Is this the oldest private in the First World War ?

[CarolB08]

I have been doing some research on my husbands family and have come across a ancestor who in 1914 enlisted in the Kings Royal Rifle Corps aged 49 years and 9 months ! There is a letter in his file from a senior officer asking how the heck this man was allowed to enlist "at his age" however he seems to have been allowed to stay in the British expeditionary force by being shunted sideways into the Army Service Corps loaders and packers branch heavy repair shop in Paris, France.
I am however having trouble finding him on the Lives of the first world war web site he does not show up by name, number or regiment, am I just not searching right or is there a possibility he has not been added yet ?

 

[Britjan]

I have been doing some research on my husbands family and have come across a ancestor who in 1914 enlisted in the Kings Royal Rifle Corps aged 49 years and 9 months ! There is a letter in his file from a senior officer asking how the heck this man was allowed to enlist "at his age" however he seems to have been allowed to stay in the British expeditionary force by being shunted sideways into the Army Service Corps loaders and packers branch heavy repair shop in Paris, France.
I am however having trouble finding him on the Lives of the first world war web site he does not show up by name, number or regiment, am I just not searching right or is there a possibility he has not been added yet ?

Send me a p.m. with details and let me see if I can help, I volunteer with a group who spend a lot of time working on LOTFWW records who I can ask for support as well . Here is a link to a newspaper article about the supposed oldest British recruit who died in 1917 at 67. He has been remembered and you can find his story here. However in the comments on the story it seems that the CWGC site records about 240 casualties over 65 with the oldest claim a 85 year old.

 

[CarolB08]

Thankyou Britjan my man survived the war but I am delighted to take you up on your offer and will P.M you shortly with the details

 

[Britjan]

This short thread would work better under the Lives of the First World war "banner" so perhaps some admin person could look at the LOTFWW site thread and break it down to become easier to follow as that site develops.
So because I trust our admin volunteers to get us sorted I am going to weigh in with a few pointers on navigation etc at LOTFWW learned by trial, error and advice from others.
1. As soon as you have signed in for a free account create a short profile , which you will be able to update, so that anyone seeing your avatar /name can get some sense of your interest in LOTFWW.
2. There is a mail box feature in your account but you won't be alerted to updates. You might want to consider a secure email address you can include in your profile. You should follow advice you'll find elsewhere on this forum on ways to do this.
3. Finding a "life" from First World war service.. . all the caveats that have been posted in this forum and at the big genealogy sites apply. You will only find a life if some kind of record has not been lost over the years and has been uploaded or digitised. The records are far from complete and if you did not find a service person from a fairly rigorous search elsewhere you are highly unlikely to find him/her at LOTFWW.
3. If you know something about a "life" and it includes service number(s) this is often the best search option. Enter the number as your first search effort. Likely at least 200 names will show up AND now it's easy, simply search by the surname ( including possible misspellings) and "voila" with luck you'll have a single "life" to investigate.
4. If the life seems partially correct check the facts entered against the cited evidence. Either could be incorrect, particularly the transcription.
5. Evidence can be cited via a link to a source you have access to and permission to use. I don't use my FMP subscription automatically to create evidence. I link to the site and if it's a paid source such as a census I use exactly the same format as you would use to add it to your LC ancestors.
6. Key evidence can form the basis of a great story AND if you add dates it will feature on the time line.
7. Finally stories and facts can be changed or improved but incorrect evidence that you added will have to be deleted and re entered.

This is more than enough to get you started and don't hesitate to come back with comments, suggestions and questions.