Absentee Voters, 1918
Lists of 'absent' servicemen, compiled for the 1918 General Election
Transcribed by Neil Fortey
The following discussion has been takenfrom explanations given by the ‘1914-1918’, ‘My Family Ancestors’ and ‘Wikipedia’ websites:
http://www.1914-1918.net/soldiers/avl.html
http://www.myfamilyancestors.co.uk/voters-lists
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melton_%28UK_Parliament_constituency%29
The United Kingdom general election of 1918 was called immediately after the Armistice with Germany which ended World War I, and held on Saturday 14 December 1918. It was the first election to be held after the Representation of the People Act 1918. It was thus the first election in which women over the age of 30, and all men over the age of 21, could vote. Previously, all women and many poor men had been excluded from voting.
In general election of December 1910 the parliamentary seat of Melton Mowbray had been won by Charles Edward Yate from the Liberals who had held it in the two previous general elections in 1906 as and January 1910. Yates was returned unopposed in 1918 and went on to successfully defend the seat for the Unionists in 1922, 1923 and 1924.
A feature of the 1918 election was the importance given to ensuring that men in the armed forces were included in the electoral roll. An act of Parliament passed on 6 February, 1918, allowed service men to register in order to obtain a vote in the constituency of their home address. Voters details were initially supplied by the next of kin of the household of the soldier to local voter registration officers. Once this process was completed, the names of those in the army were sent to the Adjutant General’s Department of the War Office, who then arranged to send voting cards to soldiers who were in the United Kingdom and ballot papers to men in France, Flanders and Italy. Men serving in more distant theatres of war were allowed to vote through use of a proxy voting form. The hurried and rather haphazard nature of collecting the original information at home meant that some men were missed out altogether and the details given for others often inaccurate.
The first Absentee Voters lists were published on 15 October, 1918 from applications received up to 18 August, 1918, and a second list was published on 15 April, 1919. The lists recorded their regiment, number and rank at the time, as well as home address. Sadly, there is no surviving central register of Absentee Voters, and many individual lists have not survived. We are fortunate in that the List for Bottesford and Muston is kept in the Leicestershire Record Office at Wigston Magna.
These lists are valuable in that they link names, addresses and service histories of men who survived the fighting. Many of those from Bottesford are also found on the ‘church organ’ list, but not all. The Bottesford list includes some men whose service careers we were not previously aware of, and this is also the case with all those on the Muston list.
The following tables are a transcription of the absentee voters lists for Bottesford and Muston, respectively.
Bottesford absentee voters, 1918
Name | Address | Number and Rank | Service Unit |
Allen, John | Barkstone Lane | 486785 Sapper | 229th Field Company, Royal Engineers |
Allcorn, Fred | High Street | 289474 Sapper | R.T.E. |
Asher, John | Station Road | O.S., B/2/6117 | HMS Attentive, R.N.V.R. |
Evans, William Samuel | Chapel Street | 27651 Private | 2nd East Yorkshire Regiment |
Hart, Arthur James | Queen Street | 221691 Private | No.4 Wireless Observation Group, Royal Engineers |
Kennington, Henry Barker | Market Street | 317742 Private | 267th Siege Battery |
Kirton, Isaac George | Easthorpe | 238237 Private | 410th Agricultural Company, Labour Corps |
Ogden, Arthur William | Belvoir Road | 23130 Private | 720th Labour Company |
