Absent Voters Roll

[mcblondie]

Hello everyone,

Please excuse my ignorance here, but how do i go about getting info from the Absent Voters list? Would I have to go to Park Circus or Edinburgh?

Thanks,
Katie

[Hugo]

I have never heard of an Absent Voters List.

I assume it refers to postal voters; in which case, if my memory serves me right, are indicated with a 'P' on the Voters Roll.

[LesleyB]

Hi Katie
This is all I've been able to find so far:

http://www.nls.uk/family-history/voters ... index.html

Voters' rolls
Electoral registers, or voters' rolls, are another useful resource for confirming details about an ancestor if you know where they lived.

Modern electoral registers only record the names of those entitled to vote at a particular address. Before 1918, however, they also recorded the person's occupation and details of their property. Except in rare cases, women don't feature in voters' rolls before 1918, as only men were eligible to vote then.

In 1918 there was an Absent Voters' Roll that listed personal details of soldiers who were fighting abroad. Very few of these rolls have survived, and those that do are held by local libraries or archives or the British Library. We do not hold any copies of the 1918 Absent Voters' Roll at NLS.

Best wishes
Lesley

[mcblondie]

Hi Lesley,

Thanks for the info it was most helpfull.

In 1918 there was an Absent Voters' Roll that listed personal details of soldiers who were fighting abroad. Very few of these rolls have survived, and those that do are held by local libraries or archives or the British Library. We do not hold any copies of the 1918 Absent Voters' Roll at NLS.

My grandfather was in the Army in 1918 so this explains a lot.

Thanking you,