1. Introduction
The Military Service Act of 1916 (with later amendments) introduced compulsory military service to Britain (but not Ireland) for all men aged 18-50. It also allowed for applications to be made for exemption from the call-up on grounds of occupation, hardship, ill-health or conscientious objection. A system of Military Service Tribunals was set up to assess each application, and either refuse it or grant the applicant an exemption certificate with or without certain qualifications. This Research Guide is solely concerned with those who applied on conscientious grounds.
The Act did not define "conscientious objection", but a government Circular issued under the Act referred to those whose "objection genuinely rests on religious or moral convictions". In practice many were Jehovah's Witnesses, Quakers or other Christian denominations, who simply saw the taking of life as wrong, while others objected to the war on political grounds such as socialism or international brotherhood. Conscientious objectors ("COs" or "conchies") were generally unpopular with the public, the press and the authorities, who saw them at best as unpatriotic shirkers and at worst as subjective revolutionaries.
The tribunals had a number of difficulties. They tended to be elderly and militant in their own make-up, and had to divert their attention from non-conscientious applicants, often overtly patriotic in presentation, to COs vehemently denouncing all that the country was supposed to be fighting for. Tribunals also had to consider the degree of exemption requested by COs, who could be exempted absolutely; exempted on condition of performing civilian work of national importance (often agricultural work); or exempted from combatant duties only, meaning that they were liable to be called-up into the army, but not to be trained in the handling or use of weapons.
In the event, only some 300 of 16,000 conscientious objectors were exempted absolutely; a great many of those who applied for absolute exemption were ordered into non-combatant military service, if not military service proper. Even though the army created a special Non-Combatant Corps (NCC) for those granted that status (about 3,500 accepted it), this could not satisfy the conscience of "absolutists" arrested, taken to barracks and ordered to put on uniform. Their disobedience led to courts-martial and imprisonment (in civilian prisons) of some 6,000 men for terms between a few months and two years. Some 50 absolutists were sent to France, where their refusal to accept military discipline in a theatre of war led to around 30-34 of them (contemporary figures vary) being formally sentenced to death, but the sentences were immediately commuted to 10 years penal servitude. There were, however, 73 men who died as a result of their harsh treatment in confinement.
Because of the scandal arising from such events, a Scheme was devised by the Home Office whereby conscientious objectors could be released from prison conditionally upon accepting places in Work Camps of Work Centres; two of these, Dartmoor and Wakefield, were former prisons, adapted for the purpose. A limited number of absolutists accepted such places, and were distinct from the 6,000 objectors who volunteered for or accepted various kinds of civilian work as a condition of exemption.
After the end of the war all prison sentences were commuted to time served, and all those convicted were released by August 1919.
2. Military service tribunals
There were three types of military service tribunals
- Local Tribunals. These consisted of between 5 and 25 persons appointed by the Local Registration Authorities designated under the National Registration Act 1915 (effectively borough and district councils). There were about 1,800 Local Tribunals throughout the country, reducing to 1,620 by 1918, and they dealt with both attested (voluntary servicemen) and non-attested (conscripted) applications. A recruiting officer or other military representative was entitled to appear at any hearing and to question applicants.
- Appeal Tribunals. There were 58 Appeal Tribunals for England and Wales, roughly one per county, and they were appointed by the Crown. Any applicant refused completely by the Local Tribunal or dissatisfied with the kind of exemption granted had a right of appeal. The military representative also had a right of appeal against the grant of any exemption to an applicant.
- Central Tribunal. A Central Tribunal was appointed for the whole of Great Britain, to which any person dissatisfied with a decision of an Appeal Tribunal could appeal if given leave by the Appeal Tribunal. The Central Tribunal took over cases in which conscientious objection was made by men who had already been called up, including re-hearing cases of men deemed suitable for the Home Office Scheme.
There were also Special Tribunals under the Military Service (Conventions with Allied States) Act, 1917. A Special Local Tribunal was set up for dealing with London cases of Russian, Greek, Italian, French and American men. Outside London they were dealt with by the ordinary Local Tribunals. Special Tribunals also dealt with exemption applications from Medical Practitioners, Dentists and Vets, appeals from whom went to the Central Tribunal rather than the Appeals Tribunals.
