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MEN WHO SAID NO | ROAD TO CONSCRIPTION | OBJECTION | PRISONS | SENTENCED TO DEATH | TRIBUNALS | WIDER CONTEXT |
STANLEY ANDREWS 1890 -  

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Brothers Sydney and Stanley Andrews were dairy workers living in Hounslow when they chose to resist war by becoming Conscientious Objectors in 1916. Both men were inspired to refuse conscription by their Christian faith, and with the passage of the Military Service Act 1916, applied to their local Tribunal in Twickenham for Absolute Exemption as Conscientious Objectors. At their Tribunal hearings, both on the 3rd of March 1916, both Sydney and Stanley put across a case that they could not possibly accept any form of Military Service due to their Christian faith. Sydney attested that he was "I am solely guided through life by the Holy Spirit. Being such I cannot accept any service combatant or otherwise". Such an absolute stance with regards to conscription was not well received by the Tribunal in either case, and both men were rejected. Stanley showed both prescience and determination to stand up for what he believed in: "for ten years my life has been surrendered to God, and in this matter, as in all others, I can only accept the dictates of His will, regardless of the consequences." Though their application for exemption was rejected, the brothers both resolved to continue their resistance and refused to cooperate further with the civil and military systems that had attempted to force them into uniform. Refusing to report obediently to barracks, they were arrested as absentees from the army on the 3rd of April, shortly to be tried, fined and handed over to the military. From the Brentford Police Court where they received their fines, both Stanley and Sydney embarked upon the familiar journey of the Absolutist CO. Resisting any attempt to make them into willing soldiers, they were court martialled and sent to prison, both undergoing several short sentences, Stanley in Wandsworth Prison and Sydney in Lewes. The brothers would have been reunited in August 1916 while held in Wormwood Scrubs, where both were brought before the Central Tribunal to gauge their suitability for the Home Office Scheme (HoS), a then-new compromise offer intended to take COs out of the overloaded prison system and into work camps. The brothers were judged to be "Class A" COs, judged to have a genuine objection to military service. This did not secure either their release, but instead passed them suitable for the HoS, which both Sydney and Stanley accepted. By the end of 1916, both men were working in HoS camps, where they would stay until final demobilisation in mid-1919.

 

 

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CO DATA

Born: 1890
Died:
Address: Hanworth Lodge, Hounslow, London
Tribunal: Twickenham
Prison: Wandsworth, Lewes
HO Scheme:Dyce Newhaven[1]
CO Work:
Occupation: Farm worker


ABSOLUTIST

 






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