What is attestation?

[sneakyimp]

I'm following the Canadian Expeditionary Force 7th Battalion (1st British Columbia Regiment) and have seen references to 'attestation'. It's my understanding that this would involve the signing of various documents and the swearing of various vows. Do I understand that correctly? Can anyone give me any more information regarding this process/ritual?

[Lancashire Fusilier]

I'm following the Canadian Expeditionary Force 7th Battalion (1st British Columbia Regiment) and have seen references to 'attestation'. It's my understanding that this would involve the signing of various documents and the swearing of various vows. Do I understand that correctly? Can anyone give me any more information regarding this process/ritual?

Here an example of the CEF Attestation Document.

Regards,

LF

[rickpreston@nasuwt.net]

The attastation paper are invaluable when doing research about an individual Soldier. It is just a great pity that 70% of the Great War records for the Uk were destroyed in the bombing raids in the 2nd WW.

Richard

[seaforths]

I'm following the Canadian Expeditionary Force 7th Battalion (1st British Columbia Regiment) and have seen references to 'attestation'. It's my understanding that this would involve the signing of various documents and the swearing of various vows. Do I understand that correctly? Can anyone give me any more information regarding this process/ritual?

This is true it is I believe also when the individual would then be on the payroll. So the signing of paperwork was usually followed by vows (taken en masse) in a room or hall.

[sneakyimp]

I see that for many individual Canadian soldiers, these attestation papers can be found by searching here:

http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/cef/001042-100.01-e.php

I'm wondering a few things:

1) At what point would these attestations be processed/administered? Would they be performed at a recruiting office by a recruitment officer? I find this unlikely as Lieut. E.D. Bellew, VC in the CEF 7th Battalion attested at Valcartier on Sept 24 as a lieutenant only 3 days before this battalion entrained for Gaspe Bay to leave for Salisbury Plain. It doesn't seem like very much time so I find it hard to believe he just showed up that day. Here are his records:

2) Are the forms filled out by the individual or by an officer or clerk?

3) When the vows are sworn en masse, would the text used by identical to that on the form?

[Ron Clifton]

Hello sneakyimp

I can't speak definitely for Canadian procedures, but the answers as regards UK troops are:

1. Normally attestation would be carried out once the medical examination had been carried out and passed the man as fit;

2. Probably by a clerk or maybe an officer. The questions were put to the man orally and his answers were recorded;

3. I think soldiers were often sworn in small groups (a handful at a time) in front of either a magistrate or an officer specially authorised to do so (in practice, most recruiting officers were).

Ron

[seaforths]

It saved money to attest closer to the time of leaving. In the 1970s for example attestation occurred en mass the day before departing for training. Today, attestation is taken en mass when they have arrived at their first training unit. This saves the government a lot of money in wages. At that time a few days grace was probably given for an individual to set their house in order so to speak, regarding their relatives etc.

Having read some of the personal accounts of veterans about the recruiting process in books it all happened very quickly then too. Perhaps that was because of the rush to get people through the process.

I think that there must have been many cases where literary skills were lacking and the forms would be completed in those cases on their behalf. The vow taken was standard. Usually read out line by line and repeated by those attesting.

[sneakyimp]

Thanks for the responses!

[sneakyimp]

I saw this interesting recent article describing both long-form and short-form wills for soldiers. Can anyone tell me about how these might have been collected? I expect these documents might have been collected separately than the attestation papers? The article says:

For the most part the archive is full of short-form wills that were handed out to soldiers by their superiors as they set off for war. The impersonal nature of these records led many soldiers to attach a personal note which they hoped would be read to loved ones in the event of their death.

Would these documents be written by the soldiers themselves or would soldiers dictate to a clerk? I'm guessing the short form is probably used if the soldier could not read.

What is the significance of the '13' in there? Is it a page number. Not a good one if you happen to be superstitious!

I've seen examples of the short-form will:

And also the long-form will:

[sneakyimp]

Actually, I initially read a different, less-detailed article and, having read more closely the one I just linked, I see that the wills do indeed appear to have been written by the soldiers themselves, although those who could not read would probably need assistance.

What makes the wills interesting to historians and genealogists is the fact they have been written by the soldiers, rather than officials, as in the case of census data or birth records.

[Ron Clifton]

The will was written by the soldier himself on page 13 of his Active Service Pay Book. As far as I know it stayed there until he died, when it was removed and sent back to the base for processing with the other documents. It is possible that wills were detached before the soldier went to the front, and kept at the base with his personnel record, for action in the same way when his death was reported.

Ron

[sneakyimp]

Thanks for the clarification, Ron. Isn't the pay book something the soldier carries with him? When does the pay book make its appearance?

[Tom A McCluskey]

Hi,

Attestation is a number of things: It is the declaration by the soldier of his current state of affairs (who he is, where he from, previous experience, fitness to serve, et al.). It is also the formal swearing of an oath of allegiance to the sovereign. As such it is the beginning of a contract sealed by the acceptance of the King’s shilling – that is, his first day’s pay.

Hope this helps,

Yours aye,

Tom McC

PS – regarding wills, you will often see wills in the soldier’s paybook. What is worth remembering is that a British soldier, on active service, had (and still has) the right of privileged will. As such the will can be written on the back of a fag packet or stated and witnessed.

[Magnumbellum]

Attestation is a number of things: It is the declaration by the soldier of his current state of affairs (who he is, where he from, previous experience, fitness to serve, et al.). It is also the formal swearing of an oath of allegiance to the sovereign. As such it is the beginning of a contract sealed by the acceptance of the King’s shilling – that is, his first day’s pay.

