Peter Carton was born in 1884, and lived at Minworth, a village in Warwickshire, working as a labourer. A principled humanitarian, he opposed the First World War, and when conscription refrained form applying for exemption, on the principle that the state had no moral authority to force men to become soldiers.

Having ignored thee notices ordering him to report to the recruiting office in Sutton Coldfield, he was interviewed by a local police constable who knew him and met him in nearby Water Orton on 7 September 1916, and, to save the policeman the bother of arresting him, he agreed to go to the Magistrates’ Court in Coleshill on 13 September. At the court, he was fined £2 and handed over t a military escort, who took him to the depot of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, at Budbrooke Barracks, Warwick. There he refused to undress for a medical examination,  leading to a formal charge of disobedience. He court-martialled and sentenced to 112 days imprisonment with hard labour, he was taken to Winson Green Prison, Birmingham, Later transferred to Wormwood Scrubs Prison, London, for appearance before the Central Tribunal, he was found to be a “genuine” conscientious objector,  and was offered, and he accepted,  admission to the Home Office Scheme.