An Act of Parliament of 6 February 1918 allowed service men to register so that they could vote in their home constituency. Men had to apply to be put on the absent voters list. A deadline of 18 August 1918 was set and a list compiled from applications up to this date was published on 15 October 1918.
A second opportunity to register was offered and a deadline was set at 18 February 1919. The list resulting from applications received during this second wave was published on 15 April 1919. The absent voters lists were prepared by the local Electoral Register and they were published twice a year, as were the general electoral registers. This pattern continued for a little while after the end of the First World War. There are fewer instances of absent voters the further we get from the end of the conflict: this was because of the simple fact that the men were coming home.
The Absent Voters Lists were published as separate volumes to the main electoral registers.
The Absent Voters Lists are of great interest to military historians and genealogists because they include more information that is usually recorded in the general electoral registers. In addition to the name and home address of an individual, they often include regiment or corps, regimental number, rank, battalion, battery (for artillery units), company or other unit number (for other corps units).
See the Absent Voter Lists for Timsbury: