Researching Soldiers -Tip

[NDRFT]

Hi everyone.

Now for the 'old sweats' this info is really old hat .

BUT for any one new to researching, the fact that Absent Voters Registers even exist may be enlightening. They are to be found in local records offcies and should list the names of all those who were serving and could not vote or in some exceptional cases those who had elected to vote by post because they were serving. It was in one such record I found my grand father quite by mistake and wished some one had tipped me off these registers existed. So having seen a couple of threads where the registers may be usefull i thought to post this may help some one. Sorry old sweats not teaching any egg sucking here!!

Nigel

[daggers]

Sorry to put a damper on the tip [mixed metaphor, but you know what I mean] but the AVRs have not always survived. It cannot be regarded as 'probable', but 'possible', depending on local authories' policies.

Daggers

[NDRFT]

Sorry to put a damper on the tip [mixed metaphor, but you know what I mean] but the AVRs have not always survived. It cannot be regarded as 'probable', but 'possible', depending on local authories' policies.

Daggers

daggers, Absolutely right - in one case the researcher in the record office had never heard of them! but hey ho it may help some one none the less dont you think?

[daggers]

Yes, but worth a call first if travelling far!

Daggers

[stiletto_33853]

Valuable resource if they exist, similar experience, no-one in my local records office had even heard of them let alone know if they still existed.

Andy

[NDRFT]

Valuable resource if they exist, similar experience, no-one in my local records office had even heard of them let alone know if they still existed.

Andy

Andy, Just what I had but after a bit of persistant questions they turned up on the counter - more people need to ask for them perhaps?

Cheers

[old-ted]

Nigel & all contributers,

we should always remember that for people beginning to research their first project this sort of information can be a revelation. There are a lot of local authority staff ( working in archive dept's) who are not researchers themselves and may not be aware of the AVL's, (or other important doc's). I think that the best advice is to ask the questions you want to be answered. If you do not have the knowledge to ask the question you'll never get the answer. So good on you or bringing this up.

Keep the candle burning.

John

[Sue Light]

Andy, Just what I had but after a bit of persistant questions they turned up on the counter - more people need to ask for them perhaps?

Nigel

Seeing that your location is 'Sussex' I just wondered if the East Sussex AVLs were among your successes?

Sue

[NDRFT]

Nigel

Seeing that your location is 'Sussex' I just wondered if the East Sussex AVLs were among your successes?

Sue

Hi Sue

No I have not needed them in East Sussex thus far, just West Sussex, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire. It is not far for me to go there though if you need help?

Nigel

Hi Sue

No I have not needed them in East Sussex thus far, just West Sussex, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire. It is not far for me to go there though if you need help?

Nigel

Duggghh I've just noted you are down here too, I am in Selsey

[Sue Light]

Nigel

No, just continuing to clutch at straws. West Sussex, of course, has complete coverage for several successive years, but East Sussex has always denied all knowledge of their existence. So when you mentioned persistence, I just wondered if you'd managed to wave the magic wand that has so far failed to work! Or else forced your way into the dusty vaults and stayed there till you found them

Sue

[irishmen1916]

My Granduncle joined up in 1914 in Ashford in Kent, where would I have to go or contact to see if he was on the AVL. Thanks Nigel for this post, some times these tips are worth posting again.........just for us slow people. Peter

[Terry_Reeves]

John's assertion that not all staff in local libraries are aware of the existence of AVL's has some merit. Some years ago, the head of the local studies department at my library told me that the AVL's did not exist. On checking the main electoral register however, I found that the AVL's had been included in them in a separate column. There was a downside though; the register only denoted them as a Naval or Military voter with no further information.

There is a moral to this of course: don't take no for an answer, and be prepared to be disappointed when you do.

TR

[Sue Light]

There was a downside though; the register only denoted them as a Naval or Military voter with no further information.

Which is the situation in East Sussex, but not a patch on the real thing.

Sue

[stiletto_33853]

Nigel,

Sorry to say that after persistent badgering at various levels of libraries, county record office etc. etc., they do not exist for my area.

Andy

[NDRFT]

I wonder if the completed records were ever submitted to some central archive some where, any archivists on here may know? That could be where the Essex ones are Andy?

