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General => Armed Forces => Topic started by: iwccc on Friday 14 March 25 00:15 GMT (UK)
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Can anyone help me. -- what age would you have to be to join the British Navy in 1913. It was before the outbreak of war - possibly with no impending thoughts of war. My grandfather was an Assistant pillmaker. His name was George Herbert Fluke. As he was about 22 years of age can anyone think why he would leave Pillmaking and go into the Navy at that time. We wondered if the automation of pill making made his job redundant -- or was the Navy better pay? Trying to get our head around why he would leave. I think he signed up for 12 years --- he ended up serving as an Assistant Cook and was on Mystery Ships and later at Anzac on the Whitby Abbey. Pillmaking was not in the family line nor was Military Service. George, as a young man, was in the Territorials. In World War 2 he was in Australia and applied to join the Australian Airforce. He was too old to fight but they took him on to work at the Richmond Base. Perhaps he was just a military minded man and liked to be in Uniform. Any thoughts would be much appreciated.
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King's Regulations for the Navy 1913 has this to say on the enlistment:
SECTION II.- RAISING AND ENTERING.
353. Religion and Precautions to be observed.-Officers entering or raising men or boys are to admit only such as are fit for the Service, but without any regard whatever to their religious creed ; they are also to be careful
That no person under the age of 18 is entered to fill a man's rating.
That, if under 17 years of age, the consent of their parents, or, if orphans, the consent of their guardians, is obtained on form B. 204, notwithstanding that such consent is not essential to the validity of the entry and the engagement.
That no apprentice is knowingly entered; if an apprentice should be entered, the master has no legal right to recover him, but every case of such entry will be dealt with by the Admiralty.
That in the case of boys the written proofs of age and parents' consent which are adduced are not falsified or forged, but the age as stated by the man or boy on entry is conclusive against him, and no alteration is to be made in the books without the sanction of the Admiralty.
Should, however, an attempt at deception by falsification of papers be detected, the candidate is to be rejected.
That the candidate understands that the condition attaching to the award of a long service pension is that he shall, on completing his time and attaining his pension, join the Royal Fleet Reserve and serve in it until the age of 50, should his services be so long required.
354. Questions on Entry. Whenever men and boys offer themselves as fresh entries, whether for continuous, non-continuous, or special service, they are to be asked the questions set out in forms S. 55, S. 56 and S. 56a.
Nothing is said about an upper age limit, but I think it is obvious that so long as the man was fit and appeared capable of completing a 12 year engagement, he would be accepted for service. Note the comments about apprentices.
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Was there a lower age limit? I have relatives who joined the Royal Navy as boys in the 1860s aged 14.
Martin
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Was there a lower age limit? I have relatives who joined the Royal Navy as boys in the 1860s aged 14.
Martin
My guess would be school leaving age, it was when my son joined at 16 in the 1990s.
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From age 13!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boy_seaman
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Seaman Class Boys - Boys were entered between the ages of 15 and 16 1/2.
Unlike Boy Seamen, cooks were not recruited as boys but as direct entries into the Navy at adulthood from age 18 - 23.
From age 18 they could change to a Continuous Service Engagement for 12 years service. They could then take their pension but were usually required to enroll in the Royal Fleet Reserve or they could opt to extend their service if fully fit with Admiralty approval. No seaman could normally serve beyond age 50.
George Herbert Fluke joined the RN on 26th May 1914 on a Continuous Service Engagement.
Regards
Hugh
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Martin Hooper, thanks for input. I now see that you could be quite young and yet my grandfather as a cook had to be an older person - so it all fits.
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AndyJ2022. Thanks for the information. Very helpful. Much appreciated.
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Jaywit, Thanks for your input - much appreciated.
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KGarrard, Thanks for your help. Can't believe how young some of them were when they went to sea. I now see that my grandfather was about 22 years of age and I believe he had to be older to be a cook. I am now leaning on the idea that he must have heard rumblings about war coming and decided to join up quickly. I believe that London at the time had unemployment and many were starving. Maybe he decided that it would be a guaranteed feed!!! His girlfriend (later wife) also served at the Woolwich Arsenal - perhaps they decided to both do their bit?
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HMac, Thank you for your input. I had not realised before that cooks were taken on at an older age. He was a cooks assistant - hopefully the cook could produce a good meal as in the time I knew him as my grandfather he could not boil water???? Also he could not swim!!!! He went down a couple of times in ships and he always said that others could see his blonde hair bobbing on the water and that they pulled him out by his hair!! He was at the landing of Gallipoli close enough for people on his ship being shot. He offered to man a cutter but the captain insisted he stay on board and help bandage the wounded and make lots of cups of tea -- good old English tea, fixes everything!!
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Was there a lower age limit? I have relatives who joined the Royal Navy as boys in the 1860s aged 14.
Martin
My guess would be school leaving age, it was when my son joined at 16 in the 1990s.
In the 1930s my father left school at 14, but couldn't join the Navy until he was 16.