Reserved occupation - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

A reserved occupation is an occupation considered important enough to a country that those serving in such occupations are exempt - in fact forbidden - from military service.
In a total war

Total war

Total war is a war in which a belligerent engages in the complete mobilization of fully available resources and population.In the mid-19th century, "total war" was identified by scholars as a separate class of warfare...

, such as the Second World War, where most fit men of military

Military

A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...

age were conscripted

Conscription

Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...

into the armed forces

Armed forces

The armed forces of a country are its government-sponsored defense, fighting forces, and organizations. They exist to further the foreign and domestic policies of their governing body, and to defend that body and the nation it represents from external aggressors. In some countries paramilitary...

, exceptions were given to those who performed jobs vital to the country and the war effort which could not be abandoned or performed by others. Not only were such people exempt from being conscripted, they were often prohibited from enlisting on their own initiative, and were required to remain in their posts.
Examples of reserved occupations include medical practitioners and police

Police

The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...

officers, but what is or is not a reserved occupation will depend on war needs and a country's particular circumstances.

World War II

In the UK, in 1938, a Schedule of Reserved Occupations had been drawn up, exempting certain key skilled workers from conscription. This was as a result of the problems from World War I, when too many skilled workers were allowed to enlist, thus creating serious problems in certain key industries. Examples of reserved occupations in the Second World War included coal mining, ship building, and many engineering-related trades. The situation and the Schedule were constantly reviewed, most particularly because of the influx of women into the workplace, for example into the munitions industry, which freed up men to be called up. Many in reserved occupations joined civil defence units such as the Special Constabulary

Special Constabulary

The Special Constabulary is the part-time volunteer section of a statutory police force in the United Kingdom or some Crown dependencies. Its officers are known as Special Constables or informally as Specials.Every United Kingdom territorial police force has a special constabulary except the...

, the Home Guard or the ARP

Air Raid Precautions

Air Raid Precautions was an organisation in the United Kingdom set up as an aid in the prelude to the Second World War dedicated to the protection of civilians from the danger of air-raids. It was created in 1924 as a response to the fears about the growing threat from the development of bomber...

, which created additional responsibilities on top of their work, although this allowed the men to ‘serve’ without having to join up, thus alleviating the frustration many felt. Also, many pacifists and conscientious objectors worked in reserved occupations as a compromise or to avoid call-up. Harper Adams University College

Harper Adams University College

Harper Adams University College is a higher education institution located close to the village of Edgmond , in Shropshire, England. It is the UK's leading specialist provider of higher education for the agri-food chain and rural sector....

saw a huge demand for places during the second world war, as both students and farmers were exempt from conscription.

In the UK coal mining was not a reserved occupation at the start of the war, and there was a great shortage of coal miners. So from December 1943 one in in ten men conscripted was chosen at random to work in the coal mines. These men became known as Bevin Boys

Bevin Boys

Bevin Boys were young British men conscripted to work in the coal mines of the United Kingdom, from December 1943 until 1948. Chosen at random from conscripts but also including volunteers, nearly 48,000 Bevin Boys performed vital but largely unrecognised service in the mines, many of them...

after the creator of the scheme, Ernest Bevin

Ernest Bevin

Ernest Bevin was a British trade union leader and Labour politician. He served as general secretary of the powerful Transport and General Workers' Union from 1922 to 1945, as Minister of Labour in the war-time coalition government, and as Foreign Secretary in the post-war Labour Government.-Early...

, the Minister of Labour and National Service.

A schedule of Reserved Occupations also existed also in Canada during World War II.

Famous people who worked in Reserved Occupations

The following list contains famous and notable people who worked in any reserved occupation, whether it was as a Bevin Boy or a doctor, etc.: Sir Jimmy Savile

Jimmy Savile

Sir James Wilson Vincent Savile, OBE, KCSG was an English disc jockey, television presenter and media personality, best known for his BBC television show Jim'll Fix It, and for being the first and last presenter of the long-running BBC music chart show Top of the Pops...

