1918 Absent Voters List

[Ray Tomlinson]

Probably been asked before but here goes again! My grandfather appears on the absent votors list for 1918 - he was born in 1899 so he would have been 17/18 years old in 1918. I thought the age of majority in those days was 21 - or were you considered old enough to vote if you were old enough to fight? Can anyone explain?

[Tony Lund]

The age was twenty-one. Maybe 1899 is a mistake? Or maybe he enlisted in the early days of the war and lied about his age and then had to keep to that?

Tony.

[BeppoSapone]

One thing I have wondered about the 1918 AVL.

IIRC it should include females who were in the armed forces. However, women were not allowed to vote until they were 30.

So, are there any women, who were admitting to being over 30, mentioned in any of the AVLs that people have seen?

[Charles Fair]

So, are there any women, who were admitting to being over 30, mentioned in any of the AVLs that people have seen?

Yes, I have seen nurses, matrons and munitions workers in there. A very small percentage, but they are there.

[Charles Fair]

My grandfather appears on the absent votors list for 1918 - he was born in 1899 so he would have been 17/18 years old in 1918. I thought the age of majority in those days was 21 - or were you considered old enough to vote if you were old enough to fight?

From my notes I have:

6 Feb 1918 - Act of Parliament

• allowed servicemen to register in order to obtain a vote in the constituency of their home address
• men had to be over 19 (n.b. voting age of 21)
• they provided their own details

18 Aug 1918 - AVL compiled from all applications received up until this date

15 Oct 1918 - AVL published

15 Apr 1919 - second AVL published

from applications received until 15 Feb 1919

15 Oct 1919 - third AVL published

I dont have access to sources on this at the moment as a lot of my stuff is in storage. 19 seems right though. It is like the current electoral registers which contain 16 and 17 year olds despite the viting age being 18.

My database has 750 men listed in various London AVLs. A proportion of these I know to be Derby Scheme or conscripts who would have been 18 at enlistment in 1917.

Charles

[BeppoSapone]

Yes, I have seen nurses, matrons and munitions workers in there. A very small percentage, but they are there.

Thank you Charles.

I wonder how many were "29 and holding"?

[Ray Tomlinson]

He was born on 28/3/1899 which would make him 19 years and 7 months when the 1918 AVL was published and not 17/18 whichI thought (I failed A level maths!).

Thanks for the historic info Charles - having been employed as a presiding officer in polling stations for the last 30 odd years, I can confirm the current position as follows - the register is still compiled in October each year but nowadays there is only one register for local, parliamentary and EC elections. Absent votors are now included on the main register.

Anyone due to become 18 during the period of the register can be included and the date they become eligible to vote adjoins their entry. 17 year olds should therefore be on the register but not those who are still 16 - they will appear the year after. That said, the compilers have to rely upon what the person filling in the form writes down which is why you occasionally get stories of peoples pets etc. being sent polling cards.

If the same thing applied in 1918, he must have been on the register a few months too early.