A WEBINAR showcasing the progress of the Redditch Military Service Tribunal Project in the First World War will take place next week.

The project has worked with volunteers to transcribe the registers of the local Redditch Tribunal and research the lives of the men who were called for service.

The volunteer team have also been working hard to research the men who applied for exemption both under the Derby Scheme and later Conscription at the Military Service Tribunals between 1915 and 1918.

After the initial surge of interest in 1914, the numbers of men volunteering to fight in World War I dropped.

The Derby Scheme of 1915 listed all the men who were both willing and eligible to fight, and in 1916 conscription was introduced to ‘call-up’ all men between 18 and 41 to fight.

For those who could not fight due to their health, obligations, employment, or beliefs the Military Service Tribunals were established to hear their cases and provide exemptions from conscription.

Records of these tribunal were largely destroyed in 1921, but in Worcestershire, Redditch kept its registers of applications and some correspondence in the archive of Redditch Urban District Council.

The Archive and Archaeology team will be using the event to introduce the resources we have produced from the Redditch records.

The team are also creating an exhibition out of our research including case studies of some of the individuals and they would love to hear from anyone who may have any additional material could enhance our research further.

The webinar will be taking place on Tuesday 2nd March from 7pm to around 8pm.

It will include a short talk about the Military Service Tribunals by Professor John Peters, Director of Learning, Teaching & Scholarship at Newman University, Birmingham.

Councillor Lucy Hodgson, Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Communities, said: “Worcestershire has a proud military history and we’re really proud of all of the projects that help us to look into this in great detail. Our Armed Forces Covenant Partnership here in the county is committed to raising awareness of our Armed Forces Community, past and present.

The Redditch Military Service Tribunal is just one of the projects we have which allow us to do this. I would encourage anyone who has any information which they may help the team to go forward in their research to get in touch.”

Those who would like to attend the webinar can register via www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/141668035909

The ‘Redditch Military Service Tribunal Project’ is a National Lottery Heritage funded project and this project forms the last of the Worcestershire World War 100 projects.