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Key dates over December 1918

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

Lives lost on this day: 0

16th December 1918 - Reports of a small Poll

Rolling casualty count: 11576

War Front:

1st Batt: Batt still billeted in Tournai.

2nd Batt: At 0900 hours the Batt marched to its final destination, St Maillais, which it reached at 1330 hours. The billets were good.

4th Batt: The Batt moved from Berg Gladbach to Altenberg.

14th Batt: Capt. J Batchelor DCM, re-joined the Batt from leave. 2Lt AP Gibbs proceeded to England as Conducting Officer.

Home Front:

Reports of a small Poll – There are 22667 names on the voting list for Worcester of which 4800 are absent (soldiers and sailors). Of the remainder 17800 it is estimated by workers on both sides that something like 1200-1300 voters polled. The estimates of Saturday results suggest a great falling off of the percentage of votes polled.

In Worcester as well as in the other centres there was relative enthusiasm among the women voters whose poll must have a very important bearing on the result.

One old lady over 90 years of age wanted to vote if she could be driven to the poll but she was so anxious to vote for Sir Edward Goulding that she did not wait for the conveyance but managed to walk up while it was fine. Another old lady was so anxious to vote for Sir Edward that she came out of the house for the first time since the coronation.

Letter – the First Woman to Vote

Dear Sir, I see in your issue of Saturday last that a lady in Claines claims to be the first woman to record her vote in the City. While commending her promptitude and keenness in voting I think I may claim to be the first woman to have recorded her vote in the City. I poled on the stroke of 8 o'clock at the polling station at St Nicholas schools. Mr Nightingale the presiding officer at the Station I am sure will vouch for this fact

Yours EA Rea, 34 Foregate Street

Information researched by The Worcestershire World War 100 team