absent voter lists

[asdarley]

I often see references to the absent voters lists on the forum. They might be of help to me in my researches but I know little about them. When were they drawn up? At the time of local elections or national elections? Were they drawn up in all electoral wards?

Can anyone enlighten me on this subject?

[Mercian Volunteer]

The initial roll was collated in about August 1918 and again in August 1919. They were by ward districts. It list all servicemen aged 21 and above ( In theory! ). I've used them several times with excellent reusults. Some of the Libraries I've enquired at sometimes don't know what they are so you have to persistant in your quest.

Best of luck,

Steve

[Stephen Nulty]

I have been looking through the Manchester AVL's recently. They were drawn up at the same time as the standard Electoral Rolls.

Going street by street through the various wards, they list (for each address within the street), the surname, initials, service number and regiment/service for any men aged 21 or over and who were away on service. I have found that it is important to remember this last point - over 21!

Whilst some councils have theirs readily accessible via microfilm, etc., (such as Manchester), other councils have not retained any AVL's and they are subsequently lost.

[asdarley]

Thanks for the information gentlemen...now off to the library!

[John_Hartley]

...now off to the library!

And, if at first you don't succeed, try your county archives which may have them instead.

[manchester regiment]

i cant speak for the AVLs from other areas,but with regards to the manchester ones,they began to gather the votes,on 1-10-1917,and they were drawn up in feb 1918 and deposited at the town hall on 1st oct 1918,a serviceman could register his vote if he was over 19yrs old,a civilian must be over 21,i have all the manchester,salford and oldham AVLs,and theres many servicemen listed in them,who were killed in oct,nov and dec 1917,their ages range from 19yrs old and upwards,manchester has a full set for 1918,1919 and 1920/23,oldham has those covering ww1 and a set that covers 1936.

bernard

[Stephen Nulty]

a serviceman could register his vote if he was over 19yrs old,a civilian must be over 21

Edorc

Bernard knows so much more than me about this

Sorry if my response was misleading

[manchester regiment]

you aint the only one who was misinformed stephen,i only found out myself a few weeks ago,monsstar told me about the age thingy,so i began checking the registers,and he was right.

one of the reasons why a serviceman can vote at 19,is because he draws a mans pay at 18,so officially,hes classed as a man,and theres also a mention about him being unable to register his vote if hes leaving britain to do garrison duties for several years.

theres three catagories for voting

No1 you can vote in local and national election

No2 only local elections

No3 only national elections.

bernard

[John_Hartley]

serviceman could register his vote if he was over 19yrs old,a civilian must be over 21

And a conscientious objector was disenfranchised for five years.

[leadders]

ANYONE KNOW IF THERE ARE ABSENT VOTERS LISTS FOR STOKE ON TRENT

THANKS

DAVE

[Charles Fair]

These are the pertinent dates with respect to AVLs:

• 6 Feb 1918 - Representation of the People Act 1918. This allowed servicemen and women to register in order to obtain a vote in the constituency of their home address. They provided their own details. Men had to be over 19 (n.b. voting age of 21). Women over 30 enfranchised.
• 18 Aug 1918 - AVL compiled from all applications received up until this date
• 15 Oct 1918 - AVL published
• 14 December 1918 – General Election
• 15 Apr 1919 - second AVL published from applications received until 15 Feb 1919
• 15 Oct 1919 - third AVL published. This was a lot thinner than the two earlier volumes.

These first three are fairly commonly found, though not all record offices will have all three if they have them at all. Some places continued to publish into 1920 or 1921.

[Magnumbellum]

A serviceman could register his vote if he was over 19 yrs old, a civilian must be over 21.

And a conscientious objector was disenfranchised for five years.

The vindictive attempt to disenfranchise WW1 conscientious objectors was more complicated and ineffective than is generally realised. The disenfranchisment stipulated in the Repressentation of the People Act 1918 applied not to all COs per se, but to COs who had been exempted from all military service and to COs who had not been exempted from all military service but who had been court-martialled; thus COs who had accepted non-combatant military service were not disenfranchised.

However, the disenfranchisment was stipulated to be for five years from the end of the war. The Great War was not legally concluded until 31 August 1921, so any disenfranchisement actually ran from 1 September 1921 to 31 August 1926. That necessarily excluded any connection with the 1918 and 1919 Absent Voters' Lists.

In practice, there was no formal machinery for notifying Electoral Registration Officers about who should be disenfrachised as a CO, and actual disenfranchisement was a sporadic and ineffective affair. The Central Tribunal reported in 1922, "There seems no other conclusion possible but that the section [of the Act stipulating disenfranchisement] has failed of its intended effect."