WW1: Murdoch McINTOSH, Seaforth Highlanders, discharged without any medals?

[Keith Sherwood]

Hi, Everyone,
I would very much like clarification about a list of names I recently discovered when trying to find details of the WW1 service of a Murdoch McIntosh, b. 1896 in Forres in Moray (Elginshire)
He appears on a page dated 31-10-1921, with Perth given as the place name. The list of 18 men, all in the Seaforth Highlanders is entitled "Roll of individuals who forfeited the Victory Medal and British War Medal".
13 men have "In state of desertion" against their names, one with the red typed words crossed out and "Issue approved" overwritten in blue ink.  The other 4, including Murdoch McIntosh 9(th battalion?) 26421 (his army ID?) have the word "Discharged" typed in red, followed by further letters and numbers.
I'm sure someone will be able to explain the significance of this list, and why perhaps Murdoch McIntosh's War was not a good one...
Many thanks in advance,
Keith

[GR2]

The letters and numbers may refer to a paragraph in King's Regulations. Try entering them in a search engine and see if it comes up with what they mean. If not, try entering them again along with "King's Regulations".

[Crumblie]

He was discharged due to being convicted by the civil power prior to his enlistment. His record card on National Archives show him receiving the Victory and British medals, nothing about them being taken away.

[Keith Sherwood]

Thanks so much for those responses, GR2 and Crumblie,
So it looks as though Murdoch had been convicted of a civil crime some time before his enlistment, then...
However, I still don't quite get the significance of a list like that.  Did all regiments produce them after the War, and I also thought that desertion often resulted in the firing squad.  So does "desertion" here mean not in the line of duty, or something less serious?  And why has it taken 3 years since the cessation of WW1 for the list to appear?
Keith

[ShaunJ]

Fold 3 has pension index cards for him that show that he remained in the army after the war and was renumbered 2988532. Also that the army recorded his birthdate as 31 March 1899. (Was he the 16 year old convicted of stealing jewellery from a house at Milton of Bamff, Alyth, and clothing from a bothy, jailed for a month in February 1916?)

The Ministry of Defence still holds his army records and you could apply for a copy.

[ShaunJ]

Keith - if your soldier was born in 1896, this looks like the wrong Murdoch McIntosh.

[ShaunJ]

The one born in Forres in 1896 appears to be Murdo rather than Murdoch. There was a Murdo McIntosh in the Seaforth Highlanders:  number 2293, later 265741.

[Keith Sherwood]

Shaun,
Thanks so much for coming to my rescue - yet again! Have been constantly confused in tracking this family through McINTOSH sometimes MACKINTOSH, and Murdoch sometimes Murdo.
The 1896 birth is a definite, so you have put me onto the correct individual now, and the other one I wrongly imagined as my man when I started this thread is most probably, as you say, born in 1899 and committing that theft as a 16 year old in 1916.
That's that sorted, then...phew!
Keith

[Keith Sherwood]

Shaun,
I don't suppose you know whether individual regiments produced lists a while after WW1 detailing reasons why certain individuals in their ranks were not to receive medals, as the Seaforth Highlanders did in this 1921 record.  And does the term "desertion" here carry less significance?  Surely it wasn't just a widescale desertion problem in this particular Highland regiment.
Keith