Humanities desk
< July 27	<< Jun \| July \| Aug >>	July 29 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Humanities Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

July 28

What happened to homes owned by single loners who were conscripted into the military during WW2?

As I understand it, during World War 2 in the UK most able bodied men were conscripted into the military. It is reasonable to assume that some of those men owned their own homes, and of those who did own their own house some would have lived in it on their own without a family. Lets assume such a man who owned his own home but had no wife or children, no living relatives, and all his friends (if he had any) were also conscripted into the military at the same time he was. What happened to his house? What if he couldn't arrange for anyone to look after it for him? Who paid the bills? Who paid his mortgage? Did it just sit empty while he was at war so he had a home to come back to at the end, or did the bailiffs repossess it? Seems a bit mean to risk life and limb for your country only for the state to come take your house away. 119.18.234.62 (talk) 00:18, 28 July 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Weren't the wages paid to servicemen comparable to those paid in civilian employment? There would be no outgoings, unlike today when you may have to pay double council tax if your home is left unoccupied. Out of his military salary the soldier would have had to pay nothing for food, accommodation, fuel etc. 81.134.89.140 (talk) 00:33, 28 July 2016 (UTC)[reply]

No: "A soldier in the Somerset Light Infantry recalled that when he was conscripted in 1939, his pay was two shillings (10 pence) per day, or 14 shillings per week (70 pence), but that his civilian job had paid him £6 (120 shillings per week)", [1] Alansplodge (talk) 12:02, 28 July 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I can't speak for the UK, but the United States has the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, which provides servicemen and their property with various protections against civil actions, including foreclosure and eviction, while in active service. A version of this act under a different name was passed during the American Civil War, and the act under this name was in effect during World War I. It was recreated at the start of World War II and has been in effect ever since. I can't find if the UK has a similar law. Someguy1221 (talk) 00:59, 28 July 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Some information about wartime rent control in History of rent control in England and Wales but I couldn't find anything else. Alansplodge (talk) 20:06, 29 July 2016 (UTC)[reply]

But... I have found some partly legible snippets on Google Books concerning the Possession of Mortgaged Land (Emergency Provisions) Act 1939 which seems to address this issue, but exactly how remains unclear to me. Alansplodge (talk) 20:22, 29 July 2016 (UTC)[reply]