I do think they are an undervalued piece of information particularly if one has not much idea on who was /was not serving. They do offer a jumping off point and it has raised the awreness for some on here which is pleasing.

Keep the fires burning!

Nigel

[Colin.j]

Perhaps I ought to point out that the AVL's for the general election of 1918 was only for men who were 21 years of age or over. I was lucky with an uncle, having searched for years for any information about him. Chris Baker suggested AVL's at the County Record Office and at first the assistant said no they did not have them but did agree to ask and sure enough North Yorkshire CRO did have AVL's for Scarborough district. I was so overwhelmed I forgot to ask which other districts they had.

Colin Jackson

[NDRFT]

Good point about the age - I forgot to mention that - senility!!

thank you for adding it

[bootneck]

Except for the Surrey Borough Constituencies, Absent Voters’ Lists do not survive for the Surrey County Constituencies. On the Electoral Rolls, an absent voter serving with the armed forces is only shown with the notation N/M (Navy/Military) to the right of their name and with a letter a preceding it. Both the Surrey Borough Absent Voters Lists and Electoral Rolls are held elsewhere.

Regarding the age of men being allowed to vote, notice is drawn to section 5. (4) of The Representation of the People Act, 1918, 7 & 8 GEO 5. CH. 64. which states:

“A male naval or military voter who has served or here after serves in or in connection with the present war shall notwithstanding anything in this or any other Act, be entitled to be registered as a parliamentary elector if that voter at the commencement of service had attained, or during service attains the age of nineteen years, and is otherwise qualified.”

While section 9 (2) of the same Act addresses the disqualification of conscientious objectors.

Army Council Instruction (ACI) 540 of 16 May 1918 (TNA reference: WO 293/8) relates to the registration of military voters under the Representation of the People Act. Additional instructions on voting by proxy were issued in ACI 852 of 1918 (1 August) while further amendments regarding voting in England, Wales and Ireland were issued on 1 November as ACI 1211 of 1918. These instructions were amended by ACI 3 of 1924 and superseded in 1928 by ACI 32. The Royal Navy’s response to the Act was found in Admiralty Monthly Orders. (1500 of 1918. TNA reference: ADM 182/25). AMO 1500 is actually split into three parts as follows:

Part I: Terms of the Franchise.

Part II: Registration.

Part III: Voting.

Regards,

Bootneck

[NDRFT]

Except for the Surrey Borough Constituencies, Absent Voters' Lists do not survive for the Surrey County Constituencies. On the Electoral Rolls, an absent voter serving with the armed forces is only shown with the notation N/M (Navy/Military) to the right of their name and with a letter a preceding it. Both the Surrey Borough Absent Voters Lists and Electoral Rolls are held elsewhere.

Regarding the age of men being allowed to vote, notice is drawn to section 5. (4) of The Representation of the People Act, 1918, 7 & 8 GEO 5. CH. 64. which states:

"A male naval or military voter who has served or here after serves in or in connection with the present war shall notwithstanding anything in this or any other Act, be entitled to be registered as a parliamentary elector if that voter at the commencement of service had attained, or during service attains the age of nineteen years, and is otherwise qualified."

While section 9 (2) of the same Act addresses the disqualification of conscientious objectors.

Army Council Instruction (ACI) 540 of 16 May 1918 (TNA reference: WO 293/8) relates to the registration of military voters under the Representation of the People Act. Additional instructions on voting by proxy were issued in ACI 852 of 1918 (1 August) while further amendments regarding voting in England, Wales and Ireland were issued on 1 November as ACI 1211 of 1918. These instructions were amended by ACI 3 of 1924 and superseded in 1928 by ACI 32. The Royal Navy's response to the Act was found in Admiralty Monthly Orders. (1500 of 1918. TNA reference: ADM 182/25). AMO 1500 is actually split into three parts as follows:

Part I: Terms of the Franchise.

Part II: Registration.

Part III: Voting.

Regards,

Bootneck

Boot neck,

thanks for that. so it seems that according to your first quote it may be possible that men as young as 19 are in AVL's, - assuming they join at 16 and survived till 19 and more importantly WANTD or KNEW they may be able to vote. Even so I need to go back and have another look as that is very usefull - Cheers

Nigel