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Remembered Today:

Gwent Archives: Military Service Tribunal papers


Bernard_Lewis

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The BBC news website (Wales section) reports about a new documentary about Keir Hardie.

 

It also mentions application for exemption papers to the local MST which remain in the archive. 

 

News to me but the image shows several bundles of such papers...might be interesting for those researching lads from east Wales.

 

Bernard

Edited by Bernard_Lewis
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 BL-  There is a listing of survival tribunal materials on Tinternet (Search Gwent Military Tribunal). There is at elast one more local bloc of stuff in the States, having been sold by one of my bookselling colleagues yyears ago-Can't remeber what area it is for.

   The listing for Gwent is:

 

Gwent Archives Miscellaneous Tribunal papers Reference Description D4379/1-52 Applications for exemption relating to cases heard at Aberbargoed, Cwmbran, Llantarnam, Newport, Pontnewydd and County Apeal Tribunal; 1916-1918. D4279/53 Newspaper cuttings relating to Tribunal hearings; 1916-1918. Chepstow Local Tribunal CSWBGC/M5/71 Minute book including decisions of tribunal; 1916-1918. Brynmawr Local Tribunal A320/C/320 Register of cases heard including decisions made; 1916-1918. A320/C/321-339 Case papers of applications for exemption; 1916-1918.

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Ah, it was news to me.

 

Bernard

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1 hour ago, voltaire60 said:

 BL-  There is a listing of survival tribunal materials on Tinternet (Search Gwent Military Tribunal). There is at elast one more local bloc of stuff in the States, having been sold by one of my bookselling colleagues yyears ago-Can't remeber what area it is for.

   The listing for Gwent is:

 

Gwent Archives Miscellaneous Tribunal papers Reference Description D4379/1-52 Applications for exemption relating to cases heard at Aberbargoed, Cwmbran, Llantarnam, Newport, Pontnewydd and County Apeal Tribunal; 1916-1918. D4279/53 Newspaper cuttings relating to Tribunal hearings; 1916-1918. Chepstow Local Tribunal CSWBGC/M5/71 Minute book including decisions of tribunal; 1916-1918. Brynmawr Local Tribunal A320/C/320 Register of cases heard including decisions made; 1916-1918. A320/C/321-339 Case papers of applications for exemption; 1916-1918.

 

Can it please be explained why one should search a public authority archive for public records, viz those of Military Service Tribunals, under the improper and tendentiously misleading term "Military Tribunal"?  It is the duty of custodian local authorities to assist in education and research by using correct terminology, not going out of their way to invent inappropriate misdescriptions.

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7 hours ago, Magnumbellum said:

 

Can it please be explained why one should search a public authority archive for public records, viz those of Military Service Tribunals, under the improper and tendentiously misleading term "Military Tribunal"?  It is the duty of custodian local authorities to assist in education and research by using correct terminology, not going out of their way to invent inappropriate misdescriptions.

 

   Just to absolve Gwent and the compilers of the listing of records, the only use of "Military Tribunal" was by me -and that as a search. term on Mr. Google's Apparatus..It has always been an aspect of British administration to cover the nastier and more  contentious aspects of state activity with very bland names. Examples are-contingencies for the defeat of France in 1939-40 are referred to as "a certain eventuality" in the archives (a title used by P.Bell in his excellent book of the same name)  and the confidential reports done in 1897 on Royal spending-blandly entitled "Notes on the Demise of the Crown".  Easiest way to hide something in an archive is to put a bland name on it. Goodness only knows what is lurking at Kew.

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Thank you for owning up.  However, I find your argument difficult to follow.  Are you seriously suggesting that there is a 1939-40 file in the National Archives labelled "a certain eventuality" (all in lower case)? As for the1897  "Notes on the Demise of the Crown", I suspect that it covered rather more than just royal spending.

 

Be that as it may, are you also suggesting that labelling a series of Military Service Tribunal records "Military Service Tribunals" is too "bland",, so that a search needs "hotting up" by using "Military Tribunals" instead. They were called "Military Service Tribunals" because that is precisely what they were - Tribunals to adjudicate upon applications for exemption from military service. What is "bland" about that? Is it not simply calling a spade a "spade"? To have called them "Military Tribunals" would have been wholly wrong, implying that they were set up by the military and run vby the military for purely military purposes.

 

 

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3 hours ago, Magnumbellum said:

Thank you for owning up.  However, I find your argument difficult to follow.  Are you seriously suggesting that there is a 1939-40 file in the National Archives labelled "a certain eventuality" (all in lower case)? As for the1897  "Notes on the Demise of the Crown", I suspect that it covered rather more than just royal spending.

 

Be that as it may, are you also suggesting that labelling a series of Military Service Tribunal records "Military Service Tribunals" is too "bland",, so that a search needs "hotting up" by using "Military Tribunals" instead. They were called "Military Service Tribunals" because that is precisely what they were - Tribunals to adjudicate upon applications for exemption from military service. What is "bland" about that? Is it not simply calling a spade a "spade"? To have called them "Military Tribunals" would have been wholly wrong, implying that they were set up by the military and run vby the military for purely military purposes.

 

 

 

      There is not a file called "a certain eventuality"- but the subject of the defeat of France in a European war against Germany  is referred to as such- see:

Certain Eventuality: Bell, P. M.
Stock Image

Certain Eventuality

Bell, P. M. H.

Published by Saxon House (1975)

ISBN 10: 034700010X ISBN 13: 9780347000109

Used First Edition

Quantity Available: 2

 

      (It is marginally Great War relevant, as I think (from memory) one of the matters the British prepared for was pulling back to England rather than defend the Channel ports again-a la Ypres Salient.

   The 1897 report on royal  finances does cover just that- how to reduce the Civil List and what the Royals were actually costing- the most conspicuous items of  royal expenditure that would cause alarm were the huge cost of formal embassies to other major countries to announce to other royals that a new British Prince or Princess had been born . Also, the Royal Household then paid no duty on booze or cigarettes, which was a substantial loss to the Exchequer.

     Very bland names are used by the Civil Service to cover very un-bland topics.

 

 

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