Conscientious Objector

Conscientious Objector Meaning

The history of conscientious objectors goes back to Roman times when a young man named Maximilianus refused to become a soldier in the Roman army due to his Christian beliefs. As a result, the Roman authorities executed him. The Church later recognised Maximilianus as a martyr and a saint.

Although conscientious objectors were much less likely than Maximilianus in later centuries to be executed for their beliefs, they were still often ostracised, criticised, and sometimes punished for refusing to serve their countries as soldiers.

Conscientious Objectors WW1

In 1916, Britain introduced conscription through the Military Service Act. This made military service compulsory for the vast majority of men in Britain. The Military Service Act included a clause that enabled people to argue at a tribunal that they were exempt from fighting on the grounds of conscientious objection. Between 16,000 and 20,000 men applied for a tribunal to become Conscientious Objectors.

However, the tribunals were rigged against the men applying to become conscientious objectors. The vast majority had their cases refused. These men were conscripted into the army despite their wishes. Once this occurred, there were generally three routes that a conscientious objector's life could take:

Conscientious objectors were generally vilified or ridiculed both on the fighting front and at home. Soon, they received a derogatory nickname - 'conchie'. Sometimes, conscientious objectors were perceived as the enemy or cowards shirking their duty.

WWII Conscientious Objector

By the time of the Second World War, conscientious objection was no longer vilified in quite the extreme manner it had been during the First World War. Four times as many men applied for conscientious objection during the Second World War - a total of 67,000. This helped to normalise conscientious objection.

Fig. 2 A tribunal for conscientious objectors during the Second World War. Conscientious Objection was much less vilified during this world war than the in first.

Many men who applied for conscientious objection during the Second World War served in non-combatant roles on the Home Front. Many of them were respected for their work in Britain, meaning that many conscientious objectors were seen as contributing something significant to the war effort.

Furthermore, the media was much less hostile to conscientious objectors than it had been during the First World War.

However, a conscientious objector's life wasn't always easy during the Second World War. Approximately 3,000 conscientious objectors were imprisoned, and many others still faced hostility from soldiers and members of the public for their pacifist stance.

Conscientious Objector Punishment

During World War One, 6,000 conscientious objectors were sentenced to prison for resisting military authority. Life in these prisons was so harsh that many men developed severe physical and mental illnesses, and at least 70 men died due to their mistreatment.

Fig. 3 Gravestone of conscientious objector Walter Bone, who served in the Non-Combatant Corps. He had been imprisoned several times and died in Winchester Prison after catching Spanish flu.

Conscientious objectors were confined in solitary cells, and a strict rule of silence was enforced in the prisons. This had severe psychological repercussions for many of the men.

Furthermore, many of the men were not given adequate food and drink, especially those who were vegetarian. Some guards physically abused conscientious objectors, and others were exposed to harsh manual labour without medical attention.

Conscientious Objector UK

The history of conscientious objectors often focuses on men and the past. This section broadens that understanding to think about women who were conscientious objectors in the UK and the way that conscientious objectors are remembered in the UK during the present.

Women and Conscientious Objection

Women were also conscripted into national military service for the first time in the UK's history during the Second World War. Most conscripted women were not sent to the fighting front but were ordered into industrial conscription, such as working in munitions factories.

1,000 of these women went through a tribunal to be exempted from this service on the grounds of conscientious objection.

However, the history of these women is only just starting to be uncovered now. Historian Rena Feld has interviewed several women about their experiences of conscientious objection in the Second World War. She records one observation by a woman who explained the isolation caused by being a conscientious objector in a society that supported war.

Remembering the Past

Historian Ann Kramer remarks on how the UK remembers conscientious objectors from the First World War. Writing at the time of the 100^th anniversary of the start of the war, she observes,

Rena Feld also remarks on the difficulties of remembering conscientious objection in the Second World War. Most people agree that Hitler needed to be stopped, so it is much easier to see the Second World War as a 'good' war compared to the First World War, which is often seen as a tragedy and pointless waste of life. As someone with a Jewish background, she often found it challenging listening to people who opposed fighting Hitler, and at times remarked that it caused her 'anguish' hearing her interviewees' perspectives.⁵ This contrasts with Ann Kramer's portrayal of the male conscientious objectors in the First World War as victims of injustice and heroes who didn't give up in the face of brutal mistreatment.

These two contrasting perspectives above illustrate how the history of conscientious objectors continues to occupy a complex mental space within the UK's remembrance of the world wars.