'wanted' soldiers

[grendav2001]

did the following happen in your area of the united kingdom?

in our local newspaper in 1917 it printed almost daily the names, ages and addresses of men in hartlepool

and west hartlepool who were 'wanted' under the provisions of the military services act, 1916 as set out following:

west hartlepool recruiting sub-area

the recruiting officer for the west hartlepool sub-area asks for information regarding the following men as to whether they have joined the army, are excepted from the provisions of the military services act, 1916, or in possession of a defenite certificate or badge, exempting them from liability for military service, or have removed to another address. this info is urgently required to complete the records in the recruiting office and any info will be treated in strict confidence:

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they would then list the names of men. this caused many a problem (fight) in the streets between wives because one wife would have a husband at the front whilst another had a husband 'walking the streets'.

grendav

[grendav2001]

further to the question of recruitment, the following are examples of military concern, which, no doubt, happened all over the united kingdom. they are taken from the 'northern daily mail', west hartlepool, and dated 18 may 1917:

call-up appeal

the military appealed against exemption granted to a milk seller, passed b1 - mr j h smith submitted that the man was in a certified occupation. the appeal was granted.

failed to report

to-day, at the west hartlepool police court, before mr w r owen (in the chair) and mr j t furness, george bell was charged under the military service act with failing to report himself. lieutenant andrews, from the recruiting office, said that the man was called up on the 9th of january and owing to illness, the case was deferred. he was again brought on the 12th of april but failed to appear. it was necessary that the man should be medically examined and if he were fit he would go forward and if not he would return to his work. he asked that bell should be handed over to the military authorities. the bench agreed to this course.

[centurion]

Says a bit about the records system at the time that the recruiting officer was unsure as whether the men had already joined the army or not.

[geraint]

Having perused the local rag here (Denbighshire) for the war period, the Tribunals were noted in the papers but the names of the men appearing were omitted. Something like "of the twelve men appearing, the Tribunal agreed that ten should remain as starred men, and two brought to Hightown Barracks Wrexham for service."

The only other bit was a brief report stating "the deserter R Blood was arrested hiding under a bed and transferred to Army authorities" No more - tantalising and brief!

Sorry - being boring now, came across about five letters (1916-7) by different fathers, explaining in detail why their named sons were not in uniform, citing medical reasons, and asking the public not to accost them...not being shirkers etc..actively involved in other necessary nonuniform war work.

I'm rambling now arn't I...?

Geraint

[Ally Sloper]

The Surrey newspapers also recorded those who were to attend a tribunal, and those whose call up had been delayed after a Tribunal hearing or who had not turned up. Unfortunately it usually means a long search to find the person you are looking for.

Also during c. September 1914 they also record who had volunteered and their regiments and sometime the town they came from.