Results 1 to 5 of 5
  1. #1

    Default Old men enlisting for WW1

    A person B. 1855 would be 59 in 1914 at the start of WW1.
    Could he enlist, given that he may lie about his age.
    If impossible then I can dismiss it from my searches.

  2. #2
    Super Moderator christanel's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Location
    Wairarapa New Zealand
    Posts
    10,676

    Default

    Welcome to the British-Genealogy forums
    If you came to us from Forces War records reading this will explain our connection.
    Here is a discussion about the formal age limits of service but with evidence that the guidelines were ignored.
    Christina
    Sometimes paranoia is just having all the facts.
    William Burroughs

  3. #3

    Default

    Thanks.
    Well it looks like the rules don't really matter, what ever the upper/lower age limit people just lie, or the recruiters push them through anyway.
    So I won't dismiss the possibility.
    Patrick

  4. #4

    Default

    Some older men with special skills were recruited (or more often, re-called) to train others. They generally stayed in the UK.

  5. #5
    Valued member of Brit-Gen barbara lee's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Location
    Crosby, Liverpool, UK
    Posts
    337

    Default

    My grandfather's half brother William Hyde was born 1867, so not as old as your man. He served in the Boer War. Afterwards he went back to being a bricklayer, but was in the Special Reserves (like Territorials but more so). He was called up from the reserves at the outbreak of WWI when he was 47 but his record has him as 44. Apparently experienced men were in demand for training all the raw recruits. He was in the 3rd Hants at first, a depot battalion. Then in Sep 1916 he was transferred to the 2nd Garrison Bn of the Dorsets and manned a fort on the south coast. He never went overseas.
    Barbara

Tags for this Thread

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
Select a file: