National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939

National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939

Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An 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.
Citation	2 & 3 Geo. 6. c. 81
Dates
Royal assent	3 September 1939
Other legislation
Repealed by	National Service Act 1948
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted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 title	An 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.
Citation	3 & 4 Geo. 6. c. 22
Dates
Royal assent	23 May 1940

National Service Act 1941
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to make provision for calling up men for civil defence and to amend the National Service (Armed Forces) Act, 1939.
Citation	4 & 5 Geo. 6. c. 15
Dates
Royal assent	10 April 1941

National Service Act 1942
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An 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.
Citation	6 & 7 Geo. 6. c. 3
Dates
Royal assent	17 December 1942
Other legislation
Repealed by	National Service Act 1948
Status: Repealed

The National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939 (2 & 3 Geo. 6. c. 81) 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. It superseded the Military Training Act 1939 (2 & 3 Geo. 6. c. 25) (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. By a royal declaration in January 1941, the term Great Britain was extended to include the Isle of Man.

Despite the end of the war in September 1945, the Labour government kept the act in force until 1948, when its effects were continued in a modified form by the enactment of the National Service Act 1948 (11 & 12 Geo. 6. c. 64).

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

• Administration of Justice (Emergency Provisions) Act 1939

References

• Broad, Roger (2006). Conscription in Britain, 1939-1964 : the militarisation of a generation. Routledge. ISBN 978-0714657011.

External links

• "National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). House of Commons. (Parliamentary documents on National Service)