Waiting for call-up that never came

Shopkeeper sold off all his stock twice

With the Army desperate for extra troops, most men who were called up found themselves quickly enrolled into the fighting force and in uniform.

However, there were exceptions. A correspondent explained how the military had in the case of Archibald Macdonald, postmaster and grocer, Thornhill, displayed “an amount of vacillation, or shall we call it want of method, quite beyond the ordinary”.

Mr Macdonald was summoned to Perth for a medical examination in early 1916.

After being kept in barracks for two days he was told he was not going to be called up immediately and sent home until further notice.

Fearing he was about to be conscripted, he had sold off all his shop’s stock. He quickly restocked and was not contacted by the military again until December 1916, when he was called to Perth for medical re-examination.

He was again sent home prior to being called back in February 1917.

He had for a second time sold off his grocery stock, thinking call-up was imminent, but was sent home after another two days’ stay in Perth.

The correspondent said: “He is with us again and it is the wish of everyone in Thornhill that he will be allowed to remain here for good.”

An attempt was made to overturn a decision made by a tribunal in Doune concerning a villager who had been granted a certificate of conditional exemption from call-up.

John Cameron (20), chauffeur and groom, from Doune, worked for vet D Macfarlane who had been in practice for 40 years. The tribunal in Doune decided in December to withdraw a certificate of exemption from call-up for three months.

Mr Macfarlane appealed against that decision on behalf of his employee at a Perthshire tribunal.

His solicitor Duncan Cram claimed the man was engaged in work of national importance.

At the beginning of the war Mr Macfarlane had two qualified veterinary surgeons, one of them his son. Both became captains in the veterinary corp in France.

The Observer said: “Mr Macfarlane had an exceedingly wide district to cover and looked after Central Scotland for the Board of Agriculture. He was the only veterinary surgeon remaining in the district.

“Cameron was described as a chauffeur but was really an unqualified assistant to Mr Macfarlane. Several testimonials in favour of the retention of Cameron were read from estate factors and from farmers in the district.”

Tribunal chairman Sir George Kinloch said it would be very difficult to keep a single man, passed for general Army service, in civilian employment “unless he was doing work of great national importance”.

Exemption was granted until August 8.