Firstly, sorry about the late reply! RL got in the way for a few days there and I wanted to have enough time to write a proper answer to your awesome comment!
I agree with you utterly. To my mind Bertie would never abandon his duty to his country. Just as you say, a man who is so loyal to his friends and family, most of the time to his own detriment, would never bow out of doing his duty for King and Country.
But a member of the aristocracy would hardly have anything better to do, so if you look at it that way, as a class they may have been more likely to go to war, not less - perhaps.
However the class system in those times was still a firm institution in Britain. I've never seen any reference to a general trend of the rich being called up later than the poor, but I wondered if perhaps the people in charge (generally being people who were the upper class) would occasionally look at lists and maybe cross off a few names of sons or nephews or similar. It sounds so cold when put like that, but it must have been sorely tempting for many. But now it's me clutching at straws!
but the point is that WW2 really did affect everybody in Britain. It blurred those lines between classes and between genders, too.
It's weird how these thing trickle down through the social conscience. Despite having given up history before GCSEs, I did know this. Amazing what you know without thinking about it, isn't it? Anyway, getting back on subject...
Everyone was rationed and everyone made sacrifices, and the country was never the same again. (I'm sure there were a few exceptions, but it certainly wasn't a case of all the rich carried on as normal while all the working classes did everything.)
I'll say there were exceptions! Did you ever read about Lord thingy (I completely forget his name) who was despised during WW2 for his grand parties and buying up hundreds of loaves of bread at one time while everyone was making do with rations? Everyone may have been rationed, but having money surely meant that you had a choice whether to stick to it or not. Dragging this back to our beloved characters, sense of duty aside I can see Jeeves being able to come by a bit of butter at short notice.
One thing class would have affected is what their ranking would be.
That's an interesting piece of information and explains a great deal! Especially about Lt. George in Blackadder (if the reference means anything to you). I always wondered how he made lieutenant.
It all depends on how old you think they are and in what year most of the stories take place, something Wodehouse seems to have kept deliberately obscure.
Didn't he just! I must have read a dozen well argued cases for timelines and ages on this community's archive and none of them see to agree. Like yourself, I think it's pretty flexible!
Having said all that I've been working on a fic in which both of them did serve overseas.
Really, really looking forward to reading your story! If you don't mind me asking, what countries have you sent them to?
I've always been of the impression that there were more conchies in WW1 than in WW2,
This might possibly have been due to the change in warfare style? WW1 being the first really major war that had modern artillery, but the British generals were using 'they're armed with a mango!' tactics. Part of the reason why so many were called up in WW1 me thinks. I laugh at Blackadder Goes Forth (again with the blackadder references- sorry if they mean nothing to you!), but when I stop to think about the truth behind it... *shivers*.
I'm sorry, I'm still very vague about the details of WW2, the calling up (we don't call it a 'draft' there) and the demobilisation afterwards, even though I've tried to research a lot. It's such a big subject.
Your information and suggestions have been really interesting, thank you! Agreed, it's such a huge and complex topic.
Sorry for the same thing! I hope this makes some sense to you. :)
no subject
I agree with you utterly. To my mind Bertie would never abandon his duty to his country. Just as you say, a man who is so loyal to his friends and family, most of the time to his own detriment, would never bow out of doing his duty for King and Country.
But a member of the aristocracy would hardly have anything better to do, so if you look at it that way, as a class they may have been more likely to go to war, not less - perhaps.
However the class system in those times was still a firm institution in Britain. I've never seen any reference to a general trend of the rich being called up later than the poor, but I wondered if perhaps the people in charge (generally being people who were the upper class) would occasionally look at lists and maybe cross off a few names of sons or nephews or similar. It sounds so cold when put like that, but it must have been sorely tempting for many.
But now it's me clutching at straws!
but the point is that WW2 really did affect everybody in Britain. It blurred those lines between classes and between genders, too.
It's weird how these thing trickle down through the social conscience. Despite having given up history before GCSEs, I did know this. Amazing what you know without thinking about it, isn't it? Anyway, getting back on subject...
Everyone was rationed and everyone made sacrifices, and the country was never the same again. (I'm sure there were a few exceptions, but it certainly wasn't a case of all the rich carried on as normal while all the working classes did everything.)
I'll say there were exceptions! Did you ever read about Lord thingy (I completely forget his name) who was despised during WW2 for his grand parties and buying up hundreds of loaves of bread at one time while everyone was making do with rations? Everyone may have been rationed, but having money surely meant that you had a choice whether to stick to it or not. Dragging this back to our beloved characters, sense of duty aside I can see Jeeves being able to come by a bit of butter at short notice.
One thing class would have affected is what their ranking would be.
That's an interesting piece of information and explains a great deal! Especially about Lt. George in Blackadder (if the reference means anything to you). I always wondered how he made lieutenant.
It all depends on how old you think they are and in what year most of the stories take place, something Wodehouse seems to have kept deliberately obscure.
Didn't he just! I must have read a dozen well argued cases for timelines and ages on this community's archive and none of them see to agree. Like yourself, I think it's pretty flexible!
Having said all that I've been working on a fic in which both of them did serve overseas.
Really, really looking forward to reading your story! If you don't mind me asking, what countries have you sent them to?
I've always been of the impression that there were more conchies in WW1 than in WW2,
This might possibly have been due to the change in warfare style? WW1 being the first really major war that had modern artillery, but the British generals were using 'they're armed with a mango!' tactics. Part of the reason why so many were called up in WW1 me thinks. I laugh at Blackadder Goes Forth (again with the blackadder references- sorry if they mean nothing to you!), but when I stop to think about the truth behind it... *shivers*.
I'm sorry, I'm still very vague about the details of WW2, the calling up (we don't call it a 'draft' there) and the demobilisation afterwards, even though I've tried to research a lot. It's such a big subject.
Your information and suggestions have been really interesting, thank you! Agreed, it's such a huge and complex topic.
Sorry for the same thing! I hope this makes some sense to you. :)