Hawtin Mundy
Hawtin Mundy had been wounded on the western front in May 1915. After recovering, he was sent to recruit in Newport Pagnell under the new Derby Scheme which had been introduced in October 1915. War was ravenous for men and the stream of willing recruits had dried up. Under this new scheme, men aged 18– 40 years old could enlist voluntarily or attest (enrol) with the obligation to report for duty if called up later in the war. This was a clear pointer that compulsory conscription was being considered.
Those that wouldn’t join the Derby Scheme, we had to hunt for them. We were allowed a penny a mile on our bicycles to go round to the villages and farms in the district.
Those that did come and sign up often told us: “Farmer so and so, he’s got two sons, they won’t join up, they don’t intend joining up until they’re forced to!” As soon as we got a tip like that, away we went. We got to the farm, see the farmer, his sons would be in the fields, we’d find them and what they had to do was sign a form so that they could be called up eventually – not to join straight away – but to be called up when the time came. Well they used to try and dodge that!
We were tipped off about this farmer. He’d got a big, strapping son who was having nothing to do with the war. The farmer took me into his sitting room and we had a chat. I’d got my forms in my pocket for him to sign. He said: “Would you like a drink?” I said: “Yes!” We sat at the table near the window and he brought an old-fashioned stone jar full of whisky. He totted it out and he asked if it could be possible if I could “leave it” for a time. I said: “Oh no! No! They’re all joining, all signing these forms now – he can’t get out of it.”
He kept topping the whisky up, topping it up! When I came out I’d got the forms in my pocket but I hadn’t got his signature, and how the hell I got back to Newport on my bike, I don’t know!