At the end of the Great War British servicemen were assigned to one of 41 industrial groups based upon their trade or calling before they enlisted. After the Armistice, demobilisation followed the needs of industry not the military and men needed for industrial and civic reconstruction were released first. I expended considerable time and effort to find out what the groups were. I reproduce the list here so that you won’t have to.
- Agriculture
- Seamen
- Coal mining
- Other mining
- Slate mines
- Quarries
- Food
- Explosives
- India rubber
- Printing
- Woolen
- Cotton
- Other textile trades
- Dyeing
- Bootmakers
- Leather tanning
- Other leather trades
- Clothing
- Sawmilling
- Furniture
- Coachbuilding
- Shipbuilding
- Iron and steel manufacturers
- Tin plate manufacturers
- Iron Foundry
- Engineering
- Other metal trades
- China
- Brick
- Building
- Railway
- Dock labourers
- Carters
- Motor drivers
- Public employees
- General labourers
- Commercial
- Warehouse men
- Domestic
- Other occupations
- Enployers
Source: British Demobilization Plans by Robert C. Clothier. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Jan 1919, Vol. 81, pp. 1-12.