Captain Mainwaring often a sympathetic subtext to his own personal neuroses; it is apparent several times that he devotes his energies to his Home Guard unit for a sense of comradeship and purpose lacking in other parts of his life, such as his career and marriage. On one occasion when his men spurned a parade to play darts against the ARP he expressed bewilderment, saying coming to the platoon is "the highlight of my day". It is frequently implied that he is trapped in a loveless and unhappy marriage to Elizabeth, his unseen wife, who is domineering, neurotic and withholding of affection.
William Mainwaring men did not go in to work. Mainwaring did get the South Wales nomination for the secretaryship of the Miners' Federation of Great Britain in 1932, after the death of A. J. Cook. A preferential voting system was used, and Mainwaring came in third place on first preference votes, being eliminated from the voting. The death of Lieutenant-Colonel David Watts-Morgan, the Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for Rhondda East, in early 1933 left a vacancy for a Labour candidate in which the influence of the miners was predominant. Mainwaring's name was immediately mentioned as a possible candidate, with rivals including