Liverpool & South West Lancashire FHS - Forum

Following the Conscription act on the outbreak of War in 1939, in what order were men conscripted into the armed forces ?
Was it by age ,alphabetically or just a random selection?
Thank you.

Hi and welcome,

Hopefully this will help,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscript ... ed_Kingdom

Hello and Thank you!
I had already read this before posting and whereas it’s explains Conscription it doesn’t say in what order people were selected .
Thank you for your reply .

"The Military Training Act of 27 April 1939 responded to Hitler's threat of aggression in Europe. All British men aged 20 and 21 who were fit and able were required to take six months' military training. Even so, when war broke out the British Army could muster only 897,000 men, compared to France's five million.
Another act of parliament was necessary to increase the numbers. The National Service (Armed Forces) Act made all able men between the ages of 18 and 41 liable for conscription; as part of the legislation it was decided that single men would be called to war before married men.
Men aged 20 to 23 were required to register on 21 October 1939 - the start of a long and drawn-out process of registration by age group, which only saw 40-year-olds registering in June 1941."

Bert,thank you again for your comprehensive reply which I completely understand.
However, once men had registered according to the age group ,were they selected to serve immediately ie. the day of their registration or selected at a later date?

Once it was known they were physically able and not exempt, they were sent when they were required their "Call up Papers" Enlistment Notice.

Notifying where they had to report to and if required to pick up a travel ticket at the station. As far as I know it was staggered and most men wouldn't have known when they were going to serve until the papers arrived. So selected at a later date.

Thank you for that Bert .I appreciate your help.

My Dad used to talk about waiting for his call-up, and I had the impression it was several months. During that waiting period he decided that if he waited he would probably be sent to the Army, the Infantry, and he didn't like the thought of that, so he volunteered for the RAF before his call-up papers came. (He said the colour of the RAF uniform matched his eyes!)