Doncaster Times Issue 1 - June 2016

infirmity’, or that he held a ‘conscientious objection
to the undertaking of combatant service’. 6 Such
claims would be heard alongside those of attested
men by the existing local tribunals, which could
now grant temporary, conditional, or absolute
exemption. 7 Furthermore, the Act established
area appeal tribunals, to which the reservist or the
military representative could refer a claim if they
were dissatisfied with a local tribunal’s decision. 8
By the end of the war, further Military Service
Acts had extended the scope of conscription
to all men, single and married, up to the age of
51. However, it must be remembered that not
every individual of military age came within the
Tribunals’ jurisdiction. Many in essential war
industries were afforded protection directly by
government departments, most notably the
Ministry of Munitions and the War Office, and
therefore had no need to lodge a formal appeal. 9
What is the relevance of all of this to the family
historian? It might be expected that any national
system of conscription would have left a large
volume of official documents. This is not the case,
however, because in 1921 the Government ordered
local authorities to dispose of all the tribunal
records. 10 Only a few exceptions were made,
namely the papers of the Lothian and Peebles
Appeal Tribunal, recently digitised by the National
Archives of Scotland, and the papers of the
Middlesex Appeal Tribunal and the Central Tribunal,
which will soon be digitised under a joint project of
the National Archives, the Friends of the National
Archives, and the Federation of Family History
Societies. 11 Fortunately, not all local authorities
carried out the Government’s destruction order
and for whatever reason some other records have
been preserved. Every tribunal kept minutes, a
register of decisions, a correspondence file, and
the appeal forms for individual cases. Where such
records survive they will usually be found in the
local archives, most likely in the files of the council.
After successive local government reorganisations
since 1921 many archivists quite rightly complain
that, with their limited staffing resources, they
still do not know the full extent of their records
and new discoveries are being made on a regular
basis. In addition to official documents, the other
significant resource on tribunal proceedings are
the reports published in the local press. Many
newspapers for the conscription period are
accessible on microfilm at local history libraries.
Exemption appeals offer rich potential as an avenue
of inquiry for the family historian. In the popular
mind, tribunal sittings were largely, or even solely,
concerned with the cases of that small group
of men who raised conscientious objections to
performing military service. This misconception
has been reinforced by the overwhelming focus
on these individuals in the historiography. 12
In actual fact, the number of men who appealed
to the tribunals was vast, certainly over a million,
meaning that many researchers should be able to
find at least one relative who claimed exemption. 13
Moreover, conscientious objectors made up only a
tiny fraction of the appeal bodies’ workload, never
more than 5% in any area studied so far, meaning
that having no known family history of objections
to war is not a bar to finding out about an
ancestor through these records. 14 The vast majority
of appellants argued some form of hardship or
occupational grounds, although the precise reasons
for claiming exemption were as varied as the
backgrounds of the individuals who cited them.
If there is a good chance of finding information on
a relative, it is also likely that it will prove to be of
interest. A tribunal register or an individual appeal
form would be important finds for a family historian,
as they would contain the name of the eligible man,
his address, his occupation, age, and employer,
whether the appeal was made by the man or the
employer, the decision of the tribunal, and whether
a further appeal was lodged. An examination of the
local newspaper reports should also be rewarding.
When the exemption system was introduced some
tribunals refused to allow the press and public
into their proceedings, fearing that men would be
deterred from appealing or be subject to ridicule
if their identity was made known to the public.
Even when they were given access, some editors
refused to give names and addresses for similar
reasons. However, other newspapers published
full details from the start, and this became
commonplace in the final two years of the war
when the stigma of appealing had diminished.
Even where names are not given in the press
reports, if there is a register entry or an appeal
form it will often be apparent from the stated
facts which case is which. The primary value of
the newspaper coverage lies in the fact that the
burden of proof in any claim to exemption fell on
the appellant. This meant that their testimony often
contained rich descriptions of domestic, business
and occupational circumstances and how these
had been affected by the war. Frequently, appellants
went on to describe the situations of their relatives
or the conditions at their workplace, thereby
providing a glimpse into the wider community.
The final utility of the reports is in detailing the
tribunal’s verdict. Clearly this was a seminal
moment for the eligible man, as it meant the
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