It is difficult to define the term ‘conscientious objector’
because they were not one homogenous group. It is true to say that they were
opposed to participating in military service during the war. It is fair to say
that all objected on grounds of conscience, but the degree to which they
objected to war has led Simmonds to argue that argues that there were two main
groups: the ‘alternativists’, who would not join the military service but would
engage in work that could include working in a munitions factory, agriculture[1]
or ‘absolutists’ who refused to take any part in the war and refused to accept
any part in the war.
As a result, there was much resentment in the country towards the conscientious objectors; some were sent to France, where they could be shot for disobeying orders, others were imprisoned, where 73 nationally were killed in prison due to the attitudes of other prisoners.[6] Furthermore, they were also forbidden from voting for the five years immediately after the war, and they also found it difficult to gain employment in the same period due to the attitude of some employers.[7] After all, the First World War was Britain’s first total war.[8]
Britain was the only major power in the war to allow appeal against conscription. [9] Those who objected to going to fight had to present themselves to their local appeals tribunal, usually within the county that they lived,[10] and it was usually here that they were offered alternative war work such as caring for the wounded.[11]
Aberystwyth borough and rural district were covered under the Ceredigion Tribunals.
There were about 16500 conscientious objectors in Britain as a whole,[12] and about 6000 men appealed against conscription in Ceredigion.[13]
It is interesting to note that, despite a national reputation for pacifism and a refusal to enlist,[14] there were no Quakers in the Ceredigion.[15] There were men who appealed against conscription on religious grounds. Lewis William James was a ministerial student at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, who objected on grounds of religion and was exempted from a combative role on condition that he took on work of a national importance within three weeks of his exemption.[16] I could not find a further record of him, but people in his position could have taken on the role of caring for the wounded or being an ambulance driver in the Royal Army Medical Corps.[17]
John Lloyd Thomas was a final year student at the University College of Wales training to be a cleric who refused to join the British Red Cross because he viewed it as part of the war effort.[18] Originally a 21-year-old Congregationalist originally from Shropshire,[19] he was an absolutist who believed that he was condoning the war by caring for those who needed care as a result of it, and the war was making endangering human life, which, according to the Bible was a grievous sin against God.[20]
There were also men who objected to go to war for more than one reason: Robert Rees was a railway clerk who was granted an absolute exemption on religious and hardship grounds. He argued that the gospel told him that he could not carry out war work, but he also said that he had a dependent mother and sister who would be left in severe hardship should he go to war as his brother was already carrying out military service.[21] Although reforms had been taking place under the liberal government before the outbreak of the First World War, there was not much state assistance to those who were too ill to work or unemployed for any other reason.[22] As A. J. P. Taylor put it, “until august 1914 a sensible, law-abiding Englishman could pass through life and hardly notice the existence of the state, beyond the post office and the policeman.”[23] Because the general prevailing preference for laissez-faire economics (though it was becoming more interventionist) and the fact that the war effort was expensive and the government also wanted to keep the people at home on side and not dependent on the state if possible, Robert Rees was allowed an absolute exemption so he could provide for his family in addition to his family.
Many more men from Aberystwyth were exempted based on their work, which was deemed essential for the war effort. Whilst it may be considered subjective which work is and is not essential for the war effort, these occupations were considered essential by the Cardiganshire tribunals. David Mawr Thomas was exempted on the fact that he was a miner.[24] Coal was used as fuel in munitions factories and transporting the munitions and men on the railway and steam-powered ships to the front line, as well as getting imported food into the country, and was therefore essential for winning the war. That is why David Mawr Jones’s appeal was allowed.
Agricultural work was also considered essential for the war effort. W. Williams was successful in appeal on 5th May 1916 because he was a farmhand.[25] The government had allowed the number depended on the size of the farm they worked on or owned, for example, one farmhand was allowed for from 50-100 acres, two from 100-200 acres and one more man was allowed for every further hundred acres and one more per 300 sheep owned.[26] Britain was dependent on food imports before the war, and imported 80% of wheat and 40% of meat she consumed [27] and this was known in Germany because it was planned to starve Britain into submission by launching submarine attacks on British food imports.[28] It was therefore imperative that Britain started to increase the production of food at home in order to feed her population, which is why W. Williams’s appeal was allowed.
There were about 16500 conscientious objectors in Britain as a whole,[12] and about 6000 men appealed against conscription in Ceredigion.[13]
It is interesting to note that, despite a national reputation for pacifism and a refusal to enlist,[14] there were no Quakers in the Ceredigion.[15] There were men who appealed against conscription on religious grounds. Lewis William James was a ministerial student at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, who objected on grounds of religion and was exempted from a combative role on condition that he took on work of a national importance within three weeks of his exemption.[16] I could not find a further record of him, but people in his position could have taken on the role of caring for the wounded or being an ambulance driver in the Royal Army Medical Corps.[17]
John Lloyd Thomas was a final year student at the University College of Wales training to be a cleric who refused to join the British Red Cross because he viewed it as part of the war effort.[18] Originally a 21-year-old Congregationalist originally from Shropshire,[19] he was an absolutist who believed that he was condoning the war by caring for those who needed care as a result of it, and the war was making endangering human life, which, according to the Bible was a grievous sin against God.[20]
There were also men who objected to go to war for more than one reason: Robert Rees was a railway clerk who was granted an absolute exemption on religious and hardship grounds. He argued that the gospel told him that he could not carry out war work, but he also said that he had a dependent mother and sister who would be left in severe hardship should he go to war as his brother was already carrying out military service.[21] Although reforms had been taking place under the liberal government before the outbreak of the First World War, there was not much state assistance to those who were too ill to work or unemployed for any other reason.[22] As A. J. P. Taylor put it, “until august 1914 a sensible, law-abiding Englishman could pass through life and hardly notice the existence of the state, beyond the post office and the policeman.”[23] Because the general prevailing preference for laissez-faire economics (though it was becoming more interventionist) and the fact that the war effort was expensive and the government also wanted to keep the people at home on side and not dependent on the state if possible, Robert Rees was allowed an absolute exemption so he could provide for his family in addition to his family.
