George Cons was born in 1893, and lived in Bermondsey, south London. He trained at the London Day Training College, 1912-15, and then became a teacher at schools in West Ham and Croydon.

With the imposition of conscription in February 1916, he applied for exemption as a conscientious objector, and was fortunate in being allowed absolute exemption – one of only 200-300 so exempted, out of 20,000 WW1 COs. Despite this, he appears to have been dismissed by the local education authority because he was a CO, a by no means infrequent experience for teacher COs in an era when modern protection against unfair or arbitrary dismissal from employment did not exist. He eventually found a post in September 1916 at the Friends’ School, Great Ayton, North Riding, Yorkshire, but on 23 January 1917, because his certificate of exemption had been limited to one year, he appeared again at Bermondsey Tribunal for renewal. The Military Representative took the opportunity to demand that any renewal should include a variation to make exemption conditional upon doing Work of National Importance, and the Tribunal agreed to this. Such work had to be designated by the Pelham Committee, who on 12 February ruled that George should start doing market gardening at Isleworth, Middlesex, on 1 March. George duly complied, continuing until August 1918, when he had permission to transfer to labouring work at the farm attached to Fairby Grange, a large house in Kent acquired by Dr Alfred Salter (Bermondsey GP and later MP for Bermondsey) to provide recuperation for COs on release from prison.

In November 1918 George informed the Pelham Committee of a complete breakdown in health, and in December 1918 he was given permission to leave farm work, and, after a break, he returned to Great Ayton School in February 1919, remaining on the staff until 1928.

George left Great Ayton to take up a post as lecturer in geography and education at Goldsmiths College, London, which he held until 1958. He died in 1950 after only two years of retirement.