Back | Home |
THE MEN WHO SAID NO | ROAD TO CONSCRIPTION | CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION | PRISONS | SENTENCED TO DEATH | TRIBUNALS | WIDER CONTEXT | INDEX |
ARCHIBALD MICHAEL FLETCHER 1888 | |||||||||
Archibald Fletcher was one of thousands of Absolutists who spent time in prison and on the Home Office Scheme. He had been called before a Tribunal to state his case for exemption in early 1916 and, as a 28 year old, single, art student, he would have been in one of the earliest groups to be conscripted. Archibald was an Absolutist Conscientious Objector and a member of the No-Conscription Fellowship. As an absolutist, he refused to make any compromise with military authorities and not only was sent to prison, but after initially accepting the Home Office Scheme, rejected the rules and compromises it entailed, deliberately and willingly returning to prison instead of abandoning his principles. Archibald spent only a few months on the Scheme, but had been posted to the first and harshest of the Work Camps at Dyce in Aberdeenshire. Many COs who had been sent to Dyce believed that the scheme was corrupt, pointless and vindictive and, like Archibald, returned to prison instead of carrying out fruitless work of dubious importance in the terrible conditions of the camp.
|
|
||||||||
EditRegion7 | EditRegion6 | ||||||||