Was my partner’s grandfather kicked out of the army?

QI’ve been trying to find the army records of my partner’s grandfather, William Frederick Middleton. He was born in Norwich, Norfolk, on 19 April 1904 and served in the British Army in Belfast around 1922.

Apparently, while stationed in Belfast, he met a local Irish girl, Margaret Grahme Lecky (born 15 February 1904), fell in love and wanted to marry her. However, the army would not give him permission ( solders were not supposed to fraternise with the locals), so William married her secretly. He went AWOL and they stayed hidden with her family for about a week until army officials/ police found him and took him back. I don’t know whether there was any formal disciplinary action, but William was discharged and returned to Norwich with Margaret.

I can find no records to support the story though – no record of William’s enlistment in the army and no marriage certificate in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. Kathie Canfield, Norwich, Norfolk

AThis is interesting, given that William was born in 1904, so was only 18 in 1922. Though he could have enlisted as a boy (aged 16) this was specifically for training in a trade, so it’s more likely he enlisted aged 18. By 1922, Ireland had been partitioned and Northern Ireland remained as part of the UK, so it’s unlikely that there were rules against fraternising with the locals.

The Manual of Army Law says, “a man who joins the army – whether as an officer, or as a private – does not cease to be a citizen” and enjoyed, with some specified limitations, the same rights and privileges as others. The army couldn’t prevent a soldier from getting married provided the marriage was legal under civil law. The 1753 Act making marriage under 21 illegal without parental permission didn’t apply in Ireland, so provided church rules were followed, the marriage was legal. People are possibly confused because, in the 19th century, men could be refused permission to marry ‘on the strength’, which gave wives rights to rations, married quarters and free travel with the regiment. Other wives had to stay at home, often for many years.

There were clear rules about how and why a soldier could be discharged from the army, and going AWOL wasn’t one of them. Normally there would be a prison sentence. It would make little sense to discharge a soldier for going AWOL, as it would only encourage more men to do so. I suspect William may have bought himself out of the army.

William’s service record, and those for other soldiers who served after 1920, are held at the Army Records Office in Glasgow. Details on obtaining them are at ( www.gov.uk/ requests-for-personal- data-and-service-records), which provides the paperwork and explains the procedure. Phil Tomaselli