Military Service Tribunals WW1

[Tommyash]

Good morning,
I'm researching into Military Service Tribunals 1916-1918. These were the panels set up to hear the appeals against Conscription during the Great War and there were over 2,000 Tribunals formed around the country but all documentation and records relating to them and held by local authorities were ordered to be destroyed in 1920.
I'm interested in anything relating to the subject, whether it be family memories or actual evidence or any pointers as to where I might search. I've already explored the West Yorkshire archives and I know about the Middlesex records but there must be other information out there. Thanks for your help.

[willyam]

I don't know whether or not the following will be a help or a hindrance to you.

If you go to the (free) Welsh Newspapers Online site and search for "tribunal" the results that you will be presented with are 6,216 newspaper items for 1916, 3,696 for 1917 & 2,410 for 1918.

A brief look at some of those items for 1916 suggests that they mostly relate to various individual cases heard by Military Service Tribunals but there may be other, unrelated, tribunals referred to in some of the reports.

Happy hunting!

Willyam

[hanes teulu]

A very warm welcome to Rootschat. Newspapers are an excellent source and you've been referred already to Welshpapers online (Don't worry, they're not all in Welsh!!).

Other subscription sites are British Newspaper Archive (BNA) and FindMypast. Use the FREE search facility on BNA for a flavour of what is available.

Have you checked Hansard?

https://hansard.parliament.uk/search/

[Chris Doran]

Others have pointed you to local newspapers. The ones here typically include brief paragraphs giving the name of the individual, the name of the appellant (e.g.  himself or an employer pleading to keep vital employee(s)), the reason (conscious objection, medical assessment disputed, need to keep his business afloat, dependent relative, and a plethora of more original ones *), a report of what was said, and the decision (often a delay to sort out his affairs, referral back for medical reassessment, etc.) Obviously, they cover only local residents but include results of appeals to higher tribunals.

A full database as a private website or entries somewhere like Lives of the First World War would be a wonderful thing, but you'd have your work cut out to read all the local papers, many of which aren't online.

* An interesting local case was someone who claimed to be a conscious objector on the grounds that he had German nationality and  if he fought for England he would be charged with treason when Germany won the war. Local consternation arose when it was revealed that his house overlooked a military training centre but he was too young to be interned. Unsurprisingly, the military officer on the tribunal said he wouldn't have him among his troops! He appealed but was nonetheless handed over to the army. I have yet to find out what they did with him.