Pembrokeshire Absent Voters' List 1918

Pembrokeshire Absent Voters' List 1918

Acknowledgement

These lists are the work of Jon Woodhouse and Dyfed James, from original public domain documents held in Pembrokeshire County Archives, Haverfordwest. Compiled and published in gratitude to and in memory of those men and women on this list, and to those who did not return, who have paid the ultimate price.

Absent Voters’ List

The list contains the details of the 7218 Pembrokeshire residents who were serving in the armed forces and away from home in mid 1918, who were eligible to vote in the General Election of that year. The list is almost all men, but there are some 100 women who were employed in nursing in the military, or in civilian hospitals. The person’s name, address, service number, and unit of the armed forces is given e.g.

Williams, William 23 John Street, Neyland 200535 Pte. 1/4th Welsh

In well over 95%, all these details are present, so this list is of great importance for researchers.

This was compiled in the Spring to early summer of 1918, so any soldier serving at that time will be listed.

Soldiers who had already died, will be commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC). Soldiers who had been discharged because of wounds or illness will be recorded as having a Silver War Badge, and lists exist of their awards (but not their addresses). Pension records (Available online at Fold 3, or via the Western Front Association) however might fill in that missing detail.

We can now solve the problem of a researcher looking for “ John Davies of Pembrokeshire” (all 67 of them! ) and give an address, rank, service number & regiment for almost all of them.

Documents

There are two PDF documents available: List sorted by Parish (grouped into Polling Districts), and List sorted by Surname

List by Parish List by Surname

Service records

Service records for Great War veterans were stored by the War Office in Arnside, London, and the storage premises were severely damaged by fire bombing in the Blitz in 1940. Consequently, 80% of those service records were lost, and there is therefore in general, no way of identifying where and in what role a particular soldier served during that war.

Medal Index Cards

These have survived, which will list soldiers’ names along with their ranks, service number and regiment, but these hold no addresses or any other personal details, so it is impossible to use that database alone to conclusively corroborate the identity of a soldier. Additionally, a Medal Index Card only exists if a soldier is on a Medal Roll for a regiment, and then only if he served in a theatre of war- generally overseas, or at sea. So, there is often no record of soldiers who have served in the UK in Depots or Garrison battalions, or in Agricultural companies, or in the Labour Corps.

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