3. Surviving records
In 1921 the Ministry of Health decided that all papers relating to individual cases of exemption from National Service, including those on grounds of conscientious objection, should be destroyed, along with every tribunal minute book except those of the Central Tribunal. Thus the vast majority of files were lost, with only those of the Middlesex Appeal Tribunal (MH 47), and the Lothian and Peebles Tribunal (now held by the National Archives of Scotland, ref: HH 30) kept as samples. Fortunately, some records were not actually destroyed and may now be found in local record offices. Surviving records held at The National Archives are few and far between.
3.1 Ministry of Health
MH 47 is the primary source for records of conscientious objectors for the First World War. All appeals are included whether or not they are on grounds of conscience, and therefore not all cases relate to conscientious objectors. Minute books of the Central Tribunal are held under reference MH 47/1, MH 47/2 and MH 47/3. Records of the Middlesex Appeals Tribunal are now held in record class MH 47, and each file includes details of the individual applicant, his address, occupation, appeal and the decision of the Tribunal. A card index in MH 47/136-141 also includes those exempted from service, for Middlesex only.
3.2 Home Office
A number of organizations evolved in support of conscientious objectors, providing support and campaigning against conscription. The offices of the National Council Against Conscription, the No Conscription Fellowship and the Independent Labour Party were all raided by the police in 1916 and 1917, and anti-conscription leaflets, posters and newspapers were confiscated. Details, newspaper cuttings and samples of the documents confiscated are given in HO 45/10801/307402.
3.3 Ministry of National Service
The Ministry of National Service was particularly concerned with identifying those who were trying to avoid National Service. NATS 1/909 and NATS 1/935 show how they attempted to recruit those who normally lived in Great Britain but had fled to Ireland to avoid conscription. Posters were issued and a system of medical examinations and recruitment was set up. It was intended that those who failed to come forward would be prosecuted. These are policy files and no names of individuals are given although they are all generally referred to as 'shirkers'. NATS 1/964 describes the plan to 'comb out' hunting and racing establishments for people evading military service, and NATS 1/975 discusses the problem of men enrolling as war work volunteers in order to avoid the call-up. NATS 1 also contains several other detailed files covering specific cases of avoidance, including instances of attempted bribery, doping and appeal against prison sentencing.
3.4 War Office
Further information on sentencing and imprisonment policy may be found among the Registered Papers of the War Office. WO 32/5472 deals with the question of altering sentencing procedure in 1917, and WO 32/5473 contains a plea for different treatment of 'genuine' conscientious objectors who are liable to successive terms of imprisonment. WO 32/5474 contains correspondence on release, and exemption from military service, while WO 32/5491 is a collection of minutes and memoranda on various aspects of the conscientious objector movement from 1916 to 1918.
3.5 Treasury Board papers
The Fawcett Association, representing Post Office workers, protested in 1917 against the practice of dismissing and canceling the pension rights of Civil Servants who were conscientious objectors. The Treasury decided it was a matter for individual Government Departments to deal with, and the relevant papers are in T 1/12039 paper 8860/17.
A possible condition for exemption from National Service was to undertake work of national importance. To this end the Committee on Work of National Importance sought advice from the Civil Service Commission on whether conscientious objectors who were unfit for manual labour would be allowed employed in Government Departments. The Commission was not in favour, unless they were kept apart from other workers and there were no non-conscientious objectors available. The reports are held in T 1/11987, papers 30343/16 (15292/16; 13154/16; 13127/16; 10779/16; 8397/16).
An example of a conscientious objector seeking employment from the Civil Service Commission is given in the following Treasury files: T 1/11987, papers 10779/16, 13127/16 and 8397/16.
T 1/12076 paper 30228 details the case of a conscientious objector who was a Civil Servant. His application for exemption was at first granted on ill-health grounds, but this was later reversed and he was called up to serve in the Army. Subsequently court-martialled for refusing to obey orders, he was sentenced to six months imprisonment, but he then accepted work under the Home Office Scheme at Dartmoor. Meanwhile his employer, the Ministry of Labour, sought advice from the Treasury on whether to dismiss the man and cancel his pension rights. The decision centred on whether he was a 'genuine' conscientious objector, and the fact that he had disobeyed army orders.
