Charles Tregenza was one of four brothers who all became conscientious objectors during the First World War and, like many large families of COs shared many of the same experiences and punishments as a result of their stand.

The Tregenza brothers had been raised in the Wesleyan Methodist faith, and each had attended the Truro Wesleyan College. It was perhaps this faith that inspired the four brothers to refuse conscription in favour of making a stand against war and militarism.

Charles, the eldest brother, had volunteered for the Friends Ambulance Unit in 1915 and after training was posted abroad to work behind the French lines on Ambulance Train 16. Only 24 when he volunteered, he had given up a promising career as a Mathematician and teacher in order to help to save lives working with the FAU.

When Conscription was introduced into British Law in 1916, Charles could well have stayed in the FAU and avoided Conscription entirely. Instead, he chose to return to Britain, to make a stand against Conscription on principle. Several FAU men made this brave decision in the lead up to 1916, coming back to Britain to face Conscription so that their presence in France could not be used to force other men into compromising on their conscientious principles. Charles went back to Cornwall and faced his local Tribunal which passed him “Exempt from Combatant Service Only” and suggested that he take up alternative service - as he had done previously with the FAU. Charles, standing as much against Conscription as killing in war, refused and after being turned down by the Appeal Tribunal, continued to refuse to make any such compromise, leading to his arrest as an Absentee from the Army in August 1916.

After a short and perfunctory trial, Charles was handed over to the Military at Bodmin barracks where he continued to resist - again refusing to make any compromise, he deliberately disobeyed orders after being posted to Weymouth and was sentenced to one year’s hard labour in Wormwood Scrubs prison. There, Charles faced the Central Tribunal who passed him to the Home Office Scheme, which he initially took up in late 1916, and was sent to Wakefield and Dartmoor Centres. It was from Dartmoor, perhaps because it was relatively close to home, that Charles absconded from the scheme. He actively rejected the rules and compromise that the scheme forced on Conscientious Objectors and returned home - only to be shortly after rearrested and sent back to prison, this time at Dorchester, in August 1917.

He would remain in Dorchester prison for the remainder of the war, serving two full sentences there for refusing to obey military orders. Eventually released in April 1919, Charles, unlike many COs in teaching positions, managed to retain his career and worked for many years as a Headmaster, eventually being awarded for his work as a schools inspector with a CBE. He died in 1974.