I am trying to find information about a couple of my relations that were excempt from joining the forces as they were employed by the forestry commission and in the coal mine. My father was working down the mine, but after an accident, he was called up again. This time he joined the non-combat corps. Why were some occupations allowed to keep their work force.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bevin_Boys

and

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscription_in_the_United_Kingdom

My Father was in Reserved Occupation working for the Forestry as a Timber Feller in Rhayder area of Mid Wales during WW2. When he had leave he would cycle from there to visit his parents on St Briavels Common.

Many thanks for the links, it answered quite a few questions that I've had trouble with.

My grandfather was in reserved occupation as GWR engine driver in WWI. My father was also reserved occupation in WWII being a boffin, designing RAF aircraft camouflage schemes and colours and cocooning deck cargoes for Russian convoys amongst other things. One of my grandfathers brothers was also RO in WWI being GWR.

Hi Roger,
oh to have a "boffin" in my family, sigh...

Re the railway, as the frontlines in WW1 were extensively served by railways albeit narrow gauge I think, does that mean they were worked by conscripts who were presumably ex-Railway men, perhaps those of a younger age than your ancestors ?.
I know both sides extensively used tunnelling companies to undermine the trenches, but I gather it was only the allies who deliberately employed those who were already miners by trade in these companies, perhaps because the British coalfields then were larger so had a greater speciallised workforce than their enemies ?.

In WW2 my dad was very lucky that due to being an asthmatic child he didnt follow his father/forefathers down the Lydbrook pit, so when war brokeout he was a young lad with the local bus company and became a RO with them, taking many hundreds of Foresters day & night to the aircraft factories nr Gloster etc.

Hi Jefff,

Naturally, the railways were vital for moving heavy equipment, munitions, artllery etc., and troops around. The French Railways would have been responsible for that in France behind the Western Front. In the UK the railway companies had the same responsibilities to the southern and western ports for onward shipment abroad. It's largely forgotten now. I used to live at Hook in N. Hampshire. A tiny village 1914-1918. Yet the railway station had and has long platforms and a gap in the middle where there was another long platform. Whole divisions (18,000 officers and men would come in with all their equipment, usually it took about 75 trains! offload and camp on Hook Common, until moved by rail to ports for transshipment overseas to France or elsewhere. Same facilities existed just down the line and A30 at Basingstoke.

Oddly enough my grandfathers sister Kate had a stepson, company commander in 18th Division, I think, without looking it up. They were offloaded at Hook before onward movement to Avonmouth and thence to Gallipoli where the Turks shot him through the head. He's buried in the Commonwealth War Graves cemetry at Hellas. His parents were then living in Lydney (Kate (Griffiths) and George Grail both from Soudley, George Grail previously manager of the Dulcote Leather Board Company (Soudley Mill) and all the gruesome details were printed in the Lydney Observer. Both his and his brothers names are on the Lydney War Memorial.

Yes, my father was clever clever, industrial chemist and physicist, had 3 patents, not like me.

Oh yes, I expect that lots of FoD men were sappers and miners, being miners, going back to the inception of gunpowder. Guns were cast in and around Soudley for the Royal Navy until stopped, probably in the time of King Charles II, because too many trees were being cut down. Conservation 17th Century style.

Hi Roger, thanks for that, very interesting. As expected the Long Long Trail site has good references wrt the French railways supplying the lines from the ports.
http://www.1914-1918.net/ASC_Railroutes.htm

I was thinking more of the narrowgauge lines at the Front itself.
http://www.1914-1918.net/lightrail.htm
I see now as you correctly say these only operated towards the latter part of the War.
Your comments re rail working in the UK are very interesting, it's hard to imagine this was a time where road travel was still virtually nonexistent and the rails (quite sensibly) did all the real work. Thanks for mentioning Hook; I've been thro it a few times when I was working not so far away at Farnborough (another area that grew hugely during WW1), and I did wonder why little Hook had such a large station. It's relative proximity to the Army areas of Larkhill(Royal Artillery) & Salisbury Plain were an influence too no doubt.

I've greatly enjoyed watching reruns of the Great British Railway Journeys programmes, I imagine you may have too. This episode discusses the "secret" new port that was built near Sandwich/Folkestone in 1916 as the existing ports couldn't cope. It was also the first use of rollon-rolloff railway ferries, so trains of Army supplies could quickly cross the channel without laborious & timeconsuming unloading & loading at the ports. Some great old filmclips in this excellent report, starts abt 4minutes into this programme.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcAGFZrYEiA&feature=relmfu

http://www.open-sandwich.co.uk/town_history/richborough_port.htm

Re the Miners, yes since the Middle Ages & Crusades Foresters were "underminers for the King". As usual for WW1 info see http://www.1914-1918.net/tunnelcoyre.htm

It would be interesting to learn how many Lydney and neighbourhood men were exempt from call-up in both world wars, given the importance of engineering to the war effort and the high proportion of men who were employed at the Lydney tinplate works and at Pine End. Although there was no conscription until January 1916, I have noticed instances in the parish registers of tinplate workers marrying during 1914-18, and I understand the tinplate works were requisitioned in WW2 so they were plainly important. Doubtless with Forest coal coming through the town, it would have been a pity not to use it there to the full. The contribution of Lydney metal and of course plywood to the war effort should never be understated.

Policing was another such occupation. My grandfather William Frank Essex left Lydney in 1912 to join the Metropolitan Police and thus served in London during WW1. He retired in 1938 but took charge of Air Raid Precautions for the Borough of Hampstead in North London before returning to Lydney at the end of WW2 whereupon he had a lead role in Civil Defence as well as becoming a local councillor.