Deserters of the First World War by Andrea Hetherington

Author:Andrea Hetherington
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History / Military / World War II
Publisher: Pen and Sword Military
Published: 2021-08-30T00:00:00+00:00

Exemptions could be granted completely or temporarily, depending on the reasons for the application. Should a conscientious objector be considered to have a genuinely held belief, the Tribunal could grant him total exemption – in practice quite rare – or a conditional or partial exemption that would oblige him either to take part in military service in a non–combatant role, or to instead be employed in work of national importance. Applicants were entitled to appeal any failure to grant them the level of exemption sought, firstly to a Regional Tribunal and then to the Central Tribunal which also issued directives and sample cases to guide the lower bodies.

A man who did not answer his call–up was not yet considered a deserter, though the intention of many who did not respond to the letters sent to them was undoubtedly to avoid service in the army completely. These men were not court–martialled but simply fined up to 40s. by the civilian court before being handed over to the military. They do not, therefore, form part of the official statistics on discipline published in Statistics of the Military Effort of the British Empire. Some indication of the level of non–co–operation with conscription can be found in a memorandum from the Chief of the Imperial General Staff, Sir William Robertson, to the Cabinet on 21 March 1916 in which he stated that ‘of 193,891 men called up under the Military Service Act no fewer than 57,416 have failed to appear’.3 The Army Council also recorded similar disappointment, noting that ‘only a very small percentage’ of men called up had actually been secured.4 The Police Gazette of 2 May 1916 listed the names and addresses of 920 men who had failed to answer their call–up papers.5 Every week a list of new names of similar volume was printed as the call–up notices went unheeded. The lists were not necessarily accurate as they were compiled from information that was months out of date in certain cases. Some of the men summoned may not have been in a position to answer the country’s call: as of 1 July 1916 3,000 enlistment notices had been sent out to men who were already dead.

The importance attached to the task of obtaining new recruits can be seen by the measures introduced alongside conscription itself. Firstly, instructions were issued that men who had already been discharged from the services for misconduct or due to a civilian prison sentence would now be called up once again. This included officers who had previously been cashiered out of the service.6 The same document specified that British–born men of foreign parentage or those who were now naturalized British citizens would also be conscripted, though if they were of German or Austrian origin they must only be sent to labour battalions. Regular soldiers were no longer to be discharged on the expiry of their original term of service unless they had served more than twelve years and were over the age of 41. Workhouses would be

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