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MEN WHO SAID NO | ROAD TO CONSCRIPTION | OBJECTION | PRISONS | SENTENCED TO DEATH | TRIBUNALS | WIDER CONTEXT |
JOHN LEWIS 1890 -  

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We known very little about Harry. However we do have a fragmentary record of his thoughts from a brief note in a fellow COs Autograph Book whilst in Dartmoor.
If you have any information about Harry we would be pleased to hear from you.

John Lewis snippetThe following is a brief outline of what happened to most COs at the start of their resistance to the war.

Dealing with conscientious objectors was a new and confusing situation for the authorities and the Army. The CO might have appealed to his Local and later to the Appeal Tribunal, or he might have been deemed to be genuine but refused the offered form of exemption. Whether an objector appealed to a Tribunal or not from the moment he was instructed to report to camp, whether or not he did so, he was ‘deemed to be enlisted’, and his absence made him liable to prosecution for desertion.

After a few days when his absence was noted he would be visited by a policeman, arrested, and taken first to the recruiting office and then to the police station, where he would probably spend the night in a cell. The next day he would be brought before the magistrate. The police or a recruiting officer offered evidence of his liability to serve, and the, now, prisoner again declared his conscientious objection. He would be fined for failing to report under the Military Service Act, and handed over to a military escort. This would take him to the barracks to which he had first been ordered to report. There he was required to change into uniform, to sign his paybook and generally submit to routine orders. If such orders were refused he would be charged with disobeying a lawful command and placed in the guardroom.

After an initial period of confusion the procedure outlined above emerged and quickly became standard.

 

 

 

 

  Do you have more information or photos of JOHN LEWIS? Let us know
 

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CO DATA

Born: 1890
Died:
Address: Mount Cottage, Ystalyfera, Pontardawe, Glamorgan, Wales
Tribunal: Wormwood Scrubs
Prison: Caernarvon Prison; Walton Prison, Liverpool; Wormwood Scrubs
HO Scheme: Belmont Workhouse; Dartmoor; Penderun[1]
CO Work:
Occupation: Bricklayer

Motivation: Religious - FoR
[2]
ALTERNATIVIST

 


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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
PRISONS | more
HOME OFFICE CENTRES | more

READ | more

ONLINE RESOURCES
Conscientious objection in WW1
Conscientious objection today
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Remembrance

EDUCATION | more

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