Message fron Safford in Sam Hollingsworth autograph book in Dartmoor

Little is known about this man at present. Any information you may have would be welcome and we would be pleased to add it to this page.

The following is a brief outline of what happened to most COs at the start of their resistance to the war.

Dealing with conscientious objectors was a new and confusing situation for the authorities and the Army. The CO might have appealed to his Local and later to the Appeal Tribunal, or he might have been deemed to be genuine but refused the offered form of exemption. Whether an objector appealed to a Tribunal or not from the moment he was instructed to report to camp, whether or not he did so, he was ‘deemed to be enlisted’, and his absence made him liable to prosecution for desertion.

After a few days when his absence was noted he would be visited by a policeman, arrested, and taken first to the recruiting office and then to the police station, where he would probably spend the night in a cell. The next day he would be brought before the magistrate. The police or a recruiting officer offered evidence of his liability to serve, and the, now, prisoner again declared his conscientious objection. He would be fined for failing to report under the Military Service Act, and handed over to a military escort. This would take him to the barracks to which he had first been ordered to report. There he was required to change into uniform, to sign his paybook and generally submit to routine orders. If such orders were refused he would be charged with disobeying a lawful command and placed in the guardroom.

After an initial period of confusion the procedure outlined above emerged and quickly became standard.