Absent voters’ lists are separate registers of military personnel entitled to vote.
The first election to be held after the Representation of the People Act (February 1918) was on 14 December of that year.
This was after the Armistice, but many military personnel were still based away from their homes on the day of the election.
The government therefore decided to compile lists of all these absent voters so they could still vote, wherever they were currently based.
The NRO holds:
The NHC holds:
These lists can be a useful resource for researching military ancestors as they provide:
The list also includes women engaged in military duties for the first time, such as army nurses.