1918 Absent Voters' List

[Coquet]

We have added the Absent Voters' List 1918 to the other site:

Overview (notes are on that page if you don't know what the AVL is)


Amble, Hauxley, Radcliffe, Togston

Chevington, Broomhill, Widdrington

Warkworth, Shilbottle, Acklington, Felton

Alnmouth Lesbury


We would always be interested to hear from you if you find an ancestor in there that you didn't know had served in the Great War.

Also any 'abbreviation questions' - this is the place to post them

[Coquet]

Some of the more common abbreviations on the Northumberland Absent Voters List 1918:

B.E.F. = Men serving with the British Expeditionary Force in France and Belgium. Men are marked as such because they are entitled to a postal vote, being in close proximity to the UK.

P.A. = Men serving in theatres other than France and Belgium, ie the Proxy Area, entitled to Proxy voting. (eg Salonika, Egypt, India, etc)

H.D.L = not precisely identified, but men with this note are all in the UK, so it's probably Home....something or other. We believe postal or normal voting was permitted in these cases.

Batt, Bat and Bn = Battalion. Batt is also occasionally used for Battery on the AVLs

Bty = Battery, an artillery unit

R.F.A. = Royal Field Artillery

R.G.A. = Royal Garrison Artillery. The heavy calibre artillery units

S. or Sie. = often used in conjunction with R.G.A. to identify Siege Batteries, Royal Garrison Artillery.

Garr. Gar. or G. = Garrison Battalion designation ie 2 Gar Batt. N.F. 2nd Garrison Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers.

Res. = Reserve, normally XX Reserve Battalion also occasionally just R.

T.R. = Training Reserve

N.F. = Northumberland Fusiliers.

D.L.I. = Durham Light Infantry

R.F. = Royal Fusiliers

A.S.C = Army Service Corps

Huss. = Hussars, frequently in our case North'd Huss. = Northumberland Hussars (A Yeomanry Cavalry unit initially recruiting mainly skilled horsemen from our area.)

M.T. and H.T. = Motor Transport (occasionally interpreted as Mechanical Transport) or Horse Transport. Prefixes to A.S.C Units.

Roy. = Royal.

Lab. = Labour often Lab C or Lab Co meaning Labour Corps or Labour Company.

Agric or Agr = Agriculture or Agricultural, which are Labour Corps Companies, so normally xx Agriculture Company, Labour Corps.

Co. or Coy. = Company, a subdivision of a battalion

M.G.C. = Machine Gun Corps

Pte. = rank of Private

Cpl. = rank of Corporal

Sgt or Sjt. = rank of Sergeant

Smn. = Navy Rating of Seaman

A.B = Navy Rating of Able Bodied Seaman

Tel. = Navy Rank of Telegrapher

R.N.R. = Royal Naval Reserve

Dk Hnd. = Deck Hand, a rating in the R.N.R.

R.N.V.R = Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve

R.N.D = Royal Naval Division (R.N.D. Men were part of the R.N.V.R so often R.N.D. R.N.V.R.)

R.E. = Royal Engineers

R.O.D. = Railway Operating Division Royal Engineers, often R.O.D. R.E.

I.W. & D. = Inland Waterways and Docks, a division of the Royal Engineers, so often; I.W. & D. R.E.

R.A.M.C = Royal Army Medical Corps

Cav. = Cavalry

Regt. or Rgt = Regiment.

Bde = Brigade also occasionally Bgde on the AVLs

[Coquet]

We will be having a go at the Alnwick and Denwick 'Absent Voters List 1918' in the next few weeks. Looks like about another 1,000 names.


Have today been comparing the Autumn 1918 and Spring 1919 lists, and the 1918 version as you would expect contains a lot more names, but... I am sure there will also be a few names on the 1919 list that will be absent from the 1918 list.

[Newbiggin born]

Originally Posted by Coquet

We will be having a go at the Alnwick and Denwick 'Absent Voters List 1918' in the next few weeks. Looks like about another 1,000 names.


Have today been comparing the Autumn 1918 and Spring 1919 lists, and the 1918 version as you would expect contains a lot more names, but... I am sure there will also be a few names on the 1919 list that will be absent from the 1918 list.

Thankyou for that, very interesting. Found four Spowarts on the lists, will watch out for the Alnwick ones.

[Coquet]

Put the Alnwick Absent Voters list up, still a few to add in the next day or two, plus I have to make another trip to the archives as I'm missing half of Denwick. drat.

1,122 names but possibly 4 are duplicate so 1,118 souls total. Lots of ex-Northern Cyclist Battalion men in there. Only one identified Tunneller, and one 'special co' man Royal Engineers, those special companies deployed some of our poison gas weapons.


When you think about the number of men from Alnwick killed prior to spring 1918, plus the even larger number of men discharged with wounds, then add these men still serving, then you get a picture of the scale of this disaster we call WW1

[Pete]

Fascinating stuff Mike. I had to look up "northern cyclists" never having come across them before. It beggars belief that in a time of trench warfare, tanks, artillery, and barbed wire, we had Battallions riding pushbikes.
I'm not surprised they were disbanded.

[brownknees]

The japanese used troops on Bikes in Malaya to great effect in WW 2!!