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MEN WHO SAID NO | ROAD TO CONSCRIPTION | OBJECTION | PRISONS | SENTENCED TO DEATH | TRIBUNALS | WIDER CONTEXT |
NORMAN HAROLD BRUCE KNAPPETT 1883 - 1981  

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Norman Harold Bruce Knappett was born in 1893 and lived in Forest Hill. In the 1911 census he was one of eight children living with his father Benjamin Albert Knappett. In 1916 he was employed as a clerk and was unmarried, putting him into one of the first groups called up under the Military Service Act 1916. He was a member of the Plymouth Brethren.

He appeared before the Military Service Tribunal in Lewisham and his hearing was reported in the Lewisham Borough News on March 17 1916, at the same hearing as several other COs.

He told the tribunal that he was a conscientious objector of long standing and, as part of the Plymouth Brethren his religious principles dictated that he could not take life as a soldier. He presented three supporting letters which asserted that his conscientious objection to killing in warfare was deeply held. Norman’s application was judged to be legitimate, and he was passed for non-Combatant service.

As an Alternativist Conscientious Objector, this verdict was acceptable for Norman as it allowed him to provide labour and logistical support for the military without being forced into a situation where he would have to take life. The Non-Combatant Corps was a branch of the Army specifically devised for COs - it’s members would not have to bear, or handle, weapons and ammunition, but instead took on roles both abroad and in the UK. Norman was conscripted into the Non-Combatant Corps 9th Eastern Company at Camberwell on the 12th of December 1916.

Norman was attached to the Agricultural Corps, where he would be first instructed in agricultural techniques and practice before being put to work in farming. Norman appears to have worked happily in the NCC, except for a brief escape from Winchester camp which saw him sentenced to field punishment number 2 - heavy shackles - for four days. He would remain in the NCC, working in the UK until the 7th of January 1920, when he was demobilised.

In 1921 Norman married Kathleen and they had four children - Eileen, Doris, Norman and Kenneth.

Many thanks to Martyn Knappett for additional information and photo.

 

 

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CO DATA

Born: 1883
Died: 1981
Address: 9 Park Road, Forest Hill, Lewisham, London
Tribunal: Lewisham
Prison:
HO Scheme: [1]
CO Work:
Occupation: Clerk

Motivation: Exclusive Plymouth Brethren
[2]
NON-COMBATANT

 


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