I can not document this, maybe someone else can, but I was under the impression that it was a long standing tradition to exempt 1 son, so that a family always had an heir and widows might have a son to provide for them. If this man helped his mother run the shop, then he would have been the likely recipient of the exemption. I had a great uncle who never served. On paper he was medically unfit, but he told me that the doctor kept refusing to let him volunteer because all his brothers were already inlisted and his mother needed him at home.... Anyways, I hope this might be helpful. Like I said, I can't confirm this, it's just what I've always heard. Keith Bailey ~ ----- Original Message ----- From: "Peter Metcalfe" <Peter-redfern@runbox.com> To: <greatwar@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, November 01, 2006 10:39 AM Subject: Re: [GREATWAR] agricultural workers and exemption from WW1 service. >I am researching the men of my home town who died in WW1 and one family had >nine boys and eight of them fought in the Great War of which two were >killed. > > No one in the family today knows why the ninth never went. His mother had > a shop but it's unlikely that was the reason. Perhaps he was physically > unfit. > > He was forty in 1914 and the second oldest son so his age wasn't the > reason either. > > Their mother received a letter from Buckingham Palace congratulating her > on "having contributed in so full a measure to the great cause for which > all the people of the British Empire are so bravely fighting." > > Peter > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > GREATWAR-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > >

That makes sense Keith but in my research I have two families who lost their only son and only two sons. The former was an apprentice to his father's printing business. When he enlisted another young man took his place, who was not related, and the local newspaper reported a number of times his appeal for exemption which was granted every time. I suppose if someone has a mind to enlist there is little can hold him back. Peter