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Joseph, 1917 by David Hewitt (view source)
Revision as of 12:56, 12 April 2018
, 12:56, 12 April 2018no edit summary
{{infoboxinfobox1
|title=Joseph, 1917
|author=David Hewitt
|date=January 2017
|isbn=978-1785898976
|websitecover=1785898973|videoaznuk=1785898973|amazonukaznus=<amazonuk>1785898973</amazonuk>|}}
During the autumn of 1915 Edward Stanley, the Earl of Derby and Director General of military recruitment inaugurated the Derby Scheme. Men of fighting age would be encouraged by door-to-door canvassers to 'attest' that they would sign up for military service at a recruitment office within 48 hours. They would then be put in categories according to marital status and be called up, with 14 days' notice, in an order in line with their household responsibilities. The idea was a sound one: married men with children only being called on if absolutely necessary. Lancastrian Joseph Blackburn chose to attest but then for him and many others, unforeseen results ensued.
The book may be named after Joseph (1917 being the year of his central tribunal appeal hearing) but David uses him as a sort of historical roundabout and starting point for some fascinating roads meandering towards the verdict of his case and beyond.
Thanks to David's painstaking research of primary sources, including tribunal paperwork transcripts and contemporary accounts, we're treated to a myriad of potted biographies of some of the prime notables who sat on or was were connected to Joseph's local tribunal and the central appeals' board in London. Many, to follow a pattern that crops up again and again during the war, seem to be as upper class aloof as necessary for them to be removed from the daily life experiences of the average recruit. Names like the previously obscure Maxwell Hyslop Maxwell and Robert Warrand Carlisle become people in front of us in all their character-packed glory.
As we learn of Joseph's fate (signposted at the beginning but I shan't spoil it here), it's easy to become annoyed on behalf of those in his situation. Our blood pressures are worsened by the realisation that special treatment even existed for certain echelons. I was mumbling at the book on reading about the local dignitary's sons who were visited by the tribunal in their own home and declared exempt from service there and then. One assumes that the business of the day didn't take long in that case!
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