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on 3 September 1939, the day the United Kingdom declared war on Germany at the start of the Second World War.[1] It superseded the Military Training Act 1939 (enacted in May of that year) and enforced full conscription on all male British subjects between 18 and 41 who were present in Great Britain, subject to certain exemptions.[2] By a royal declaration in January 1941, the term Great Britain was extended to include the Isle of Man.[3]

National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long titleAn Act to make provision for securing and controlling the enlistment of men for service in the armed forces of the Crown; and for purposes connected with the matter aforesaid.
Citation2 & 3 Geo. 6. c. 81
Dates
Royal assent3 September 1939
Other legislation
Repealed byNational Service Act 1948
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted
National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1940
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long titleAn Act to provide that persons shall not be exempted from liability under the National Service (Armed Forces) Act, 1939, by reason of their being members of the Local Defence Volunteers.
Citation3 & 4 Geo. 6. c. 22
Dates
Royal assent23 May 1940
National Service Act 1941
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long titleAn Act to make provision for calling up men for civil defence and to amend the National Service (Armed Forces) Act, 1939.
Citation4 & 5 Geo. 6. c. 15
Dates
Royal assent10 April 1941
National Service Act 1942
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long titleAn Act to authorise the making of preparatory arrangements for the calling up of male persons who are about to become liable to be called up for service under the National Service Acts, 1939 to 1941, to simplify the making of proclamations for the purposes of those Acts, and to amend the provisions of those Acts relating to exemptions.
Citation6 & 7 Geo. 6. c. 3
Dates
Royal assent17 December 1942

Despite the end of the war in September 1945, the Labour government kept the Act in force until 1948, when its impacts were continued in a modified form by the enactment of 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.
  • As the Act applied only to those who were physically present in Great Britain and the Isle of Man, in effect all those living overseas were also exempt.

See also

References
  1. "On This Day - 3 September - 1939: Britain and France declare war on Germany". BBC. 3 September 1939.
  2. Marcus, Philip (1941). "Some Aspects of Military Service". Michigan Law Review. 39 (6): 913–950. doi:10.2307/1282941. JSTOR 1282941.
  3. The London Gazette, 31 January 1941, p. 622


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