THE MEN WHO SAID NO | ROAD TO CONSCRIPTION | CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION | PRISONS | SENTENCED TO DEATH | TRIBUNALS | WIDER CONTEXT | INDEX
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THE MEN WHO SAID NO | ROAD TO CONSCRIPTION | CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION | PRISONS | SENTENCED TO DEATH | TRIBUNALS | WIDER CONTEXT | INDEX |
| HENRY JAMES STOCKER 1890 - |
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| Henry Stocker worked as a schoolteacher under the employ of the London City Council and was conscripted in March 1916, despite the pressing need for qualified schoolteachers around the country after two years of war had seen so many turned into soldiers. Henry was a member of the Churches of Christ, a loose confederation of Protestant dissenting churches, that had split over opposition to the war. As a Conscientious Objector, it is likely that Henry was part of the explictly pacifist group, that opposed the war on the most fundamental of Christian principles, that it was wrong to take life in any way. Henry's application for exemption was heard by the Fulham Tribunal on the 11th of March 1916 and he was passed Exempt from Combatant Service. While this verdict was unnacceptable to many COs, it appears that Henry found the offer of a non-combatant role within the army workable under his principles. He accepted being conscripted into the Non-Combatant Corps (NCC), a dedicated division of the army for COs. NCC men worked to provide logistical and labour support for the army, on the provision that they would not have to use or even carry weapons and ammunition. Henry worked on the Home Front with the NCC from 1916 to demobilisation in February 1919.
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