... Does anyone know the procedures for an British Citizen living overseas re military service in WWI? ... was denied for being too small at 5'5" and underweight. ... According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bantam_%28military%29 the standard height qualification for the British Army in WW1 was 5ft 3in. This was relaxed to 5ft for what became known as the "Bantams" providing they had compensatory features - the aim was to pick up people like miners. One issue may be the original question - who was going to pick him up for conscription or registration under the Derby scheme? UK based recruitment would miss him, just as it would miss British citizens in Australia (because, surely that's what Australians were??) Interestingly http://chnm.gmu.edu/episodes/charlie-chaplin-goes-to-war/ puts a different spin on the issue... "When Chaplin signed his contract with Mutual, it included a clause stipulating that he could not leave the United States without the corporation's approval. The British press criticized the provision since it meant that Chaplin, who was only twenty-seven years old, could not join the British Army. Two years later, when he signed a million-dollar contract with First National pictures, he faced similar criticism in the United States, which had recently entered the war. Chaplin apparently tried to enlist in the U.S. army; only when he was rejected as underweight did the criticism abate". Although most of the other references I found in Google repeat the original version, I find this one to be more convincing since it brings in contracts / bureaucracy, those inevitable aspects! Of course, in the absence of evidence about his weight, we might not know the full story. Certainly he was registered in the US "World War I Draft Registration" in 1917 (you can see his card on Ancestry) when he is still an alien. Adrian B
Sent using BlackBerry® from Orange -----Original Message----- From: "Adrian Bruce" <[email protected]> Sender: [email protected] Date: Tue, 21 Feb 2012 15:45:02 To: <[email protected]> Reply-To: [email protected], [email protected] Subject: Re: [SOG-UK] Charlie Chaplin .... Does anyone know the procedures for an British Citizen living overseas re military service in WWI? ... was denied for being too small at 5'5" and underweight. ... According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bantam_%28military%29 the standard height qualification for the British Army in WW1 was 5ft 3in. This was relaxed to 5ft for what became known as the "Bantams" providing they had compensatory features - the aim was to pick up people like miners. One issue may be the original question - who was going to pick him up for conscription or registration under the Derby scheme? UK based recruitment would miss him, just as it would miss British citizens in Australia (because, surely that's what Australians were??) Interestingly http://chnm.gmu.edu/episodes/charlie-chaplin-goes-to-war/ puts a different spin on the issue... "When Chaplin signed his contract with Mutual, it included a clause stipulating that he could not leave the United States without the corporation's approval. The British press criticized the provision since it meant that Chaplin, who was only twenty-seven years old, could not join the British Army. Two years later, when he signed a million-dollar contract with First National pictures, he faced similar criticism in the United States, which had recently entered the war. Chaplin apparently tried to enlist in the U.S. army; only when he was rejected as underweight did the criticism abate". Although most of the other references I found in Google repeat the original version, I find this one to be more convincing since it brings in contracts / bureaucracy, those inevitable aspects! Of course, in the absence of evidence about his weight, we might not know the full story. Certainly he was registered in the US "World War I Draft Registration" in 1917 (you can see his card on Ancestry) when he is still an alien. Adrian B ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message
Sent using BlackBerry® from Orange -----Original Message----- From: "Adrian Bruce" <[email protected]> Sender: [email protected] Date: Tue, 21 Feb 2012 15:45:02 To: <[email protected]> Reply-To: [email protected], [email protected] Subject: Re: [SOG-UK] Charlie Chaplin .... Does anyone know the procedures for an British Citizen living overseas re military service in WWI? ... was denied for being too small at 5'5" and underweight. ... According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bantam_%28military%29 the standard height qualification for the British Army in WW1 was 5ft 3in. This was relaxed to 5ft for what became known as the "Bantams" providing they had compensatory features - the aim was to pick up people like miners. One issue may be the original question - who was going to pick him up for conscription or registration under the Derby scheme? UK based recruitment would miss him, just as it would miss British citizens in Australia (because, surely that's what Australians were??) Interestingly http://chnm.gmu.edu/episodes/charlie-chaplin-goes-to-war/ puts a different spin on the issue... "When Chaplin signed his contract with Mutual, it included a clause stipulating that he could not leave the United States without the corporation's approval. The British press criticized the provision since it meant that Chaplin, who was only twenty-seven years old, could not join the British Army. Two years later, when he signed a million-dollar contract with First National pictures, he faced similar criticism in the United States, which had recently entered the war. Chaplin apparently tried to enlist in the U.S. army; only when he was rejected as underweight did the criticism abate". Although most of the other references I found in Google repeat the original version, I find this one to be more convincing since it brings in contracts / bureaucracy, those inevitable aspects! Of course, in the absence of evidence about his weight, we might not know the full story. Certainly he was registered in the US "World War I Draft Registration" in 1917 (you can see his card on Ancestry) when he is still an alien. Adrian B ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message