National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939
The National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939 was enacted by the Parliament of the United Kingdom on 3 September 1939, the day the United Kingdom declared war on Germany at the start of the Second World War.[1] It superseded the Military Training Act 1939 (passed in May of that year) and enforced full conscription on all male British subjects between 18 and 41 who were UK residents.[2] It was continued in a modified form in peacetime by the National Service Act 1948.
Exemptions
- Medically unfit as well as the blind, disabled, and those with mental disorders
- British subjects from outside Britain and the Isle of Man who had lived in the country for less than two years
- Students
- Persons employed by the government of any country of the British Empire except the United Kingdom
- Clergy of any denomination
- Married women
- Women who had one or more children 14 years old or younger living with them. This included their own children, legitimate or illegitimate, stepchildren, and adopted children, as long as the child was adopted before 18 December 1941. Pregnant women were liable to be called up but in practice were not.
- Conscientious objectors
- People working in reserved occupations like baking, farming, medicine, and engineering.
References
- "On This Day - 3 September - 1939: Britain and France declare war on Germany". BBC. 3 September 1939.
- Marcus, Philip (1941). "Some Aspects of Military Service". Michigan Law Review. 39 (6): 913–950. doi:10.2307/1282941. JSTOR 1282941.
- Broad, Roger. Conscription in Britain, 1939-1964 : the militarisation of a generation. Routledge. ISBN 978-0714657011.
External links
- "National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). House of Commons. (Parliamentary documents on National Service)
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