Medal roll cards marked 'special' and or 'suspense list'

[FrancesH]

Over the last eighteen months I've been exploring the stories of a group of officers who were court martialled in 1916 for 'gross indecency'., and occasionally 'scandalous conduct'. Although of course these terms covered a variety of offences, for all these men it meant homosexuality. It's became clear that 1916 saw more prosecutions of officers for this offence, and with more severe punishments, than any other year of the war. 

I am keen to identify as many cases as possible, and have noticed that the vast majority of individuals have a particular notification in the top RH corner of their medal cards (see pic). Some are simply 'special list': in other cases this has been crossed out and the words 'suspense list' substituted, presumably when they went to prison, which most of them did.  Unusually, this particular example also has the word 'cashiered', but I haven't actually seen this on any of the others.

If any GWF members have seen medal cards bearing this notification, I should be very grateful if you could send me the NA link. I should also appreciate it very much if you could let me have any other information about the officer concerned, either in a reply to this topic, or through a DM. I have already done one article on this for Stand To! and hope to do another, so if you let me know your personal details through a DM, I'd be happy to acknowledge any contributions. 

This table shows the current state of play, listing the number of officers court martialled for homosexuality as a GI or SC offence each year:

DATE	COURT MARTIALS OVERSEAS	COURT MARTIALS UK	CIVIL COURT	TOTAL
1915	2	4	0	6
1916	13	10	1*	24
1917	2	4	0	6
1918	0	6	0	6

* although this officer was not court martialled, this was due to the technicality that he was arrested on the day between leaving the army and joining the RFC. He also had clear personal links with other officers tried in 1916.

 

[charlie962]

There's a new record set on Findmypast which has the transcription of the medal rolls (sourced I believe from NavalMilitaryPress).

Out of curiosity I tried a search of this set 

Record set      Britain, First World War Campaign Medals

And in the keywords box just put    suspense

Remarkable-

64 hits. Indeed they seem to be officers put on Suspense lists. I've not dug further but I would suggest you check this out. Of course there are a variety of other possible reasons. Maybe the list number means something to you?

Eg.

"Suspense List 52 Deprived of the rank of major on Conviction by Civil Power 12.7.22. LG. 22.9.22"

"On Suspense List 34"

"Suspense List 22. Forfeits all medals G.C.M. 1.3.18 Dismissed 22.3.18."

"Suspense List 62"

"Suspense List 71 Removed from the Army. L.G. 4.8.20 War medals forfeited"

Charlie

[FrancesH]

Oooo! Charlie, what a good idea and what an idiot I am. I knew perfectly well that this set existed but had not thought of doing a search of keywords. Very interesting idea, most grateful!

[charlie962]

6 minutes ago, FrancesH said:

Oooo! Charlie, what a good idea and what an idiot I am. I knew perfectly well that this set existed but had not thought of doing a search of keywords. Very interesting idea, most grateful!

I believe it's availability is very recent. Findmypast's search facility is also very easy to use, I find. I've just posted a topic on this record set.

[charlie962]

"special list" brings up over 5000 hits, again for all sorts of reasons incl related to type of officer commission

 

[FrancesH]

Hi, yes, the problem of course is that in order to be certain you need the service file to have survived! Of the 'suspense/special' list medal cards I'd found already (I mean, before today) only three actually included a note of 'section 40' which of course covered gross indecency.

I've already looked up two of the ones using 'suspense' as a keyword in the FMP record set and NONE of their service records are in Discovery. Oh well, on we go! 

[charlie962]

A search on this forum for "suspense list" brings up several hits, wide variety of reasons but nothing conclusive?

Interesting to see if the list numbers relate to reasons or just perhaps unit? One old thread said there were suspense lists at the front of the medal roll for most régiments.

[FrancesH]

'Suspense list' definitely doesn't just refer to this topic BUT all those whose service files show a court martial for this reason do have a 'special/suspense' notation. I wondered if I could narrow it down by date to 1916 but of course the only dates on medal cards is the man's disembarkation date, which is not relevant. Time for lunch and a headscratch!