John Alfred Lewis, known as Jack, was a Socialist teacher working in Merthyr Tydfil when Britain declared war on Germany in August 1914. A member of the Independent Labour Party, Jack took an active stand against the war, a conflict that he regarded as morally wrong - a capitalist war for profit that pit worker against worker. He joined the No-Conscription Fellowship and became, along with five other Merthyr COs, the nucleus of an emerging anti-war movement in the area. When Conscription began in 1916, he applied for exemption as a Conscientious Objector, but was refused, leading shortly to his arrest as an absentee from the army, a court martial in Cardiff and a prison sentence of six months hard labour.

After the war, he would remember this prison sentence as a particularly difficult time. Conditions in prison were harsh, and solitary confinement under the rule of silence proved extremely tough. Monotony, sheer boredom and crippling loneliness made Jack’s relatively short sentence a heavy punishment.

After two months, Jack was sent to Wormwood Scrubs to have his case heard by the Central Tribunal, who deemed him suitable for work outside of prison on the Home Office Scheme and sent him to Warwick Centre. By September 1917, he was back in Wales, put to work under the Home Office Scheme on waterworks near Llanddeusant. Soon after, he was granted permission to work on “Exceptional Employment”, allowing him to live at home in Merthyr Tydfil while working on the Scheme.

Jack never regretted his opposition to war, and was recorded in 1972 on his experiences, saying:
“I have never on a single occasion had any cause or doubts as to the rectitude to my attitude. I think that fundamentally to oppose a war of this nature and wars of other natures for that matter is a necessity on the part of the people. I think at the present time, that people are not prepared to be involved in resistance and resistance to evil in society is a fundamental obligation of any person who’s got the capacity to think. I was in that position then, I am in this, the same position so far as social evils are concerned today. And my philosophy is socialism is what religion, Christian religion and various religions are to other people. I am a dedicated socialist, I can say on my record and on my philosophical outlook today and the consistency with which the principles I hold and have been followed throughout my life.”
Interview text via Cymru1914.org