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Remembered Today:

What was a "pass with free warrant"?


Chemin Des Dames

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Hi all. 

In my Grandpa's brief WW1 diary (84064 Thomas Glynn) he mentions that while training in the Machine Gun Corps at Belton Park, he and several other recruits got 10 days confined to barracks and 6 days' pay stopped. This punishment was connected in some way with going on leave. His service records are lost but I was able to find a mention of the incident in another soldier's records, 84068 Lawrence Burgess. The writing on the Regimental Conduct Sheet is very faint but it looks to me like:

"When on active service stating a falsehood thereby obtaining a pass with free warrant under false pretenses." 

The punishment (which they all got) was

"10 days C.B. deprived of 6 days pay & pay for warrant."

Does anyone know what a warrant was? Was it a train pass? (They were all Liverpudlians so had a long journey home.) And does anyone have any idea what kind of blarney they might have tried to get hold of said "warrant" without pay? 

Any thoughts appreciated!

Cheers

Alastair

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The warrant was the travel pass to get them home.

I'd suspect, probably with being on home service at the time, that the warrant was limited in extent but they either bluffed further use out of it or told a white lie to the clerk who had to issue the warrant.
 

Craig

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In my service 1963-1974 I was entitled to three railway travel warrants a year. They were valid for 2nd class return journeys in the UK and as I recall when in BAOR to the German border and 50 miles over the border.

Warrants were also issued for journeys on duty when necessary. They are still in use today according to my daughter who works on Cross Country trains.

When issued we went to the booking office and exchanged the warrant for a ticket to the destination shown on the warrant.

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Thanks very much indeed chaps - all great stuff. The brief entry in Grandpa's notebook is as follows and I guess RW must refer to "Railway Warrant" - I had had no idea what it meant. It's an amusing scenario with a bunch of fresh scouse recruits chancing it and getting thwacked.   

 

Got 10 days CB      

6 Days pay stopped

4 Days RW

Burgess Shellian Tobias and McCauley. Served 6 Days

[illegible] and 2/- stopped

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Thanks Loader, and yes he did survive!!  But not without being gassed by his own side, tied to a gun in Flanders and getting a Blighty. Still, he did his bit and got an MM along the way.  He had a lot to laugh and reminisce about but like a lot of veterans, didn't talk about it much in later years.  

 

I posted his notebook if you're interested, here's  the page: 

 

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Warrants were still being issued in my Day,  in effect the MOD warranted to pay the company the price of the ticket we had Rail Warrants, Short Sea Ferry Warrants they were accountable documents. Because of the ability to misuse them, They needed a unit stamp on them and to be countersigned by an officer easy to blag hence they were locked away.

 

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