Source: File: No
Conscription Fellowship National Committee meeting May 1916. (Front row left to
right: C.H. Norman, Dr Alfred Salter, Aylmer Rose, Fenner Brockway, Clifford
Allen, Edward Grubb, Will Chamberlain, Catherine Marshall. Standing left to
right: Rev. Leyton Richards, Morgan Jones, John P. Fletcher, A Barratt Brown,
and Bertrand Russell.) See an original
image at: <http://www.ppu.org.uk/cosnew/cos08.html> [Accessed 2 October 2016]
When nations had emerged in their actions
Of war, opposition formed soon after, as in
The organisation of the No Conscription
Fellowship -
initiated from autumn 1914
Fenner
Brockway, editor of an anti-war
Paper, appealed
to any man against conflict.
With the No Conscription Fellowship quickly
Gaining 300
members, the organisation's
Statement of
Faith followed - these men
Refused to bear
arms in beliefs of human
Life as sacred;
they could not inflict death.
Till then army
recruits had been voluntary.
Soon though, facts emerged that in order
To maintain high
numbers for the army,
Conscription
would be introduced -
The No
Conscription Fellowship had
Grown stronger
with members ironically
Prepared to
fight for their passive beliefs.
A type of male suffrage
movement in rights
To refuse to
fight, with countrywide branches
Formed to campaign
against compulsory
Military Service Bill - conscientious objectors
Set out to equally
make refusal to take part
In any war work, or involvement of military.
In their stand members
appeared at tribunals
And court martial's - all of which were carefully
Recorded - No
Conscription Fellowship press
Department set to publicise frequently often
Brutal treatment
of their members, their arrests
And forceful detainment in prison and camps.
No let up was given by members' missions -
As on last day
of September - Saturday
30 1916 when an
appearance was made by
Journalist
Edward Fuller, called to Stratford
Police court -
the offence charged against
Him made under
Defence of the Realm Act.
Actions taken by Edward Fuller were stated
As likely to
prejudice the forces recruitment
Administration
and military discipline -
Acting on
Fuller's defence was Mr Hawkin,
With Mr Bodkin
for Director of Public
Prosecutions, centring
on use of posters.
28 August 1916 had seen arrival of a letter
To Mr Abrahams,
proprietor of Borough
Theatre Bill
Posting Company - a request
Asked costs in
posting Double Crown Bills,
To be posted in
busy districts of Stratford,
Woodford, Forest
Gate and Wanstead.
With the letter
was a copy of the poster,
Which set to
publicize a quote from a trial,
That made prosecutions of eight members
Of the No
Conscription Fellowship - words
Spoken by A. H.
Bodkin K.C. having acted
In role of public prosecutor, 17 May 1916.
'War will become impossible, if all men
Were to have
the view that war is wrong.'
Was stated by Mr
Bodkin, an eminent lawyer
Of the Kings
Council - repeating his stand
At bringing
Edward Fuller to trial, whose
Intent was to
post these misquoted words.
The suggestion
of this statement by Bodkin
Was to take them
out of context, to publicise
This as a public
prosecutors view of the war -
Mr Abrahams
replied to Mr Fuller with costs,
To also ask if
they had war office sanctioned
The posters to show
them in public situations.
For the defence, Mr Hawkins interactions
With Mr
Abrahams was for a straightforward
Business
transaction - a 'molehill had then
Been turned
into a mountain,' - yet an input
From Brigadier
General Childs, voiced how
Conscientious
objectors wasted army time.
1,700 COs had so far been court-martialled -
Mr Hawkins gave
the court a reminder how
Movement's
intent was to cause the war
Office problems
- that showing those words
Could do no
real harm; Mr Fuller had not set
Out to disrupt
recruitment, it was technical.
'War will become impossible, if all men
Were to have
the view that war is wrong,'
Suggested that
if everyone held that belief
Of war being
unlawful, no war could take
Place; the
Bench concluded Fuller was just
A dupe and not
to be automatically detained.
Given choice of 121 fine and costs, Edward
Fuller had the alternative of 90 days in goal.
by Jamie Mann.
Anon.,1916. Prejudicing
Recruiting - Objector Fine £100. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 2 October 1916. P.5. Col.3.
Available at:
<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12213365/Daily-Telegraph-October-2-1916.html>
[Accessed: 2 October 2016].
Source: File:
Conscientious Objection: No-Conscription Fellowship. Available at: <http://www.ppu.org.uk/cosnew/cos04a.html> [Accessed 2 October 2016]
Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal
communication, 2 October 2016).
#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary #worldwarone
#worldwaroneremembered #WW1conscientiousobjectors
