The word 'voluntary' is derived from the 18th Century practice whereby specialist farm workers (volerers) were paid based on the number of voles they caught and killed. This was in order to stop the voles from eating stored crops.
This became a popular pastime, eventually so much so that farmers didn't have to pay the volerers for their labour. This lead to the evolution of the word as we use today and the unfortunate decline of Britain's vole population.
The word 'voluntary' is derived from the 18th Century practice whereby specialist farm workers (volerers) were paid based on the number of voles they caught and killed. This was in order to stop the voles from eating stored crops.
This became a popular pastime, eventually so much so that farmers didn't have to pay the volerers for their labour. This lead to the evolution of the word as we use today and the unfortunate decline of Britain's vole population.