Poem ~ Contrasting Tribunal Cases - Sunday, 22 October - Tuesday, 24 October 1916

Source: File: 1916 tribunal sitting in Preston. See an original image at: <http://www.ppu.org.uk/cosnew/co_Narrative1.html> [Accessed 22 October 2016]

From date of 27 January 1916,

Conscription into the military

Had for the first time in Britain

Come into effect, after the period

Of transition of the Derby Scheme;

Whereby men were encouraged

To join up on a voluntary basis.

This confirmed total war status,

Affecting everyman between ages

18 to 41 - if single, automatically

Seen to have enlisted by 25 May

1916; married men were 'deemed'

To be in the same situation -

Categories defined their status.

An army's preferred classification

Being A - able to shoot, hear

And undertake active service -

Men categorised below A took

In account of physical abilities;

From B1 men with glasses, able

To shoot and march five miles.

B2 men should walk five miles

And hear enough, for purposes

Of labour service abroad - while

B3 men to be limited to sedentary

Work overseas - any C men only

Able to do home service; being

Free of disease for garrison duty.

Subdivisions added numbers;

So A1 men could carry full packs

On long marches, while C3 men

Could only do sedentary work

At home - medical categories were

Not fixed, to take account for 

Wounds or sickness until A1 again.

As part of conscription process,

The formation of tribunals set

Out to consider cases centered

On domestic or business situations -

To be seen as harsh on objections

To fight, because of conscience;

Over 2000 tribunal bodies existed.

With the business of war seeking

To ensure army was being supplied,

The call up of men were yet to see

Class C2 and Class C3 - appeals

Of those men in such classes

Could be withdrawn, yet if called

Up they were allowed to re-appeal.

Tribunals continued in hearing

Of appeals, to include a mechanic

Before the Lambeth panel - a single

Man of 23 employed by a firm said

How his employer had requested

A badge, to display he was on war

Work in munitions transportation.

The request had gone to ministry

Of munitions - war service badges

Had, before 1 March 1916, been

Issued to any individual in munitions

Work; to act as exemption certificate.

This firms appeal was refused - such

Badges were no longer being issued.

Should this 23-year-old employee

Be called up, he would gain similar

Transport work in the army; this

Fact was reiterated by the mayor,

Alderman Gibbs advised that munitions

Ministry was aware of processes - yet

Most appeals were on domestic basis.

A House of Commons appeals

Tribunal, being led by Chairman

Mr. Maclean MP, dismissed

Any immediate review of one

40-year-old father of six children -

Saying no need to go into matter;

Ages were 5 months to 9 years.

'I don't think we need send a man

With six children,' said Mr Maclean.

While a man of 29, at the same

Tribunal, having recently married

Then asked for further exemption;

Previously been classified in C1

Class, sought to arrange his affairs.

Unlike the married man of 40

With 6 children, he did not have

A large family to maintain - though

He was the only support to his

Widowed mother; 'I am afraid you

Will have to go,' Deputy Chairman

Of Commons tribunal informed him.

A case of an appeal on medical

Grounds, concerned a man who

Had been as B1 - then at another

Medical, stated B3 - to say fit only

For sedentary work. When called

Up the B3 card was dismissed;

This case was to be finally decided.

Captain Anstey, in representation 

Of military, provided the suggestion

To a further examination of the man,

By Appeals Medical Board - next

A military representative appeared

At the Dover Borough Tribunal, asking

To request a number of exemptions.

Certificates of 8 men to be assigned

To disbanded Dover Anti Aircraft Corps.

They had been bound by 'Ultra Vires,'

When first applied 'beyond the powers;'

The Military rep said how a tribunal

Could overwrite these cards - such

Men with training would be of use.

Valid certificates were deemed 'Intra

Vires' - in this case they lacked legal

Authority, to have 'Ultra Vires' status -

Some Anti Aircraft Corps permits were

Withdrawn, others legally represented

Were given short terms - due to expiry
Dates the applications were withdrawn.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1916. War Tribunals. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 10 October 1916. P.5. Col.3. Available at: <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12213454/Daily-Telegraph-October-20-1916.html> [Accessed: 22 October 2016].

Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 22 October 2016). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12213454/Daily-Telegraph-October-20-1916.html

http://worldwaroneblogger.blogspot.co.uk/

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Poem ~ Poster Protest of War - Monday, 02 October - Tuesday, 03 October 1916

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). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12213365/Daily-Telegraph-October-2-1916.html

http://worldwaroneblogger.blogspot.co.uk/

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Poem ~ Refusal To Kill - Wednesday, 23 February 1916

Impression sketch of a tribunal - by Jamie. From an original image that can be seen at: <http://www.ppu.org.uk/learn/infodocs/cos/st_co_wwone.html> [Accessed: 23 February 2016]

With the Derby Scheme

Leading to compulsory enlistment,

Tribunals were set to hear reasoning

Beyond the medical, for a contingent

Declaring selves 'conscientious objectors'.

Herne Bay Military Tribunal,

Heard a claim for total exemption;

A young male engineer a member

Of Open Brethren - his beliefs were

Ruled by Bible, which was his evidence.

On this Military Tribunal,

Mr G. Blaiklock declared, he knew that

Non-resistance was belief in Society

Of Friends, but unaware of existence

In the religious body of Open Brethren.

As he stood before the panel,

The applicant received questioning

As to his exact reasons for not

Wanting to fight - Mr Beetonson

Highlighted contradictions in the Bible.

An 'eye for an eye' doctrine

Was quoted - the applicant replied
The impossibility of contradictions
As the bible was God's word;

Imagine then the enemy at his door.

Mr Blaiklock then suggested,
What if Germans attacked his mother

And sister, and a rifle was close

By - would he not use this gun

In order to defend his own family?

Accepting he might if they

Were at his door — the chairman added

That their boys over there were

Doing just that, halting the Hun -

The engineer acknowledged the fact.

The Applicant believed

How his country normally appreciated

Any recognition of religious

Convictions - a counter argument

Was Germans might invade England.

Furthermore such a situation 

Would occur, if everyman had the same

Ideals - that was conjecture,

The man replied that God would

Help those that called out to him.

Yet did not god help those

Who helped themselves? The fact

Was for need of sufficient men -

They had to be sent out to halt

German forces landing in Britain.

The engineer applicant

Argued how he could not help to build

Bridges for troops - nor might

He work on a minesweeper,

That would assist war ships.

With these objections

He did not object to work in Army

Pay Corps, or in medical work -

This then the chairman said

Could be arranged - he agreed.

A conclusion of tribunal

Being presented with this the appeal,

For conscientious objection

Was allowed - but appellant was

Referred to Royal Army Medical Corps.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1916. Conscientious Objection - Interesting Exchange of Views. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 23 February 1916. P.7. Col.4. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12165487/Daily-Telegraph-February-23-1916.html [Accessed: 23 February 2016].

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12165487/Daily-Telegraph-February-23-1916.html

http://worldwaroneblogger.blogspot.co.uk/

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