Conscientious objector

[sadiemc]

Hi

An individual I am researching Ernest Colman from Peterborough was a conscientious objector. In the local paper it is reported that he was handed over to the military authorities. I have his war records but where might the trial details be?

[km1971]

Only the hearing records for Middlesex are in the National Archives. Try the Peterborough record office. If they do not have them then it is likely they have not been kept. Being handed over to the army could mean anything from been court martialled, sentenced to death, later commuted to ten years in prison to being put in a non-combatant unit.

His military record should tell you his fate.

Ken

[Elwyn Soutter]

As I understand it, conscientious objectors weren’t tried in  a criminal court. They had to appear before a local tribunal made up of local worthies, who would decide whether or not they had a valid reason for being exempted from conscription.

The records appear to be incomplete. Some of those that survive are in NAS and others in the county records offices. See:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/looking-for-person/conscientiousobjectors.htm

[weste]

I know stafford has some local ones which are in the process of being transcripted or will be.

[sadiemc]

He was initially seen in front of the Peterborough notables and this was reported in the paper but what his sentence was (hard labour in Wormwood Scrubs) was not passed by them so this must have been a military sentence. In his records it says this was passed in Northampton. He was again tried and sentenced a couple of years later in Winchester to the same (hard labour in Wormwood Scrubs). He objected under Fellowship of Reconciliation grounds and this was quite rare as only 15 individuals received a sentence.

[california dreamin]

Hi sadiemc,

Initially, Ernest would have to go before a local tribunal who would hear his case and decide if they would grant him an exemption.  Under the 1916 Military Act he would have been deemed to have enlisted (unless given an exemption by his local tribunal). If he refused to join the colours at his appointed time he would be deemed an 'absentee' and would have been arrested.  IF the local tribunal refused him, he could appeal and this would go to a Central Tribunal.

It is these tribunal papers which tell the exact story of those who were CO's and those men asking for exemption perhaps due to their obligations at work (many were farmers) or as carers to elderly family members etc.  In most cases it is these papers that do not exist anymore.  They were all suppose to have been destroyed in the early 1920's but some small pocket's remain.

This information completes the story of those of still refused to fight. (http://www.ppu.org.uk/coproject/guide.html)

The appeal system rarely resolved such an impasse, which meant that a day came when a civilian policeman called at the CO’s home, arrested him, and brought him before the local Magistrate’s Court, on a charge of being a deserter from the Army. The CO was fined, usually £2 (to be deducted from his Army pay), and “handed over” to a military escort to be taken to his designated barracks. There he was ordered to put on a uniform; the CO refused, and was then charged with disobedience and remanded for Court-martial, a military trial with army officers serving as judge and jury. The Court-martial would ignore the CO’s defence that he still regarded himself as a civilian, and award a sentence of imprisonment which could be up to two years, but usually in the first instance a few months. The sentence would be served in a civilian prison, even though the offence was a purely military one. On release, the CO would be returned to the Army, where a fresh order would be given, refused, and the whole cycle would be repeated, perhaps up to three or four times.

The large numbers of men imprisoned – 6000 in total – created a scandal in the Press and Parliament, so a new scheme was devised to resolve the impasse. Imprisoned COs were offered the opportunity of a release from prison and the army on the condition of entering the ‘Home Office Scheme’ a series of Work Centres and Work Camps where COs would live communally and be engaged in arduous work, but would wear civilian clothes and be allowed to go outside the centre in the evenings and on Sundays.

Here are further articles:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-29954113
http://www.documentingdissent.org.uk/?page_id=15345#readmore

[newburychap]

A small number of recalcitrant COs (50ish) were sent to France in 1916 - where they again refused to comply with military orders.  As they were then in a theatre of war such non-compliance could be treated as mutiny.  They were tried by court martial and 35 were sentenced to death.  The sentences were commuted to long terms of imprisonment.