Cardiganshire Appeals Tribunal.

Cardiganshire Appeals Tribunal.

During the First World War, military service appeals tribunals were an integral part of the conscription system established by the Military Service Act 1916 (5 & 6 George 5 ch. 104.). This Act required adult males to register for military service unless they possessed a certificate of exemption. Exemption could be claimed on grounds of essential war work, ill-health, family dependants or conscientious objection. The tribunal system had a tripartite structure. Initial claims for exemptions were heard by a local tribunal, based on pre-existing district council boundaries; appeals against its decisions were heard by an appeals tribunal, based on county council/county borough boundaries, and further appeals could be passed on to a Central Tribunal in London. The system updated the pre-existing 'Derby scheme' (which was a voluntary recruiting scheme) and introduced appeals tribunals, with quasi-judicial powers. Exemptions granted could be permanent, conditional or temporary, and all were revocable. It was rare for Appeals Tribunals to change the status of an exemption granted. An absolute right of appeal existed both for the individual and for the military services, whose representative at the local tribunal could lodge an appeal if it was felt that exemption had been granted on improper grounds. The whole system was overseen by the Local Government Board, with some input from November 1917 by the Ministry of National Service. Two groups of men were dealt with by the tribunals. The first were the so-called 'attested' men, who had declared a willingness to serve under the Derby scheme; some of these had claimed temporary/conditional exemptions. The other group was those men who had made no declarations about willingness to serve. Both groups had the right to apply for exemption certificates under the Military Service Act. Those found to be making false claims could be imprisoned for six months. The secretarial duties were performed by a clerk, who, in the case of Cardiganshire, was Edgar Evans, clerk to Cardiganshire County Council. He appears to have been responsible for the records. All the records of tribunals were officially ordered to be destroyed by the Ministry of Health, as successor to the Local Government Board, in 1921, apart form the Middlesex Appeals records and those for Peebles in Scotland, which were exempted, but those for Cardiganshire, along with those for Northamptonshire, have survived.