MEN WHO SAID NO | ROAD TO CONSCRIPTION | OBJECTION | PRISONS | SENTENCED TO DEATH | TRIBUNALS | WIDER CONTEXT |
|
| Back | Home |
MEN WHO SAID NO | ROAD TO CONSCRIPTION | OBJECTION | PRISONS | SENTENCED TO DEATH | TRIBUNALS | WIDER CONTEXT | |
| WILLIAM THOMAS CLEOBURY |
|
||||||||
| William and Frank Cleobury were brother COs who took up very different positions on what it meant to be a Conscientious Objector. William was what was known as an "Absolutist" Conscientious Objector, one who refused any compromise form of service in lieu of joining the army. His conscience stated that he could not and would not be involved in the military machine in any way. This stance led him inevitably to prison as, with the Epsom Tribunal rejecting his application for exemption as a CO, he was left with no other option. Resisting all attempts to force him into the military, William spent much of the war in Wormwood Scrubs, before taking up the Home Office Scheme and working in Wakefield and Dartmoor Camps. Frank instead took an "Alternativist" stance, his conscience allowing him to undertake work connected to the war, as long as it did not involve taking life. Frank's war work was infact the opposite of taking life, and he worked with the Friends Ambulance Unit from March 1917 to January 1919. It is not known why the brothers had such different approaches to what being a CO meant. It's possible they had different motivations behind their objection. Frank's reasons for becoming a CO aren't clear, but FAU men were often religious, if not committed Quakers. William's objection seems to have arisen from a more political background, as he was a member of the staunchly anti-war, absolutist, Independent Labour Party. Perhaps this difference between Alternativist Religion and Absolutist Politics accounts for the different experiences the brothers went through as COs. Objection was as much a personal decision as it was a commitment to a wider cause. Differences in outlook between families are not unusual - as were disagreements over the "right" way to be a CO.
|
|
||||||||
| EditRegion7 | EditRegion6 | ||||||||
|
|||||||||
 |
|||||||||