Many more men from Aberystwyth were exempted based on their work, which was deemed essential for the war effort. Whilst it may be considered subjective which work is and is not essential for the war effort, these occupations were considered essential by the Cardiganshire tribunals. David Mawr Thomas was exempted on the fact that he was a miner.[24] Coal was used as fuel in munitions factories and transporting the munitions and men on the railway and steam-powered ships to the front line, as well as getting imported food into the country, and was therefore essential for winning the war. That is why David Mawr Jones’s appeal was allowed.
Agricultural work was also considered essential for the war effort. W. Williams was successful in appeal on 5th May 1916 because he was a farmhand.[25] The government had allowed the number depended on the size of the farm they worked on or owned, for example, one farmhand was allowed for from 50-100 acres, two from 100-200 acres and one more man was allowed for every further hundred acres and one more per 300 sheep owned.[26] Britain was dependent on food imports before the war, and imported 80% of wheat and 40% of meat she consumed [27] and this was known in Germany because it was planned to starve Britain into submission by launching submarine attacks on British food imports.[28] It was therefore imperative that Britain started to increase the production of food at home in order to feed her population, which is why W. Williams’s appeal was allowed.
Conversely, appeals were often refused where the man who made the appeal worked in a non-essential industry and could be done by a man older than the upper-limit of conscription or a woman, who were often substituted in for men of fighting age who had been conscripted.[29] An example of this was the case of Alfred Allen on 18th April 1916. Allen was a driver,[30] which was not considered an industry essential to the war effort and so he had to do military service as a result.
Blog by project volunteer Elizabeth Bowater
Bibliography
John Turner, ‘Introduction’, in Britain and the First World
War, ed. John Turner, (London, 1988), pp.1-21
Noel Whiteside, ‘The British Population at War’, in Britain
and the First World War, ed. John Turner, (London, 1988), pp.85-98
[1]
Alan G. V. Simmonds, Britain and World War One, (Abingdon, 2012), p.55
[2]
Robb, British Culture p.118
[3]
Arthur Marwick, The Deluge (2nd ed.), (Basingstoke, 1991), p. 120
[4]
Robb, British Culture, p.118
[5]
Marwick, Deluge, p.120
[6]
Robb, British Culture, p.118
[7] Ibid,
p.118
[8]
Alan G. V. Simmonds, Britain and World War One, (Abingdon, 2012), p.i
[9]
Robb, British Culture, p.118
[10] Ibid
[11] Ibid
[12]
George Robb, British Culture and the First World War, (Basingstoke, 2002), p.
118
[13] Michael
Freeman, CND Cymru Briefing: 6, Conscientious objectors in Cardiganshire during
the first world war, p.8 held in Ceredigion Archives, Aberystwyth
[14]
Robb, British Culture, p.118
[15]
Cardiganshire Appeal Tribunal Search, https://www.library.wales/discover/digital-gallery/archives/cardiganshire-great-war-tribunal-appeals-records/
accessed 18/2/19
[16]
Aberystwyth Borough Exemption as to military service Case 8, 26th
February 1916, Cardiganshire War Tribunals, National Library of Wales,
Aberystwyth accessed via https://www.library.wales/discover/digital-gallery/archives/cardiganshire-great-war-tribunal-appeals-records/
on 13/2/2019
[17]
Michael Freeman, CND Cymru Briefing: 6, Conscientious objectors in
Cardiganshire during the first world war, p.6 held in Ceredigion Archives,
Aberystwyth
[18] Ibid,
p.6
[19] Ibid,
p.7
[20]
The Bible NIV, Exodus 20:13
[21] Aberystwyth
Borough Exemption as to military service Case 6, 25th February 1916,
Cardiganshire War Tribunals, National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, accessed
via https://www.library.wales/discover/digital-gallery/archives/cardiganshire-great-war-tribunal-appeals-records/
on 13/2/2019
[22] A.
J. P. Taylor, English History 1914-1945, (Oxford, 1965),
[23] Ibid,
p.25
[24]
Cardigan County Tribunal Notebook, April 13th1916-29th
September 1916), p.22, held in National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth
[25]
Cardigan County Tribunal Notebook, April 13th1916-29th
September 1916), p.31, held in National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth
[26]
Ibid, p.i,
[27]
Marwick, Deluge, p.58
[28]
John Turner, ‘Introduction’, in Britain
and the First World War, ed. John Turner, (London, 1988), p.6
[29]
Noel Whiteside, ‘The British Population at War’, in Britain and the First World War, ed. John Turner, (London, 1988),
p.92
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