Peter, Lord Archer of Sandwell Peter Archer, Baron Archer of Sandwell Peter Kingsley Archer, Baron Archer of Sandwell, PC , is a Labour Party member of the House of Lords.He was previously the Member of Parliament for Rowley Regis and Tipton and for Warley West, having first been elected in the 1966 general election until his leaving the House of Commons at the 1992...	Former Member of Parliament Member of Parliament A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...	Represented both Rowley Regis and Tipton Rowley Regis and Tipton (UK Parliament constituency) Rowley Regis and Tipton was a parliamentary constituency centred on the towns of Rowley Regis and Tipton in Staffordshire . The Rowley Regis section of the constituency was in Worcestershire from 1966 until 1974.... ; and latterly for Warley West Warley (UK Parliament constituency) Warley is a borough constituency in the West Midlands represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election... . Solicitor General for England and Wales Solicitor General for England and Wales Her Majesty's Solicitor General for England and Wales, often known as the Solicitor General, is one of the Law Officers of the Crown, and the deputy of the Attorney General, whose duty is to advise the Crown and Cabinet on the law... from March 1974 to May 1979. Also chaired the Enemy Property Claims Assessment panel.
Sir Stanley Bailey Stanley Bailey Sir Stanley Ernest Bailey, CBE, QPM was a senior British police officer. He was chief constable of Northumbria Police from 1975 until 1991....	Police officer	Former chief constable of Northumbria Police Northumbria Police Northumbria Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the areas of Northumberland and Tyne and Wear in North East England. The service is the sixth largest police force in England and Wales. The current Chief Constable is Sue Sim who was appointed by Northumbria Police...
DJ and charity worker	"I went down [the mine] as a boy and came up as a man." "If that's what we were told to do by the country to save the country, that's what we did"
John Comer John Comer John Comer was a British actor best known for his comedy roles in the television series I Didn't Know You Cared, Last of the Summer Wine and All Our Saturdays.-Early life:...	English Actor	Comer began his career as a bevin boy until gaining engineering apprentice Engineering apprentice An engineering apprenticeship is an apprenticeship in mechanical engineering or electrical engineering. A typical example is the apprenticeships formerly available at the BTH and EEC at Rugby in England... ship at Metropolitan-Vickers Metropolitan-Vickers Metropolitan-Vickers, Metrovick, or Metrovicks, was a British heavy electrical engineering company of the early-to-mid 20th century formerly known as British Westinghouse. Highly diversified, they were particularly well known for their industrial electrical equipment such as generators, steam... long later to become well known for his roles as Les Brandon in I Didn't Know You Cared I Didn't Know You Cared I Didn't Know You Cared is a British television comedy set in a working class household in South Yorkshire in the 1970s, written by Peter Tinniswood and loosely based upon his books A Touch Of Daniel, I Didn't Know You Cared and Except You're A Bird... and as cafe owner Sid in the first 10 years of the longest running sitcom Last of the Summer Wine Last of the Summer Wine Last of the Summer Wine is a British sitcom written by Roy Clarke that was broadcast on BBC One. Last of the Summer Wine premiered as an episode of Comedy Playhouse on 4 January 1973 and the first series of episodes followed on 12 November 1973. From 1983 to 2010, Alan J. W. Bell produced and... from 1973 until his death in 1984.
John Reginald Christie	Serial killer Serial killer A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...	Was a special constable Special constable A Special Constable is a law enforcement officer who is not a regular member of a police force. Some like the Royal Canadian Mounted Police carry the same law enforcement powers as regular members, but are employed in specific roles, such as explosive disposal technicians, court security, campus... during World War II World War II World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis... , despite having a criminal record for theft and assault. He also served in the Sherwood Foresters Sherwood Foresters The Sherwood Foresters was formed during the Childers Reforms in 1881 from the amalgamation of the 45th Regiment of Foot and the 95th Regiment of Foot... during World War I.
Walter Cronkite Walter Cronkite Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr. was an American broadcast journalist, best known as anchorman for the CBS Evening News for 19 years . During the heyday of CBS News in the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trusted man in America" after being so named in an opinion poll...	Journalist	Covered the conflict as a reporter
Hans Carossa Hans Carossa Hans Carossa was a German novelist and poet, known mostly for his autobiographical novels, and his innere Emigration during the Nazi era.... (1878–1956)	artist
Douglas Edwards Douglas Edwards Douglas Edwards was America's first network news television anchor, anchoring CBS's first nightly news broadcast from 1948–1962, which was later to be titled CBS Evening News.-Early life and career:...	Journalist	Worked on the home front
