Percy Morris was a Conscientious Objector from Hampstead, London. In 1916 at the age of 22 he was both a member of the No Conscription Fellowship and attending Quaker meetings in Hampstead. He would have been well known to other members of the meeting house at Hampstead - many of whom became Conscientious Objectors during the war.

He applied for exemption in early 1916 and was turned down, instead being assigned to the army in a non-combatant role. Like many other COs, Percy felt that joining the Non-Combatant Corps was an unacceptable order and refused to become part of the military in any capacity. When sent to the NCC (3rd Eastern) at Shoreham barracks, he refused to obey orders and was sent before a Court Martial. His principled stand led to a two year sentence to hard labour, later commuted to 112 days. After release he was again eligible for compulsory military service, and so the cycle began again - this time posted to the NCC in Dublin, where he would be sentenced to another 2 years imprisonment (commuted).

This cycle of prison, release, court martial and return to prison is one that many COs experienced. Percy went through this process four times, refusing time and time again to serve the military in any capacity.

Percy’s absolutist stance was made very clear in late 1916. In August, he went before the Central Tribunal while at Wormwood Scrubs, intended to assess for one final (and hopefully authoritative time) whether or not his conscientious views were “genuine”. The Central Tribunal judged him “Class A” - a man with a genuinely conscientious objection to war. Instead of this verdict leading to the release of a man with a legal right to take no part in the war, the Central Tribunal passed him as fit to work on the Home Office Scheme.

He worked on the scheme for only four months, at some point as part of a labour gang working on road building in Seaford, Sussex, before rejecting the conditions of the scheme and returning to prison. Many COs felt that the Home Office Scheme, designed to encourage COs to do punishing, difficult and often pointless work that could be only loosely described as “work of national importance”, was helping the war effort by freeing up men to go to fight. COs that felt this way transferred back to prison after refusing to carry on working on the HoS. Objectors that made this choice bravely decided to return to the terrible conditions of prisons, rather than act against their consciences.

His decision to reject the Home Office Scheme shows an inspiring dedication to his Conscientious Objection to war. Back in prison, even the end of the war did not see Percy released and he would stay in Walton prison, Liverpool, until April 1919. Percy, along with many others was released under the “Two Year Rule” - despite having served four separate prison sentences and two and a half years total.