Military Chat

can someone please advise me where I can search to find my great uncles record..My gt uncle William Edward Davey born 1886 sent to Dartmoor prison for the duration of the first world war as he refused to enlist, once the war ended he was made to leave the UK (came to NZ later settle in Australia but died in NZ) and told never to come back. I would love to get any details on this. would appericate and help
regards
Kerry (New Zealand)

Kerry...This site gives you a direct link to what you want...(Scroll down to data base National Archives and click on that link.)

Just put his name in and all the records relating to him come up...

http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2014/jan/23/who-conscientious-objectors-first-world-war

William Edward.Davey..Case No M893....34 High St.Southall

It does appear he was originally from NZ.

Middlesex Chronicle 5 Aug 1916

A Conscience Absentee

William Edward Davey (30), manager of High Steet, Southall, was also charged as an absentee, his defence being that he was a conscientious objector and that under the Military Service Act conscientious objectors were exempt - The Chairman said this was a question for a Tribunal and not the Bench. A military officer stated that the man had appealed to the local and county Tribunals, and in each case his claim had been refused. A fine of £5 was imposed and Davey was ordered to be handed over to the military

For Ref:

The ‘Conchies’
The Military Service Act of 1916 introduced compulsory Conscription. ‘Conscientious Objectors’ or ‘Conchies’ as they were called could apply before Tribunals for exemption on moral or religious grounds and either accepted non-combatant duties or agreed to serve at a Government Labour Camp. In 1917 Dartmoor prison was designated a Labour Camp and around a thousand such men replaced the convicts, occupied their cells and performed the same work as they had done. All locks were removed, they had freedom of movement locally and the Warders acted as supervisors only. They and their families were generally despised and suffered much hardship.

The procedure following the tribunal (where a military representative would be aggressively persuasive) was that the CO would be arrested at home by a policeman, taken to the Magistrates Court on a charge of being a Deserter from the Army. They would then be taken under military escort to the barracks and ordered to put on a uniform If the CO did refuse, they would be court-martialled for disobedience, then imprisoned.

So he could not have been in prison for the duration of WW1

THANK YOU THANK YOU for your efforts and it was a wonderful surprise to see his handwriting and signature..I had great delight in showing my mother (as william edward was her uncle) as these are just stories she remembers hearing when she was growing up..I meet William Edward (Teddy) daughter Iris and she can remember her father being in prison and that her live during those years where very hard as they had to rely on the church and her aunt to help out with food clothing etc.

When the men are released is it true that they get evicted from the UK, as my mother seems to think that William Edward was told to leave the UK and never to return??
:-)

Kerry..I seem to remember when reading one of his submissions that he had only arrived in England a month before the outbreak of the War and had tried to get back to NZ.....
NZ was/is part of the British Commonwealth so it may have been he was "encouraged" to leave Britain and not come back rather than an enforced "deportation" following his stay on Dartmoor...I am sure there must be references to that sort of situation but I don't know where they would be found.

All the Docs.relating to the people held at Dartmoor were destroyed round about 1922 by order of the Ministry of Health...the only one remaining is that of the Medical Officer and contains info.relating to persons seeking Medical Help whilst they were there....I believe this is kept at the Dartmoor Museum Devon.

He would have been a British subject and so it's difficult to see how he could have been deported or similar.

He also says in the papers in the National Archives, that he has

"applied for permission to leave this country, but owing to the obstacles placed by the authorities I have been unable to comply with their requirements."

thank to everyone for your help in this search as now i have finally found the missing piece of information I was after in regards to my Gt Uncle... :-)