wwII

[tooj]

Does anyone know whether established farm workers were exempt from call up (enlistment) up in the war?

[boxtops]

Not according to the novels of the period which I like to read - the men were called up, hence the formation of the Land Girls - the women had to learn to work on the land.

[jackthehat]

'Essential' workers in most trades, etc. were exempt.

I think you'd need to establish what constituted 'essential', though.

[Buenchico]

Farmers (who had the skills and knowledge to maximise crop and livestock production) were considered to be in 'reserved occupations' throughout the war but those who simply worked on farms were liable for conscription (although it seems that farm workers weren't generally 'called up' until later in the war, when there were sufficient Land Girls to take their place).

[echokilo]

Many FARMERS were, FARM WORKED, not so much - hence the Land Girls.

[dotty.]

My dad was exempt as the only son of a farmer. He ran 2 estates near Burtonwood and so he joined the home guard in 1940 aged 21 and he guarded the bombs at night stacked around the airbase and then he moved to tatten hall where the yanks were also based and guarded the hall at night,