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My great uncle was a territorial prior to the war and then saw service in Egypt, Gallipoli and France. He was released as "time served" early in 1916. The Military Service Act  came into force around this time effectively meaning all men (time served territorials included) were liable for conscription. In a bid to avoid the trenches again he volunteered for the RFC. I wonder if this may be the case with your man?
In my great uncle's case he qualified to become a pilot of F2b's and ultimately was shot down twice, perhaps he would have been safer keeping his down in a trench! Despite this mishap (and arriving home from Gallipoli on a hospital ship and a spell in military hospital with jaundice), he lived until he was 97.

I've spent the last couple of months searching literally hundreds of army service records and in terms of height your man seems about average for the era. I'm only 5'8" and would have been one of the taller ones and I've not come across a single soldier yet that has a stated height above 5'10".
After 25 yrs of searching I only recently discovered my grandfather had been discharged at the end of October 1914 under the same Kings Regulation. It didn't stop him joining the Mcr Pals two months later with whom he stayed until disabled at the end of 1917. One reason I understand that falls under this particular category is a lack of discipline, others are poor eyesight, poor teeth, flat feet etc. As the war moved on and the hierarchy realised how many recruits would be needed it seems more border line cases would be accepted rather than rejected and I believe a sizeable number of these rejects re-enlisted and were deemed acceptable later in the war

Regards

Simon

Mr Smith

Bandsmen crop up in earlier posts. Oooooops !

Simon

If you could track down a couple of service numbers as close as possible to your man it may be that this will place you're man in the 21sts. I've noticed a number of members on the GWF have used this method to narrow down the odds. I haven't needed to use this method so am not certain I remember the exact proceedure correctly so a quick search of the GWF will confirm it for you. Hope this helps

Simon

Betty,

I didnt know of this installation until I read your post. I feel the difference between this and the shrouds of the Somme is that the artist is highlighting the sheer waste of life as opposed to attempting to profit from it.

Regards

Simon