Lessons to be learnt

Joseph came from Thornton, near Blackpool, and when he made his case to a committee of local councillors, he was given an exemption from military service. But that exemption was taken away by the Central Tribunal, which sat in far-off Westminster and was led by the fourth Marquess of Salisbury.

I have looked at the tribunal’s surviving records and I believe that it acted wrongfully, not just by present-day standards, but also by rules it had made for itself.

Modern lessons

Although Lord Salisbury and his colleagues eventually acknowledged their error, nothing was