Obiter hears tell of another former Bevin Boy turned solicitor whose studies were interrupted because he was, like Robert Benjamin (see Obiter, 7 August), conscripted to work in Britain’s coal mines during World War Two.

John Hostettler, an 83-year-old former solicitor now living in West Sussex, was unable to take up his place at university to study law in ‘around 1942 at about age 18’ because he was conscripted to work in a mine in South Wales as part of the national programme to keep Britain’s coal supply flowing.

Hostettler finally completed his law degree – including finishing a PhD – as a part-time student from 1978 to 1983. He has gone on to write 16 legal history books and biographies, the latest of which, A History of Criminal Justice in England, is due to be published in October.

‘I was conscripted as a Bevin Boy for three years and, strangely, I liked it,’ he says. ‘It was very tough but you felt you were contributing to the war effort.’ Like Benjamin, Hostettler was able to resume articles in London and sit the Law Society qualifying exams without a law degree.

Hostettler says being a Bevin Boy ‘made me physically fit and independent because it took me away from home. The miners back then were still very conscious of the 1930s depression and they taught me a lot about that, about working together and helping each other. There was a tremendous spirit of comradeship’.

Obiter wishes Hostettler well with the publication of his latest book and makes one last call to action for the Bevin Boys – any more of you out there in the legal fraternity?