Re: Food Checkout Week

In article <slrnfsg2ev.349.andyl@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>, andyl@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
(Andy Leighton) wrote:

> > In article <slrnfsfsat.28q.andyl@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>, 
> andyl@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > (Andy Leighton) wrote:
> >
> >> Conscription wasn't introduced in Britain until 1916. Of course 
> >> once it was introduced it took a hell of a lot of people, 
> >> willing or not, and by the end of the war conscripts far 
> >> outnumbered the volunteers.
> >
> > Do you know when in 1916?  
> 
> Fairly early on, the act was passed in January for single men and May
> for married men.

Just found this article on Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recruitment_to_the_British_Army_during_Worl
d_War_I

Don't know about "conscripts far outnumbered the volunteers".  It looks
as if by Jan. 1916, about 2 million had volunteered.  "In 1914 the
total available number of men of military age was 5.5 million, with
around 500,000 ... 1.5 million were in reserved occupations."  This
makes it sound like there would never be more than 6 million men in the
army total.  The army peak size seems to have been 3.9 million.  Also,
"in 1917–18 only 36% of men examined were suitable for full military
duties, and 40% were either totally unfit or were classified as unable
to undergo physical exertion."

This suggests to me that conscripts maybe made up no more than about
60-70% of the final total of serving soldiers.