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Topic: 1918 Absent Voters Lists Maidenhead Berkshire (Read 980 times)
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Abiam
RootsChat Aristocrat
Posts: 1372
It's that time of year again!
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I believe there was an election in 1918 and that there could be an "Absent Voters List". Does anyone know where I might find information about this list for Maidenhead Berkshire and whether my Grandfather Ernest John Wyse was abroad or at home in that year.
Any help about "Absent Voters Lists" gratefully received,
Regards,
Abiam
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Genealogists never die! They just undertake to join their ancestors!
DOBSON,Berks, Wilts.DOPSON, Fyfield, Wilts
SMITH, WEBB, Little Gransden, Gamlingay, Cambs
WEBB, Hatley St George, Hunts
HUNT, Wanborough, Swindon, Wilts
TUBB, Hungerford, Berks, EGERTON, Highworth, Wilts
WISE, South Australia, WISE, Fawley, Berks
WISE, Bray, Binfield, Berks
WYSE, Wise, Maidenhead, Berks
VINCE, VINCENT, St Mary Bourne, Hants, Bucks, Berks
TUCKWELL ANYWHERE!
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stanmapstone
RootsChat Marquessate
Posts: 6593
My answers only refer to England and Wales
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From 15 October 1918 to 1926 the electoral registers were compiled twice a year. Those absent in the armed forces when the 1918 and subsequent lists were compiled are shown separately at the end of the polling district in which they normally lived (with their home address, unit, rank and number), in an absent voters' list, and they could vote either by post or proxy. Conscientious objectors were deprived of the vote from 1918 to 1923.
See also http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelprestype/offpubs/electreg/electoralregisters.pdf
Stan
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« Last Edit: Friday 19 December 08 10:23 UTC (UK) by stanmapstone »
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Abiam
RootsChat Aristocrat
Posts: 1372
It's that time of year again!
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Hello Stan,
Thank you for your reply. I have had a look at the link you provided but am more confused than before. But thank you for trying,
Regards,
Abiam
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Logged
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Genealogists never die! They just undertake to join their ancestors!
DOBSON,Berks, Wilts.DOPSON, Fyfield, Wilts
SMITH, WEBB, Little Gransden, Gamlingay, Cambs
WEBB, Hatley St George, Hunts
HUNT, Wanborough, Swindon, Wilts
TUBB, Hungerford, Berks, EGERTON, Highworth, Wilts
WISE, South Australia, WISE, Fawley, Berks
WISE, Bray, Binfield, Berks
WYSE, Wise, Maidenhead, Berks
VINCE, VINCENT, St Mary Bourne, Hants, Bucks, Berks
TUCKWELL ANYWHERE!
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Fitzjohn
RootsChat Extra
Posts: 43
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
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This is an oversimplification. Only conscientious objectors deemed not to have performed Work of National Importance (e.g. because they were in prison) were formally disfranchised for five years under the Representation of the People Act 1918, but, this being a back-bench chauvinist initiative only grudgingly accepted by the government, there was no machinery for enforcing the disfranchisement, and many COs just voted, anyway.
Fitzjohn
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Abiam
RootsChat Aristocrat
Posts: 1372
It's that time of year again!
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Thanks casalguildi and a very Happy Christmas to you 
Abiam
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Logged
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Genealogists never die! They just undertake to join their ancestors!
DOBSON,Berks, Wilts.DOPSON, Fyfield, Wilts
SMITH, WEBB, Little Gransden, Gamlingay, Cambs
WEBB, Hatley St George, Hunts
HUNT, Wanborough, Swindon, Wilts
TUBB, Hungerford, Berks, EGERTON, Highworth, Wilts
WISE, South Australia, WISE, Fawley, Berks
WISE, Bray, Binfield, Berks
WYSE, Wise, Maidenhead, Berks
VINCE, VINCENT, St Mary Bourne, Hants, Bucks, Berks
TUCKWELL ANYWHERE!
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Fitzjohn
RootsChat Extra
Posts: 43
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
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Thanks for this. It seems to be the old case of everybody quoting each other, without anyone going back to sources. The one actual source cited is David Butler, who really should have known better. Some of the papers you cite have gone way beyond Butler, implying that all conscientious objectors were barred from the franchise for all time, along with the oft-quoted "peers and lunatics".
The relevant legislation is the Representation of the People Act 1918, s 9 (2), which set up a complicated procedure whereby all COs were disqualified from voting for five years from the end of the war, except those in the Non-Combatant Corps and those who could satisfy the Central Tribunal (retained specially for the purpose) that they had done Work of National Importance. In fact, ony 404 applied under that provision, and the Central Tribunal was obliged to recognise that in many cases COs had been included in the register because the registration officer had been ignorant of the facts. It reported in 1922, "There seems no other conclusion possible but that the section has failed in its intended effect".
Butler and others are also wrong in stating that the five-year period of supposed disfranchisement was 1918-1923, because the war was not legally concluded until 31 August 1921, and the notional five years therefore expired on 30 August 1926. The most succinct account of all this is in John Rae, 'Conscience and Politics', OUP, 1970, pp 234-5.
Fitzjohn
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