British military service tribunals, 1916-1918

By James McDermott

Subjects: First World War, History, Draft, British Home Front, Great britain, history, military, Total War and local communities., Courts-martial and courts of inquiry

Description: This is the first substantial analysis of the work of British Military Service Tribunals, established in 1916 to adjudicate applications for exemption from military service (partial conscription was introduced in January 1916 and its scope expanded by successive Military Service Acts). Staffed entirely by civilian volunteers, these bodies tried to balance the needs of the Army with those of industry and their local community. Typically, they failed to please anyone. Regarded as obstructionist old duffers by the Army and as unfeeling servants of the state by everyone else, they were hampered in their work by imprecise legislation and contradictory advice from Government. Their reputation has been further darkened by historians of pacifism, who have regarded them - simplistically - as being entirely on the side of the Military and instinctively hostile to the (relatively few) cases of conscience they examined. This study seeks to place a more balanced perspective on their work, utilizing individual case histories, newspaper reports of their proceedings and parliamentary debates upon the issues their work raised.