Why wouldn’t my seemingly fit uncle be serving

[misstinkerbell77]

Hi all.  My granduncle was a civilian killed age 40 in 1941 when his house was bombed during the blitz in Portsmouth.  His death certificate states he is a tailors presser, and he appears to have been fit and healthy from what my Nan used to say (though I understand of course he may not have been).  Can I find out why he wasn’t serving in some capacity?  Are there records for this, or will it remain a mystery? Thank you for any suggestions 😊

[KGarrad]

Medically unfit?
Eyesight?
Flat feet?
Etc.

[Bee]

His death certificate states he is a tailors presser,

Could he have been involved in making uniforms for the armed forces.

[shanreagh]

Some people were kept back due to being in what were known as reserved occupations.  he may have been in a reserved occupation becasue of being a tailors presser and needed in factories that made uniforms.

Sometimes, later in the war, these reserved occupations were reviewed and men were released for active service and women took over jobs in the factories. 

[Rena]

As mentioned above but there are other reasons.  The youngest and fittest called up first then the older men eventually got called up.  Was he also a part time fireman or in the Homeguard,  an only son looking after old mother?   My father was in the Home Guard plus working in an engineering company.  He took turns with other workers to keep watch on the factory roof with a bucket of sand in case bombers dropped flares the sand on top would douse the blaze. . Did he have anything to do with the supply of (naval) uniforms?    My father=in-law wasn't in the forces, his job was to patrol the railway lines and docks checking for furtive activity plus assisting in the case of dropped bombs and fires.

[GR2]

It would be worth looking for him in the 1939 register. That might give you information about any "war work" he was doing in addition to his pressing job, or if he was involved in the making of uniforms in his main work.

[shanreagh]

Yes and also in NZ in the early part of the war here in NZ they did not send all the sons of a family overseas. This changed later when 5 of 6 of my uncles were overseas at the same time.  One was brought back from Egypt to NZ to serve as an officer instructor, so as to release others to serve overseas.  My grandmother had lost one son in the first world war and then another on Crete in WW2. 

[misstinkerbell77]

Thank you all for your thoughts and suggestions.  In the 1939 register he is living with his adult sister (my Nan) and an adult brother who is a store house labourer at the dockyard.  My uncle is noted as a tailoring presser, with no additional notes regarding war work etc as I’ve seen on other records from 1939.  I don’t know who his employer was to investigate further as to whether he was helping with uniforms etc

[Jebber]

Men aged 20 to 23 had to register from 21st October 1939, it was a long drawn out process by age group. Forty year olds were only registering in June 1941. So depending when he was killed your man may not yet have registered, or could have registered but was waiting to be called up. They didn’t register and go off into  the forces the same day.