Absent Voters' List 1918

[Mike]

Been studying the absent voters list in the local archives. Thought I knew my WW1 abbreviations, but there's a new crop with these lists.

can anyone on here help? I had a look around the Great War Forum but only found one thread with someone asking about one abbreviation but it received no reply.

I need to know what 'H.D.L' and 'P.A.' mean in the annotation - have a look below at an actual page - these abbreviations appear many hundreds of times.

[badjez]

Mike,

Just a guess for PA- Posted Abroad. Were all the men on your list with PA against their names overseas? 1/5 Essex were in Egypt.

The HDL I can only guess may include D for Depot as these men appear to be stationed at a Depot.

Stephen.

[Mike]

You might be on to something. PA doesn't seem to occur with BEF. so does it mean overseas, but elsewhere, ie not France and Flanders?

I feel HDL is going to be Home.. something but what?

here is a larger sample I've transcribed

Alnwick Absent Voters List 1918

[badjez]

HDL: how about Home Duties List/Ledger?

Stephen.

[Mike]

Originally Posted by badjez

HDL: how about Home Duties List/Ledger?

Stephen.

Could be. Have also found a 'PA Salonika' to go with the 'PA Italy' above so 'overseas and not F&F' still holds up.

[Fatherofthree]

Mike.

How about: Posted Absent or Passed Away.
and Home Duties Leave or Home Depot Leave.

Regards
Brian

[Mike]

Originally Posted by Fatherofthree

Mike.

How about: Posted Absent or Passed Away.
and Home Duties Leave or Home Depot Leave.

Regards
Brian

I've gone through about a thousand names and all I can say is that 'PA's are probably outside Blighty, 'HDL's are in.

I might have a look at lists for other areas next time I'm at the archives, may be in other volumes some thoughtful 1918 civil servant wrote PA/HDL out in full rather than abbreviated form.

Interesting looking at this annotation there must be at least 6 different people adding notes and they all stick to the abbreviations. I've had a look at two parliamentary divisions - Berwick upon Tweed and Wansbeck both consistently use HDL's and PA's.

[badjez]

Mike,

Try the earliest lists as they might have the full detail before the scribes got tired of constantly repeating it in full. Was any printed guidance produced by central Government for the compilation of the AVL? Your current Electoral Registration Office may help as the law hasn't changed that much over the recent years.

Best of luck. Stephen.

[Mike]

Pinned one of those abbreviations down.

PA = Proxy Area.

There is a document in the national archives which is a government memo outlining the data collection methods to comply with the Representation of the People Act 1918, as applied to the armed forces, ie the AVLs. It's an interesting read anyway (and free to download). It states those in the UK or France and Flanders could vote by post, those elsewhere were in a 'Proxy Area' and could allocate a proxy to vote.

it's here if anyone is interested:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/d...doc_Id=7958819

[Fatherofthree]

Mike.

Congratulations, just goes to show what a decent bit of research and dedication to a hobby can discover.

Hope Diligent Looking is as successful.

Regards

Brian