Abbreviation H.D.L.?

[alanlw]

On the absent voter list for Wincle, Cheshire, two men have the abbreviation H.D.L. hand-written after their name. A quick trawl on Google has only revealed a cholesterol related substance. None of the military abbreviation lists I have looked have include HDL. Would anyone know what it means?

Gibson and Davenport have it in the attached image.

Thanks.

Alan.

[IRC Kevin]

Samuel Gibson's Service Record is on Ancestry, but doesn't give any hints. He's down as 342 Siege Battery. A Google search reveals this abbreviation has caused dismay across a number of forums, none of whom could come up with an answer. The only useful information was that it's a) very common throughout the country, and b. the men with this noted against them were all serving at home at the time. As men could nominate someone to vote for them by proxy, I wonder if the 'PA' against Charles Hollins reflects this choice had been made? Perhaps HDL is something along the lines of Home Domiciled List?

[TwoEssGee]

Alan,

This was discussed a few years ago in a different forum, but no difinitive answer was reached.

Private Goodwin on your list is also marked as H.D.L

Hollins is marked P.A, which is the abbreviation for Proxy Area. This meant that he was serving overseas, outwith F&F and could therefore vote by proxy. Parliament had decreed that soldiers serving in F&F could vote by post, so Proxy Area meant overseas, but outwith the postal voting area.

At a guess H.D.L probably stands for Home District List, or something similar bearing in mind the reason for compiling the list was to establish the location of serving soldiers in order that they were able to cast their vote in the forthcoming General Election. I don't think it's a military unit abbreviation. But I could be completey wrong.

[clk]

Hi Alan,

Pretty useless I know, as I don't know what it actually means, but it isn't necessarily a military abbreviation. It's more likely accepted shorthand by the clerk in the Council that administered the register.

Regards

Chris

[Dai Bach y Sowldiwr]

A quick trawl on Google has only revealed a cholesterol related substance.

I think you are right that it doesn't stand for High Density Lipoprotein.

[Bardess]

Home Defence list?

[mhifle]

Home Depot List?

[Tyneside Chinaman]

Hi,

It actually stand for Home Defence Labour.

John

[alanlw]

Alan,

Hollins is marked P.A, which is the abbreviation for Proxy Area. This meant that he was serving overseas, outwith F&F and could therefore vote by proxy. Parliament had decreed that soldiers serving in F&F could vote by post, so Proxy Area meant overseas, but outwith the postal voting area.

Curious you should pick up on Hollins. Without the AVL I would have had no idea about his military career but I've since found his MIC, Medal Roll and pension records. His regimental no. M2/133441 suggests he was in the motorised transport (as does the 707 MT Co in the AVL). Somewhere I found the suggestion (using his regimental number, I think) this unit was in Wales and most did not go abroad (could that be true?).

His pension record shows he enlisted in Manchester 26/10/1915 but by 21 Feb 1916 he was declared UNFIT FOR SERVICE OVERSEAS because of Chronic Rheumatism (and there is an abbreviation T.A.B. as medical condition too which I don't understand). This doesn't fit with your interpretation of P.A.as Proxy Area. On the other hand he was awarded a Victory Medal which suggests he did leave his native shores so I'm befuddled!

In Aug 1916 he contracted malaria whilst serving his country (hence the pension) but in those days it was still possible to get it in this country (see this link).

Hmmmm

[alanlw]

Hi,

It actually stand for Home Defence Labour.

John

Hi John, Can you tell us more about what that was?

Thx.

Alan

[Dai Bach y Sowldiwr]

... there is an abbreviation T.A.B. as medical condition too which I don't understand.

TAB was the Typhoid vaccination- Typhoid A & B, which I think was first introduced in Queen Victoria's time.

Chronic Rheumatism, could be either a primary rheumatic disorder, or due to rheumatic fever- very common in the pre-antibiotic era- affecting the heart, joints, and other organs.

[Tyneside Chinaman]

As far as I am aware Its a general catch all for the Labour units in UK, divided into areas such as NCLC, Northern Command Labour Centre, WCLC, Western Command Labour Centre, SCLC, Southern Command Labour Centre etc and LDLC London District Labour Centre.

Have a read of No Labour, No Battle by Ivor Lee.

regards

John

[alanlw]

Have a read of No Labour, No Battle by Ivor Lee.

regards

John

Thanks John, I have it on order from Staffordshire libraries.

Alan

[alanlw]

Alan,

Private Goodwin on your list is also marked as H.D.L

Goodwin lost an arm so would probably have been transferred to a Labour Company and that ties in with what John/Tyneside Chinaman says about HDL. Maybe the book will reveal more too.

Alan

[TwoEssGee]

Alan,

I can't explain why Hollins should be marked P.A. if, in fact, he was in the UK at the time the list was being compiled. Maybe a clerical error? I have found lots of references to mistakes being made, including men appearing on lists even though they had been killed years before.

If you do a internet search for other Absent Voters Lists, of which there are many, you will see that all the men marked as P.A. appear to have one thing in common, and that is they are serving overseas, outwith France or Belgium. I never noticed him before, but Robert Heath (just above Hollins) is also marked P.A. He was with the 8th Cheshires, and they were in the Middle East

I believe that Hollins' unit was at some time in Salonika, so could he have been there but returned (hence the Victory Medal), and his records were not updated? There doesn't seem to be enough time for him to have enlisted, trained, embarked and returned, so I am also mystified!

In fairness to the Civilian Registration Officers, it must have been a mammoth task, so errors are hardly surprising.

[alanlw]

Alan,

Hollins is marked P.A, which is the abbreviation for Proxy Area. This meant that he was serving overseas, outwith F&F and could therefore vote by proxy. Parliament had decreed that soldiers serving in F&F could vote by post, so Proxy Area meant overseas, but outwith the postal voting area.

Just found this in a Google search which may interest others:

There is a document in the national archives which is a government memo outlining the data collection methods to comply with the Representation of the People Act 1918, as applied to the armed forces, ie the AVLs. It's an interesting read anyway (and free to download). It states those in the UK or France and Flanders could vote by post, those elsewhere were in a 'Proxy Area' and could allocate a proxy to vote.

it's here if anyone is interested:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/d...doc_Id=7958819