Conscription in the United Kingdom

"National Service" redirects here. For national service in other countries, see national service.

Conscription in the United Kingdom, also known as National Service or national service, was in place from 1939 to 1960.

World War One

Conscription was first introduced by the United Kingdom government in January 1916, during World War I, when Prime Minister Herbert Henry Asquith introduced the Military Service Act. Previous to this Act, the British Government had been relying on voluntary registration called the Derby Scheme. The act of January 1916 specified that men from the ages of 18 to 41 were liable to be called-up for service unless they were married (or widowed with children), or else served in one of a number of reserved professions (usually industrial but which also included clergymen and teachers). Conscription in the UK lasted until termination of hostilities.

1939-1945

However, as a result of the deteriorating international situation, Leslie Hore-Belisha, the Minister of War, persuaded the cabinet of Neville Chamberlain to introduce it in a limited form on 27 April 1939, with the British Military Training Act being passed the following month. Only single men in a restricted age group were liable to be "called up", and they were to be known as 'militiamen' to distinguish them from the regular army. To emphasise this distinction, each man was issued with a civilian suit in addition to a uniform. The intention was for the first intake to undergo six months basic training before being discharged into an active reserve, being recalled for short training periods and an annual camp. This was overtaken by the outbreak of war and the passing of the National Service (Armed Forces) Act, and the first intake was absorbed into the army.

Conscription was progressively extended to all able-bodied men. In addition to those rejected for medical reasons, exceptions were made in other cases. Those engaged in vital industries or occupations were 'reserved' at a particular age, beyond which no-one in that job would be enlisted. (Lighthouse keepers were 'reserved' at the age of eighteen.) Later in the war, some conscripts were directed into the coal industry, the so-called 'Bevin Boys'. Provision was made for those with moral scruples. Those who were prepared to help the war effort, but were not prepared to bear arms, were enlisted into non-combatant roles or units. (Quakers, for example, often served in the Medical Corps. Those who refused to help the war effort had to justify their position to a Tribunal.

By 1942, all male and female British subjects between 18 and 51 who were resident in Great Britain were liable to call-up. Only a few categories were exempted:

British subjects from outside Great Britain and the Isle of Man who had lived in Britain for less than two years or were students
Persons employed by the government of any country of the British Empire except the United Kingdom
Clergy of any denomination
Mental patients and the mentally defective
Blind persons
Married women
Women who had living with them one or more children under the age of 14 (including their own children, legitimate or illegitimate, stepchildren, and adopted children, as long as the child was adopted before 18 December 1941)

Pregnant women were liable to be called up, but in practice were not. Britain was the only country in World War II to conscript single women.

Those under 20 were initially not liable to be sent overseas, but this exemption had been lifted by 1942. People called up before they were 51, but who passed their 51st birthday during their service, were liable to serve until the end of the war. People who had retired, resigned or been dismissed from the forces before the war were liable to be called back if they were under 51.

Britain never officially demobilised, as conscription continued after the war. Those already in the forces still had to satisfy a National Service engagement but were given a release class determined by length of service and age. In practice, releases began in June 1945, and the last of the wartime conscripts had been released by 1949. However, urgently need men, particularly those in the building trades, were released in 1945, although some restrictions on their immediate employment were supposed to be enforced. All women were released at the end of the war.

The system of wartime conscription between 1939 and 1948 was called National Service, but is usually referred to as 'war service' in official documents relating to national insurance and state pensions.

After 1945

After World War II, peacetime conscription was used between 1949 and 1960, through the National Service Act passed in 1948. In the United Kingdom, it is this peacetime conscription that is usually referred to as 'National Service'. It remains the only peacetime conscription in UK history, apart from periods immediately before and after World War II.

National Service as peacetime conscription was formalized by the National Service Act 1948. From 1 January 1949, every healthy man between 17 and 21 was expected to serve in the armed forces for 18 months, and remain on the reserve list for four years. Men were exempt from National Service if they worked in three essential services: coal mining, farming and the merchant navy. In October 1950, in response to the Korean War, the service period was extended to two years, although the reserve list period was reduced by six months to compensate. National Servicemen who showed promise could be commissioned as officers. To fulfill the reserve list requirement, men in the National Service joined reserve forces like the Territorial Army. Thus, such forces expanded considerably between 1949 and 1963. Almost every town had units, and many had full regiments or battalions.

National Service formally ended on 31 December 1960. The last man called up for National Service, Private Fred Turner of the Army Catering Corps, was discharged on 7 May 1963. However, the last National Serviceman was Lieutenant Richard Vaughan of the Royal Army Pay Corps, who was discharged six days later on 13 May 1963. When National Service ended, many National Servicemen continued serving voluntarily. The British Army, Royal Air Force and Royal Navy are now — once again — voluntary organizations. Occasionally, some call for a return to compulsory conscription.

In the UK, the end of National Service coincided with the rise of Pop culture, and the dawn of Beatlemania from around Christmas 1963. There was much public discussion at the time about "falling standards" and "long hair" as worn by The Beatles, the The Rolling Stones, and others. This (mild) controversy was epitomised in a satirical Pop Music recording Call up the Groups made by The Barron Knights, released in 1964, which suggested that such Pop Groups should be sent back on National Service to tame their wild ways - in fact John Lennon and Ringo Starr avoided national service by only a few months. The song satirised recent Pop hits by, respectively, The Searchers, Freddie and the Dreamers, The Rolling Stones, The Bachelors, The Dave Clark Five, and - inevitably - The Beatles.

Effect

Post-war National Service had a significant effect on many, and on society and culture. Some National Servicemen went on to become famous. Bill Wyman of The Rolling Stones played rock and roll while stationed in West Germany.^{[citation needed]} Authors like Leslie Thomas, David Lodge and David Findlay Clark wrote books based on their experiences (The Virgin Soldiers, Ginger You're Barmy etc).^{[citation needed]} Actor Oliver Reed, comedian Tony Hancock, and Hancock's writers Ray Galton and Alan Simpson developed their talents while doing their National Service.^{[citation needed]}. DJ John Peel also became fascinated by radio from listening to rock-n-roll on Armed Forces Radio while stationed in North Wales.

On the other hand, National Service interrupted some men's careers; John Clark, a former child actor, was tired of ubiquitous recognition and feared mockery in the forces, so he worked in the merchant navy on a Silver Line freighter for more than three years. He quit early and, to avoid being called up, emigrated in November 1953 to Canada.

References

You and the Call-up: A Guide for Men and Women, by Robert S. W. Pollard, 1942 - on conscription in Britain in World War II

External links