Albert Einstein Albert Einstein Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...	Physicist and political theorist	In the First World War worked on making flame throwers for the German Army. 'Pacifist' who also did consultancy work for the US Navy
(Lord) Paul Hamlyn Paul Hamlyn Paul Hamlyn, Baron Hamlyn of Edgeworth, CBE , was a German-born British publisher and philanthropist.-Family:...	Founder of the Hamlyn group of publishers and Music for Pleasure (record label) Music for Pleasure (record label) Music for Pleasure was a record label that issued budget-priced albums of popular and classical music, although the latter were marketed under the Classics for Pleasure name...	Worked as a Bevin boy at Oakdale Colliery Oakdale Colliery Oakdale Colliery was a coal mine located in the Sirhowy Valley, one of the valleys of South Wales.In the early years of the twentieth century the need for coal was growing both in America and Europe, and local business men in Wales were looking for new opportunities to fill the demand...
Hanns Johst Hanns Johst Hanns Johst was a German playwright and Nazi Poet Laureate.Hanns Johst was born in Seehausen as the son of an elementary school teacher. He grew up in Oschatz and Leipzig. As a juvenile he planned to become a missionary. When he was 17 years old he worked as an auxiliary in a Bethel Institution... (1890–1979)	artist and "Reichskultursenator"
Erwin Guido Kolbenheyer Erwin Guido Kolbenheyer Erwin Guido Kolbenheyer was an Austrian novelist, poet and playwright. Later based in Germany, he belonged to a group of writers that included the likes of Hans Grimm, Rudolf G... (1878–1962)	artist
Leslie Howard Leslie Howard (actor) Leslie Howard was an English stage and film actor, director, and producer. Among his best-known roles was Ashley Wilkes in Gone with the Wind and roles in Berkeley Square , Of Human Bondage , The Scarlet Pimpernel , The Petrified Forest , Pygmalion , Intermezzo , Pimpernel Smith...	Actor	Shot down by German fighters over the Atlantic.
Dickson Mabon Dickson Mabon Dr. Jesse Dickson "Dick" Mabon PC FRSA was a Scottish politician, physician and company director. He was the founder of The Manifesto Group of Labour MPs, an alliance of moderate MPs against the perceived leftward drift of the Labour Party in the 1970s. He was a Labour Co-operative MP until...	Moderate UK United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages... Labour politician Labour Party (UK) The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...	On his discharge in 1948 he went to the University of Glasgow University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ancient universities. Located in Glasgow, the university was founded in 1451 and is presently one of seventeen British higher education institutions ranked amongst the top 100 of the... to read Medicine Medicine Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness.... .
Agnes Miegel Agnes Miegel Agnes Miegel was a German author, journalist, and poet. She received the Kleist Prize for lyric in 1913, the Herder Prize in 1936, the Goethe Prize of the City of Frankfurt in 1940, the literature prize of the Bavarian Academy of Art in 1959 and the... (1879–1964)	artist
Eric Morecambe Eric Morecambe John Eric Bartholomew OBE , known by his stage name Eric Morecambe, was an English comedian who together with Ernie Wise formed the award-winning double act Morecambe and Wise. The partnership lasted from 1941 until Morecambe's death of a heart attack in 1984...	Comedian	Half of the British comedy double act Double act A double act, also known as a comedy duo, is a comic pairing in which humor is derived from the uneven relationship between two partners, usually of the same gender, age, ethnic origin and profession, but drastically different personalities or behavior... Morecambe and Wise Morecambe and Wise Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise, usually referred to as Morecambe and Wise, or Eric and Ernie, were a British comic double act, working in variety, radio, film and most successfully in television. Their partnership lasted from 1941 until Morecambe's death in 1984... , Morecambe worked at a mine in Accrington Accrington Accrington is a town in Lancashire, within the borough of Hyndburn. It lies about east of Blackburn, west of Burnley, north of Manchester city centre and is situated on the mostly culverted River Hyndburn... for 11 months, which may have affected his health and led to heart attacks later in life.
Jock Purdon Jock Purdon Jock Purdon , a poet and songwriter, was born George Purdon in the village of Nitshill near Glasgow. Although Nitshill had been a coal mining village, the mine had closed before Purdon grew up and it was a strange twist of fate that saw him spend most of his life as a coal miner in a pit in...	Folk singer/poet	Purdon stayed on in the Durham Durham Durham is a city in north east England. It is within the County Durham local government district, and is the county town of the larger ceremonial county... coal mines after the war. "For me there's three great generals - Geronimo Geronimo Geronimo was a prominent Native American leader of the Chiricahua Apache who fought against Mexico and the United States for their expansion into Apache tribal lands for several decades during the Apache Wars. Allegedly, "Geronimo" was the name given to him during a Mexican incident... , Alexander the Great and Arthur Scargill Arthur Scargill Arthur Scargill is a British politician who was President of the National Union of Mineworkers from 1982 to 2002, leading the union through the 1984–85 miners' strike, a key event in British labour and political history... ".