Parr, Albert | High Street | 890194 Corporal | General Base Depot, Egypt Royal Field Artillery |
Willcockson, Fred | High Street | WR295595 Sapper | 267th Railway Company |
Allcorn, Francis Cecil | Wyggeston Terrace | 15065 Sergeant | 3rd Grenadier Guards |
Allcorn, Frank | Wyggeston Terrace | 25905 Private | 9th Leicestershire Regiment |
Barrand, William Percival | Church Street | Lieutenant | 5th Yorkshire and Lancashire Regiment |
Ball, Arthur William | High Street | Lieutenant | Royal Air Force |
Barrand, William Joseph | Grantham Road | not given | not given |
Briggs, Thomas Harold | Grantham Road | WR177009 Sapper | R.O.D., Royal Engineers |
Bugg, Harvey | Market Street | S4/041909 Corporal | Frozen Meat Coy, R.A.S.C. |
Calcraft, James Edward | Wyggeston Terrace | 14191 Private | H.M.S. Lucia, Royal Marines |
Calcraft, Charles William | Wyggeston Terrace | 492110 | 46th Division Signal Company, Royal Engineers |
Cox, Albert Edward | West End | 3rd Writer M.22659 | H.M.S. Egmont |
Christmas, Reginald | West End | 27918 Private | 2nd Leicestershire Regiment |
Darby, Walter | Chapel Street | M/2/076432 Private | 338th M.T.C., R.A.S.C |
Edwards, William | West End | 37245 Private | 46th South Staffordshire Regiment |
Gaylard, Trevor Richard | Station Road | M/2/182650 Private | 4th Petrol Company, A.S.C. |
Gilder, William | Orston Lane | 2108 (S) Private | Land Defences, Scapa Flow Ch. |
Hart, Ewart | Queen Street | O.S. BZ/5631 | H.M.S. Marshal Ney, R.N.V.R. |
Handley, John Kirton | Normanton Road | 200928 Driver | E Battery, R.H.A. |
Hilson, Francis William | High Street | 30143 Private | 1st Devonshire Regiment |
Hudson, Herbert Wright | Queen Street | 876494 A/Bdr | D/282 Brigade, R.F.A. |
Hickson, Francis Vincent | The Elms | Captain | 1/6 Royal Sussex Cyclists |
Jallands, Herbert | Easthorpe | 469504 Private | 482nd Agriculture Company, Labour Corps |
King, Lionel May | Belvoir Road | 2nd Lieutenant | 3rd Res. Gloucestershire Regiment |
Kirton, Tom | Easthorpe | 24611 | Yorkshires |
Kennewell, Arthur | High Street | 7962 Bdr | 21st Battery, R.F.A. |
Lane, Harry William | Belvoir Road | 494230 Private | 86th T.R.B. |
Miller, Ernest James | High Street | 18305 Corporal | 4th K.O.S. Borderers |
Rawdin, Harry | The Green | 5/16405 Sergeant | 53rd (Y.S.), B.N., T.R. (N.F.S.) |
Rawdin, Frederick Cecil | The Green | not given | not given |
Richardson, Donald Hickling | The Croft | Major | 12th Tank Battalion, 18th Company, Tank Corps |
Sutton, William | High Street | 17425 Sgt | 2nd Leicestershire Regiment |
Schofield, James | High Street | 601 Musician | Royal Naval School Music, Eastney, Royal Marines |
Silverwood, Arthur Edward | High Street | 2nd Lieutenant | P.O.W. |
Silverwood, Cecil Tom | High Street | 268069 Sapper | Wireless, Royal Engineers |
Silverwood, Robert Charles | High Street | 41247 Private | 16th H.L.I. |
Tinkler, Harry | Retford’s Cottages | 274043 Sapper | 29th Company, Royal Engineers |
Welbourne, Harold Herman | Queen Street | A.B. J15373 | H.M.S. “Blenheim” (Redpole) |
Muston absentee voters, 1918
Name | Address | Number and Rank | Service Unit |
Lamin, Robert Charles | Goodson’s Farm | 204490 Gunner | 29th Battery, Royal Field Artillery |
Barrett, John Francis Tufnell | The Rectory | 2nd Lieutenant | Royal Air Force |
Coy, Cyril | Muston Gorse | 90937 Private | Durham Light Infantry |
Norman, Henry Charles | Muston Post Office | 62086 L. Cpl., | 2nd Middlesex Regiment |
Oliver, Albert Edward | Green’s Lane | 40220 Private | 2nd Leicestershire Regiment |
Oliver, Charles Cecil | Green’s Lane | 136030 Private | 23rd Depot Coy, 4th Battalion Machine Gun Corps |
Tinkler, Amos | May’s Row | 489770 Sapper | 26th Group Field Survey Company. Royal Engineers |
Topps, Theodore | 33066 Private | B Company, 1st Battalion, Yorkshire and Lancashire Regiment |
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