Appeals against Tribunal decisions

Next post  Back to previous post

Local Military Service Tribunals were formed in each local authority, and within each county Appeal Tribunals were established to resolve disputes over local tribunal decisions. The final arbiter in difficult cases was a Central Tribunal, based in London, which also advised the Army Council regarding men who, having pleaded a conscientious objection, had been sentenced by court martial to terms of imprisonment for breach of military discipline.

Appeals against a local tribunal decision to the County Appeal Tribunal (Middlesex in the case of Hornsey, Tottenham and Wood Green) could be made by an individual making the application, usually the man himself, but sometimes his employer, or the Military Representative, who was a member of the Tribunal.

Appeals against the decision of the County Appeal Tribunal could be made to the Central Tribunal. In this case the man’s appeal in writing would be considered in light of previous advice given and decisions made along with other views from interested parties, including the Military Representatives attached to the Central Tribunal. The decisions handed down by the Central Tribunal were final.

Another avenue of appeal was via the High Court, which brought about the second Military Service Act of May 1916. In this case Frank Parton, a law student, was only granted exemption from combatant service by the Chertsey local tribunal and he appealed for an absolute exemption. Croydon Appeal Tribunal determined he did not even deserve an exemption from non-combatant service and the Central Tribunal denied any further appeal. Parton then took his case to the High Court in April 1916 that determined that the correct interpretation of the Act was that exemption from combatant service was the sole exemption available to conscientious objectors. It was this unforeseen interpretation which, in part, caused the Government to pass the second version of the Act.

After the war, in 1921, the Ministry of Health ordered that all papers relating to individual cases of exemption, and all local MST minute books, should be destroyed as they were not considered of sufficient public value to justify preservation. The only exceptions were the Middlesex and Lothian appeals, which were to be preserved as examples. Recently a number of records have been discovered which survived the 1921 order and the National Archives produced a list of record offices holding these papers.

Next post  Back to previous post