Peter Alan Rayner Peter Alan Rayner Peter Alan Rayner was a British author of numismatic books. He was known by his second name Alan, rather than his first to avoid confusion with Peter Seaby, also a popular author, whose family firm Rayner joined at the age of 24.Rayner lived in Harpenden, Hertfordshire where he attended St...	Numismatic Author	Rayner was conscripted into the mines during World War II World War II World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis... .
Brian, Lord Rix, CBE, DL	Actor/manager, and president of Mencap Mencap The Royal Mencap Society is a charity based in the UK that works with people with a learning disability.-Profile:Mencap is the UK's leading learning disability charity working with people with a learning disability and their families and carers...	Rix volunteered to leave the RAF to join the Bevin Boy Scheme. "I have never regretted the decision," he says.
Peter Shaffer Peter Shaffer Sir Peter Levin Shaffer is an English dramatist and playwright, screenwriter and author of numerous award-winning plays, several of which have been filmed.-Early life:...	Dramatist	The author of Equus Equus (play) Equus is a play by Peter Shaffer written in 1973, telling the story of a psychiatrist who attempts to treat a young man who has a pathological religious fascination with horses.... and Amadeus Amadeus Amadeus is a play by Peter Shaffer.It is based on the lives of the composers Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri, highly fictionalized.Amadeus was first performed in 1979... , he graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows... .
Alf Sherwood Alf Sherwood Alfred Thomas "Alf" Sherwood was a Welsh international footballer. Between 1947 and 1957, he gained a total of 41 Caps....	Footballer	Went on to win 41 caps for Wales Wales national football team The Wales national football team represents Wales in international football. It is controlled by the Football Association of Wales , the governing body for football in Wales, and the third oldest national football association in the world. The team have only qualified for a major international...
Gerald Smithson Gerald Smithson Gerald Arthur Smithson was an English cricketer, who played for Yorkshire between 1946 and 1949, his highest innings for the county being 169 against Leicestershire at Grace Road, Leicester in 1947. He represented England on the Marylebone Cricket Club tour of the West Indies in 1947-48...	Cricketer	While serving as a Bevin Boy, Smithson was called into the Test cricket Test cricket Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days... team for a tour of the West Indies.
Sir Jimmy Savile Jimmy Savile Sir James Wilson Vincent Savile, OBE, KCSG was an English disc jockey, television presenter and media personality, best known for his BBC television show Jim'll Fix It, and for being the first and last presenter of the long-running BBC music chart show Top of the Pops...	Broadcaster	Worked as a Bevin Boy
Leo Szilard Leó Szilárd Leó Szilárd was an Austro-Hungarian physicist and inventor who conceived the nuclear chain reaction in 1933, patented the idea of a nuclear reactor with Enrico Fermi, and in late 1939 wrote the letter for Albert Einstein's signature that resulted in the Manhattan Project that built the atomic bomb...	Physicist	Essential to the development of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture, and the largest city in the Chūgoku region of western Honshu, the largest island of Japan. It became best known as the first city in history to be destroyed by a nuclear weapon when the United States Army Air Forces dropped an atomic bomb on it at 8:15 A.M... and Nagasaki Nagasaki is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Nagasaki was founded by the Portuguese in the second half of the 16th century on the site of a small fishing village, formerly part of Nishisonogi District...
Alan Turing Alan Turing Alan Mathison Turing, OBE, FRS , was an English mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst, and computer scientist. He was highly influential in the development of computer science, providing a formalisation of the concepts of "algorithm" and "computation" with the Turing machine, which played a...	Mathematician	Deveoped cryptographic theory working at Bletchley Park Bletchley Park Bletchley Park is an estate located in the town of Bletchley, in Buckinghamshire, England, which currently houses the National Museum of Computing... . Later persecuted for being homosexual.
Hubert James Willey Hubert James Willey Hubert James Willey, DCM & Bar was twice awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal, then the second highest British gallantry award, for his service on the Western Front, during the First World War....	Police Officer	Served until his death in 1948. Had served in the British Army in World War I.

World War II

Famous people who worked in Reserved Occupations

See also