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The stories of the "rotten shirker" butcher of Finchley, of the German baker whose shop was destroyed by crowds shouting anti-German abuse, and of the last son at home whose four brothers had already died in the first world war are revealed in records released online by the National Archives at Kew.
Many of the files, which come from a tribunal that judged thousands of appeals against conscription, have supporting letters, typed or handwritten on shoddy wartime paper. Often the letters have heartbreaking pleas from relatives fearing they will be left destitute, or explanations from employers of how their businesses might be destroyed.
For information about joining, leaving and suspending mail (eg during a holiday) see the list website at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=archives-nra