Durham miners and the Great War

A visit to Beamish a few weeks ago has got my elderly father wondering
about his father's time as a wartime miner.

The story goes that in early 1918 after serving a long time in France my
grandfather, who was thirty that year, was given the option of going to
Salonika with his regiment or spending the rest of the war in the Durham
coalfields and he chose the mines.

Does anyone have any ideas where I might find any records or other
information about this please?

Dianne

squealing...

The Derby scheme of Jan & Jun 1916 became full-blown conscription. All men
were first encourage to "attest" to their willingness to serve, then men
were called up according to age and marital status. Initially it covered
single men aged 18-41, but by 1918 it covered all men up to 56.
It became a letter through the door and an "invitation" to a recruitment
board that you couldn't refuse.
After a short while it became apparent that men in some trades were *at
least* as necessary as becoming cannon fodder; production of timber, iron,
food, weapons and coal were official priorities and men involved in those
trades were exempt - by October 1918 this was 2.5 million men. Medical
boards rejected another million men on health grounds. (Compare this to
the better publicised 16,500 claims for concientious objections that were
received) Almost all board's lists were destroyed soon after the Armistice.

Technically it should have been possible to rejoin the coal mines from the
ranks, although another route for coal miners in the Army was to go into
the sappers and work at undermining enemy trenches. Not a pleasant prospect
if you ever read "Birdsong".

Ian Beckett's guide to the First World War at the UK National Archives is
a good starting point if you want to get into the detail.

dianne dot sutton at tesco dot net

YOBM...

Dianne,

Both sites are packed with resources..