queen Elizabeth. CPO and on Malta in WWII during the siege. My fathers younger brother was 144 Squadron RAF lost night of 10/11th August 1940. That's all I know of.
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Thanks for replies. It did seem strange that non of them served.
I know railwaymen did serve, there is a quite large War Memorial to them at Derby which is where my grandfather worked.
I will keep looking, I thought I had found one of them, full name and year of birth were correct but actual date of birth was October when mine was born in April.
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My early searches for both WW1 and WW2, IIRC at Forces War Records, produced no data for parents or grandparents, all of whom served. It was only when I started using Ancestry that I found one grandfather's medal card.
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I never could find any evidence of my Grandfather Edward or two of his Brothers being being involved in WW1 until I found that one of his Brothers was awarded the MM. I looked on Find My Past newspapers and found the attached article. So lack of evidence doesn't necessarily mean that they didn't serve.
Four sons fighting in the war and they all came back.
Carol
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Could they have been in the Territorials? Territorials did 4 years service and 1 more on reserve. Once completed they would have been "time expired" & the rule at the time was these men couldn't be recalled even in wartime. This changed in 1916, but I think they weren't sent abroad even then, so there'd be no medal cards.
And since the Luftwaffe managed to destroy some of the records during WW2, there's nothing to look at. We didn't even know my grandfather served until we found his cap badge! He was a Terry pre-war, never went abroad even when he did join up after 1916, so the only record we found was his Territorials one.
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There's a possibility that they did serve in the war, but their service records haven't survived (more than half were destroyed).
I'm no expert in military records - maybe someone else can enlighten me? - but if the records were arranged by regiment, and all your grandfather's brothers served in the same regiment, then it's less of a coincidence that none of their records survived.
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This thread prompted me to have another look at my great uncles. One, born 1890, didn't marry until 1921. I've now found a pension record card, and medal card, that are fairly certainly his.
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I am still struggling with this.
Looking for a medal card for one of them there are 34 possible. Not one of them is the appropriate county regiment, so no chance of working out if any of them are correct.
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I am still struggling with this.
Looking for a medal card for one of them there are 34 possible. Not one of them is the appropriate county regiment, so no chance of working out if any of them are correct.
Only 34? I wish I had that few to go through for my paternal grandfather!
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I found a pension record card, which had my great uncle's year of birth, and where he lived. This gave me his service number.