Deserters escaping to Ireland

[monte8]

I am trying to gather information about deserters or others not willing to serve in the army who may have made their way to Ireland to hide & to escape being forced to return to the army or to go to prison (if not shot). I can find very little about how this might have been achieved. What route would have been taken, what kind of assistance from sympathizers might have been offered. Does anyone on this forum have a suggestion for books or websites I could consult?

[tullybrone]

Hi,

 

It’s always a good idea to the use the forum search engine. This old thread might assist you.

 

Steve

 

 

[monte8]

Thank you, Steve. I did look at that topic first & appreciated the replies, but it did not specifically address the matter of deserters making their way to Ireland: men already in the army who did not want to return to the army after things started getting truly awful.

P.S. I also sifted through the topics with "deserter" in them. Wow. Quite a few of those.

[corisande]

The 1916 Military Service Act which brought in conscription - click for the full copy - it rabbits on quite a bit, but the key bit is at the start, saying that conscription applied to men " ordinarily resident in Great Britain"

 

This deliberately excluded men ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom - in other words it excluded Ireland which was part of UK but not GB

 

Therefore a man normally resident in Great Britain could not escape conscription by going to Ireland. If he did he would be put on list held by RIC of deserters, and if found returned to GB. Similarly an Irishman could spend a short time in England without being conscripted, as he would be deemed to be ordinarily resident in Ireland

[corisande]

And information was via the RIC Police Gazette - Hue and Cry
This link will give you the background on that journal

[monte8]

Thanks, as always.