Was is usual for a soldier to be RELEASED for munnitions in the UK work then posted back to his unit some 6 months later in France?

I have come across a soldier, Pte Jerome Hunter, who was returned to work at Woolwich, from France as he had specialist skills with regard to munitions (not specified on his record) and was then returned to the army for service in Egypt in the AOC. But this is only one.

Ian

Did this work in munitions take place in 1915/16?

In September 1915 a register was drawn up of serving soldiers skilled in munitions work. These men were then placed at the disposal of the Ministry of Munitions. The Ministry then determined which men were to employed in munitions work.

Soldiers continiued to be employed on civil work thoughout the war in munitions, in factories related to the war effort, in the docks and, of course, in agriculture.

There does appear to have been some confusion regarding the men employed in munitions as men sometimes got "lost". In November 1915, for example, the whereabouts of some 76 men were unknown. The Army apparently wrote to the firms where these men were supposed to be employed only to find that some had already been returned to their units. One record shows that 17 of these 76 could not be traced and suggests that they were to be proceeded against as absentees or deserters. Unfortunately the follow up to this record does not appear to have survived so we do not know what happened to these 17!

Lost in the system and therefore regarded as a deserter
Sounds about right for the system.
I am surprised there was not more inertia in the system, what with there being 9 million men serving the colours.

hi thanks both of you, my GG indeed was released in Jan 1916 until sept 1916 where he was posted back to his unit, he was released to Brown(cannot read last initials) clyde bank Glasgow under Gen order no 95415, he was from Barrow, although Glasgow was closer to home than France!! regards sean