Alfred Martlew was 23 when his enforced career as a conscientious objector began in the cells of Richmond Castle in June 1916. It ended among the willows in the river Ouse bellow the Archbishop’s palace in Bishopthorpe where his decomposing body was found some 13 months later.

As one of the ‘early’ COs who were called up shortly after the Military Service Act came into force in January 1916, Alfred would have experienced the confusion, incompetence, incomprehension and frequent brutality of a system incapable and often unveiling to deal with young men who simply refused to take part in killing fellow men.

Alfred, a clerk in the Rowntree Cocoa works, was one of a number of such men who were incarcerated in the cells of Richmond Castle. The Army had no idea what to do with the men beyond shouting at them, threatening them and sometimes inflicting them with various punishments. As a last ditch attempt to get Alfred and his fellow prisoners to co operate they were threatened with being sent to France where, if they disobeyed, they could be shot. The threat did not work so in late May (28th,OO) arrangements were made to send Alfred and 15 other COs from Richmond Castle to France. They joined similarly reluctant COs from other parts the country, some arriving in handcuffs, in Southampton from were they shipped to France on the same day on which Lord Kitchener, recruiter in chief was killed on board a ship sailing to Russia.

A week later Alfred and other COs from Richmond Castle were court martial and found guilty of disobedience, a very serious offence in a war zone carrying the death penalty. The sentence was postponed pending last minute consultations at higher level [LINK]. With the possibility of being shot hanging over Alfred an the other men the wait must have been very difficult.

Eight days later a decision had finally been made and in the afternoon the army, determined to make an impression, assembles several hundred Non-Combat Corp soldiers on the Henriville parade ground outside Boulogne to hear the sentence. The sentence was ‘Death’ LINK

By early July Alfred was back in England and in Winchester prison but now no longer under military control but serving 10 years hard Labour 5 7 16

In a desperate attempt to deal with sever prison overcrowding cause by the influx of unexpected number of COs the government devised a scheme they believed would solve their CO ‘problem’. Alfred, like other COs who were considered genuine and sincere by the Central Tribunal, was discharged on the understanding that he would perform ‘work of national importance’ that did not include military work of any kind. A stone quarry in Dyce [LINK] became the Home Offices showpiece camp.

Dye camp was a miserable place some miles from Aberdeen; cold windy and particularly wet that year. Life in discarded, leaking Army tent was grim even more so after a 10 hour day breaking and moving rocks. Discomfort and exhaustion apart when the men discovered that some of the rocks they were breaking were to be used in the construction of a military road many felt that the authorities had broken their agreement and became disillusioned with the scheme. Alfred and many others preferred to return to prison rather that compromise with their stand against war.

Little is known of Alfred’s movement in the following months. We know he spent some time in the Wakefield Work centre and was involved in tree felling in Datswinton. It appears that like many men angry and frustrated at their situation or concerned about problems at home Alfred absconded from the scheme allocated to him. Some men never returned.

Alfred however returned to York his home town where he had a girlfriend. Annie Leeman had been ‘keeping company’ with Alfred for 5 years and they were engaged to be married.

’Alfred had been missing from the Home Office Scheme for some weeks’, said Frank North who met Alfred at his home a few days earlier on 4th June. ‘Alfred said that on three occasions the Home Office authorities had broken their pledge to him regarding the work he was to undertake. He was disgusted at the treatment he had received, and decided to have nothing further to do with the scheme. He had come to York to giving himself up to the police authorities in order to serve the remainder of his sentence in prison rather than trust the Home Office.’ [Gainsborough news and Tribunal article]

A few days later Alfred’s body was found in the Ouse on the 12 June 1917. We know that many COs found themselves in situations they found difficult to deal with and seeing no way out might have despaired. Accident or suicide? No one knows. The Coroner’s verdict was ‘Found Drowned’.

Note: Alfred was one of 100 plus WW1 COs who died during their term. His name appears on a memorial plaque at the Peace Pledge Union offices.