Yes, this is the essence, but I would stress two things:

1. An oath of allegiance sworn on the Bible was the usual undertaking, but it was, and is, possible to make a solemn affirmation as an alternative. The word "vow", as cited earlier in the thread, is incorrect, and has never been used in recruitment protocol - a very different matter from matrimony.

2. Historically, taking the King's shilling (slipped into a "free" tankard of ale, and regarded as a day's pay in advance) was a form of recruitment, but by WW1 things were rather more formal. Men were usually attested by completion of the form (via a clerk, because of frequently poor literacy skills) and the oath, but sent home to await orders, and therefore no pay until one day's advance pay arrived with the orders for reporting, thereby ensuring the man could buy any refreshment needed for the journey.

[sneakyimp]

At what point in a new recruit's life does the pay book make its first appearance? It seems to me from discussion here and my reading (and the nature of the paybook) that it would NOT make its appearance at the recruiter's office but probably soonish after enlistment. I find it hard to believe a soldier would be in the military for long before receiving his first payment.

I also have noticed that both the long form of the will -- essentially a blank page -- has the page number "13" on it but so does the short form of the will have the exact same page number. Would there have been two different versions of the paybook? Is the paybook an assemblage of documents in a binder or it is a bound book of some kind?

[seaforths]

If you use this search (omitting quotation marks) in Google you should be able to find something yourself on what a paybook looked like:

"images for ww1 paybook"

You can also find information on 9 different types of wills in use here:

http://www.nas.gov.uk/guides/soldiersWills.asp

Edited to add link.

[sneakyimp]

That's a good suggestion for the image search as it yields this image:

Curiously, the book appears to be a bound one, with the will on page 13 as above, but it makes me wonder about the other page 13 with the short form version of the will. I assume this would have been from some other version of the pay book.

[sneakyimp]

Also, can anyone clarify this for me? Would a soldier would be required to carry this paybook with him at all times, or would this book be kept at a battalion HQ or something? I.e., he would keep it on his person and present it at appropriate moments or would it be kept at battalion hq, brigade hq, or divisional hq?

[seaforths]

Have you tried Internet searching before posting your questions? Also, have you tried searching the forum? I did the former and found the answer from many sources including one provided on this forum. Hope this helps.

[Muerrisch]

interesting thank you

[sneakyimp]

I have indeed searched both google and these forums. A search for 'what is a pay book' yields these as the first five articles, not one of which seems remotely helpful:
http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=198983&hl=%2Bwhat+%2Bpay+%2Bbook
http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=198982&hl=%2Bwhat+%2Bpay+%2Bbook
http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=198972&hl=%2Bwhat+%2Bpay+%2Bbook#entry1952817
http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=198980&hl=%2Bwhat+%2Bpay+%2Bbook
http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=198967&hl=%2Bwhat+%2Bpay+%2Bbook#entry1952737

"who keeps a pay book" yielded the exact same unhelpful results.

I tried to search again but was halted because of 'flood control'.

Here's a google search which also is not particularly helpful:
https://www.google.com/#q=what+is+a+ww1+paybook&safe=off

The first result is yahoo answers which I would trust about as far as I could throw a tank and also doesn't answer my question. Most of the subsequent answers are memorabilia sites or ebay sales, etc.

Perhaps I could be searching for something more specific? If you could tell me what magic search terms you used, I would greatly appreciate it. In particular, I'm trying to answer a few questions at this point:
1) Who keeps a paybook? the soldier? battalion hq? other?
2) What accounts for the different will forms both with page #13? Given that the paybooks I've seen appear to be bound books, it seems that they would have to print a different book for every possible variation of the various contents, which seems impractical.
3) At what point is this pay book delivered to the soldier? Surely not at recruitment (a process still very much opaque to me) but probably soon thereafter as the soldier's pay would need to be tracked.

As always, the backup of a primary source is strongly preferred.

[Magnumbellum]

The basic element of a soldier's paybook was that it served as an identity document. It had no photograph - photos were far less common in WW1 days (and even in WW2 days), but full name, Army number, regiment or corps, next of kin etc would be included. The term paybook refers to its being required to be produced at "pay parade" - queueing up for payment in cash, usually weekly in barracks or camp in the UK, but less regularly in the field.

The soldier would receive the paybook as part of the induction procedure on first reporting for training; he would be required to keep it on himself at all times, usually in his jacket pocket, for production whenever challenged as to identity or as to being in a particular place, and the challenge could be by relevant army personnel or a civilian police constable.

For many years the paybook was codified as Army Form "AB 64", and was sometimes referred to as such. It was bound, with a stiff cover of brown cloth over cardboard, something like 4" x 3" (convenient for a pocket).

In the case of death or injury, the paybook could serve as additional verification besides the dogtag. In the case of capture, enemy authorities had the right to examine it for proof of identity.

[Mk VII]

As paybooks gave a good deal of information about the man and his unit, it was common (certainly by the 1940s) to be required to turn them in the the company clerk before going into the front line.

Strictly speaking the 'pay' element is recorded in A.B.62 Part II which is slipped into the book inside the cover in the pocket provided for it.

[CROONAERT]

Strictly speaking the 'pay' element is recorded in A.B.62 Part II which is slipped into the book inside the cover in the pocket provided for it.

That is only true for the AB64 of the mid-1918 and onwards pattern (when it became the 'Soldier's Service and Pay Book' as opposed to simply the 'Soldier's Pay Book'). Prior to 1918, the AB64 was a single part entity.

Dave

[sneakyimp]

Good stuff, gentlemen. Thanks for the detail.