Military Service Tribunals

Poole and Dorset Herald, 9th March 1916

Local military service tribunals were originally set up in October 1915. Their original aim was to co-ordinate ‘military service requirements with those of civil departments and vital industries’, and as such they considered the postponement of calling up voluntarily attested men for military service. The central tribunal was set up in November. Local tribunals often forwarded cases to them for a final decision, and they also heard appeals against the decisions made in local tribunals.

In 1916 the Military Service Act introduced conscription, meaning that military service was now compulsory.