Harold Brightman was one of many Conscientious Objectors whose lives were tragically cut short by the conditions they endured as a result of their courageous stand against war.

A woodcarver and carpenter from North London, Harold was 23 when conscription was introduced in 1916 and quickly went before the Camden Town Tribunal. He must have been unhappy with both the local and appeal tribunal verdicts as he was arrested as an absentee from the army in September 1916 and quickly found himself in prison.

In August 1917, Harold accepted the offer of the Home Office Scheme and left prison to be transferred to the Dartmoor centre. The Home Office Scheme was designed as a way to remove COs from civil prisons by offering them slightly better conditions in exchange for doing manual labour, farm work and a variety of other tasks in a controlled environment. Initially conditions on the scheme were terrible but by 1917 protest and investigations had forced better conditions for the thousands of COs who had taken up the scheme.

By all accounts, Harold had dedicated his time on the scheme to making the lives of his fellow COs better and was noted in thanks for his participation in the Concerts held by COs in Dartmoor prison. After his death the CO Newspaper “The Tribunal” noted that he had been “Ever ready to assist in anything which could help make life there more bearable”. In the circumstances, with men stuck in prison-like conditions far from home, Harold’s contributions to communal life at Dartmoor would have been much appreciated.

Despite the concerts and the improved conditions at Dartmoor, life was still tough. Hard manual labour in all weathers and conditions, prison food and cold, damp and draughty accommodation made many Conscientious Objectors ill and weakened them all.

Harold along with thousands of other conscientious objectors around the country was still in unable to return home when the armistice was declared on the 11th of November 1918. Still with no prospect of release, the end of the war did not mean that they could go home. Still in Dartmoor and exhausted by the labour and conditions, Harold fell ill as one of the waves of disease that followed the end of the war swept through the work centre. Weakened by heavy work and underfed with very little medical provision, Harold died in late November, well after the armistice which could have set him free.

Harold Brightman was only 25 when he died. Another young man whose life was taken away by the pointless and ineffective punishment Conscientious Objectors were subjected to, all for refusing to murder another human being.