I was interested to read about the mystery surrounding Charlies birth. At the other end of his life he was subject of complexity as I believe his will holds the record for taking the longest time to be probated. I am also puzzled that Charlie, one of the fittest young men of his day did not get called up for Military Service in WWI. At the time he was unmarried, in good health and would have made a good trooper. Does anyone know the procedures for an british Citizen living overseas re military service in WWI? Julian Duffus SoG member 1979~present Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

This is from the Wikipedia entry: > During World War I, Chaplin was criticised in the British press for > not joining the Army. He had in fact presented himself for service, > but was denied for being too small at 5'5" and underweight. Chaplin > raised substantial funds for the war effort during war bond > </wiki/War_bond> drives not only with public speaking at rallies but > also by making, at his own expense, /The Bond </wiki/The_Bond>/, a > comedic propaganda film </wiki/Propaganda_film> used in 1918. The > lingering controversy may have prevented Chaplin from receiving a > knighthood in the 1930s. A 1916 propaganda short film /Zepped/ with > Chaplin was discovered in 2009.^[56] <#cite_note-55> This seems an unlikely story to me. I have read quite a few WW1 pension and service records where men significantly shorter than 5'5" and of "slight" build were recruited. I have taken these at random from my files: Date Age Height Weight Chest Occupation Married Oct 1914 34 5'3" 144 lb 38" water bottler yes Dec 1915 33 5'3" 34" engineer yes Jan 1917 34 5'3" 112 lb 33" butcher yes Jun 1917 36 5'1" 34" plasterer yes The "engineer" was invalided out after 3 months service as an RFA driver. He was also missing two thirds of his right thumb. The butcher served his time as a butcher and even received a proficiency certificate from the army. The "plasterer" was my wife's grandfather. He wasn't big but he made up for it in energy, even after his 80th birthday. On 21/02/2012 10:06 AM, [email protected] wrote: > I was interested to read about the mystery surrounding Charlies birth. > > At the other end of his life he was subject of complexity as I believe his will holds the record for taking the longest time to be probated. > > I am also puzzled that Charlie, one of the fittest young men of his day did not get called up for Military Service in WWI. At the time he was unmarried, in good health and would have made a good trooper. > > Does anyone know the procedures for an british Citizen living overseas re military service in WWI? > > > Julian Duffus > SoG member 1979~present > Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device > > > -- > Derrick Porter > > Email: [email protected] > Web: www.pluckrose.org

On Tue, 21 Feb 2012 00:06:51 +0000, [email protected] wrote: >I am also puzzled that Charlie, one of the fittest young men of his day did not get called up for Military >Service in WWI. At the time he was unmarried, in good health and would have made a good trooper. Called up by whom? Cheers, Tom <[email protected]> Tom Perrett