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JOHN DIAMOND - 1886  

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John and Frank Diamond were Conscientious Objectors with both a religious and political objection to military service. The Diamond brothers were living and working in Glasgow when conscription was introduced into law in 1916, and were staunch members of the Independent Labour Party and Roman Catholic Church.

John, 30 in 1916 and a shoemaker may have been initially exempted as part of a nationally important trade, but was caught up in the conscription system in mid-1917. This relatively late date may also suggest he had managed to evade conscription altogether throughout 1916, either due to his work or by going on the run. A widespread sympathy for ILP and Socialist COs in Glasgow made for a significant underground network that allowed COs to evade the authorities, sometimes for the entire war.

However he had managed to avoid conscription in 1916 and the early part of 17, it did not last, and John was arrested as an Absentee from the army in Glasgow in July 1917. A swift trial followed, resulting in a fine and an escort to the Army. John was handed over to the military in August, but refused orders and faced a court martial which acted swifty to remove a principled and stubborn CO from the military system, sending him to Wormwood Scrubs to do hard labour.

At Wormwood Scrubs, John was passed suitable for the Home Office Scheme and was transferred to Knutsford in November 1917. The looser monitoring and more open conditions of the Scheme gave John ample opportunities to abscond and he did so shortly after arriving, returning to Glasgow and it’s support network and safe houses by December. It would be another eight months before he was arrested once again and this time returned to prison with no option for the Home Office Scheme.

Absolutely refusing all cooperation, John’s stand against militarism became one against prison discipline as well. Sent from Carlisle to Liverpool in July 1918, John went on hunger strike in protest at the savage conditions of the prison, and kept up periodic hunger strikes until he was released from Wandsworth prison hospital, where he had been transferred in the early months of 1919. His complete and absolute refusal to compromise with, or even acknowledge the legitimacy of the system of Conscription ended upon release from both prison and the army in April 1919 and he returned home a free man.

 

 

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CO DATA

Born: 1886
Died:
Address: 168 Dalmarnock Road, Glasgow
Tribunal: Glasgow
Prison: Wormwood Scrub, Walton, Carlisle, Wandsworths
HO Scheme: Knuksford[1]
CO Work:
Occupation: Shoemaker

Motivation: Roman Catholic, ILP
[2]
ABSOLUTIST

 


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WIDER CONTEXT | more
ROAD TO CONSCRIPTION
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CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION
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TRIBUNALS | more
SENTENCED TO DEATH | more
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HOME OFFICE CENTRES | more

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