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military records - desertions

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Kerry

Kerry Report 19 Jan 2008 13:16

hi

wondering if anyone can help?

my great grandfather deserted the ww1 was caught and sent to edinburgh to serve time. does anyone know where i would be able to get any futher info about this, dates etc.

i have been advised that deserters arent listed in military records, is this true?

Heather

Heather Report 19 Jan 2008 13:19

Did he desert or just go AWOL?

If you have his name and date of birth/place of birth a record may be on ancestry.co.uk

Kerry

Kerry Report 19 Jan 2008 13:26

from what my dad says it was desertion.

can't be 100% on that though

Kerry

Kerry Report 19 Jan 2008 13:31

thanks

much appreciated

Yvonne

Yvonne Report 19 Jan 2008 23:40

Public Records Office Kew London is the place where all official forces lists are kept Yvonne

Kerry

Kerry Report 22 Jan 2008 19:13

unfortunatly i know very little about the situation at present.

he is from my paternal side of the family and we have no contact with them, am trying to get as much info as i can though.

what i have found out was that he was in prison til the end of the war and then released, never went back into the service

Mummy Bear

Mummy Bear Report 22 Jan 2008 20:52

Kerry

Firstly, you need to establish the facts. I can understand your hesitance to post his name. However, you could PM it to one of us to help you if your not familiar with military research.

If he served in WW1 there should be a MIC (medal index card), this will show what regiment he was in, his service number. This is then a basis to work from. This is the link to TNA – put in his details and see what comes up - cut & paste the whole complete line below

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/browse-refine.asp?CatID=10&searchType=browserefine&pagenumber=1&query=*&queryType=1

If as you suspect he was a deserter, as has been mentioned already there are many levels or scales of desertion from being late back after leave to under fire in the face of the enemy. Punishment ranged from a fine to being shot and everything in between including incarceration.

Once you have his regiment and number any misdemeanours will be documented and these will be available at Kew, unfortunately these are not online but have a look in the Catalogue at TNA to see which WO series is most appropriate.

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/default.asp?j=1

Court Martial details can be found in various series at Kew WO 71; WO 213; WO 86/62-65; WO 90/6-8; WO 93.

MB