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WILLIAM LEWIS 1890 -  

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William Lewis, born 1890, worked as a schoolteacher in Cefn Cribwr at the small primary school still standing in the village, when he was caught up by the Military Service Act and conscripted into the Army. At 26, single, and not in war-essential work, William would most likely have been called up in April or May 1916, but the first record of his experience as a Conscientious Objector appears later, in early September.

Though William’s motivation for refusing conscription is not known, the extent of it was clear to see. An Absolutist, William refused any and all cooperation or compromise with the military and civil system that brought about Conscription. Accordingly, the first record of his Objection is an arrest, when, on the 3rd of September 1916, William was held as an absentee from the Army having refused to report to barracks. He was tried, fined 40 shillings and handed over to the Army. Under the military system, William was supposed to join the Non-Combatant Corps, a branch of the Army set up for Conscientious Objectors, aiming to use them in useful (but non-combatant) roles in order to free up fighting soldiers for the front. William’s objection to war did not allow him to take up the NCC which would have made him firmly part of the war machine. His escorts handing him over to the Army took him to Kinmel Park, where he made his stand against Conscription by disobeying orders. Refusing to accept the authority of the military was inevitably met with harsh punishments, and on the 15th of September William was sentenced via court martial to two years hard labour, to be served in Wormwood Scrubs prison, London.

William was sent to Wormwood Scrubs rather than a more local prison as, by September 1916, the amount of Absolutist objectors held in prisons around the country had reached breaking point - and the government had devised the “Home Office Scheme” as a way of removing men from prison and putting them to useful work. Entrance onto the Home Office Scheme could only be granted by the Central Tribunal, then meeting in Wormwood Scrubs. William had his case heard at the Scrubs in October, and was passed to the Home Office Scheme at Warwick Work Centre by the 13th. A month later he would be sent to Llangadock Quarry in Wales, before being rejected by the Scheme as “unfit for work” and returned to prison.

He would experience two more prison sentences following court martial hearings at Kinmel Park on the 8th of February 1917 and the 28th of February 1919. On each occasion after release from prison, William was again a free man - and as such eligible once again for Conscription. Freedom was a temporary measure, one denied to William and thousands of other Conscientious Objectors until long after the war’s end. His final court martial appearance and sentencing in February 1919 shows that there was no immediate end to conscription after the armistice. William received a two year sentence, with every possibility that he would have to serve it in the entirety, but was released in April 1919 in one of the waves of mass releases for COs in the spring.

Release from prison may not have seen the end of William Lewis’ punishment for his views on war. There were concerted efforts to remove COs from teaching positions from 1916-1920, and William may have returned home to find his work in jeopardy, a final punishment for his brave and principled stand against militarism and war.

 

 

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CO DATA

Born: 1890
Died:
Address: 32 Caerau Road, Cefn Cribwr, Bridgend, Wales
Tribunal:
Prison: Wormwood Scrubs, Warwick, Shrewsbury
HO Scheme: Warwich, Llangadock [1]
CO Work:
Occupation: School Teacher

Motivation:
[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
PRISONS | more
HOME OFFICE CENTRES | more

READ | more

ONLINE RESOURCES
Conscientious objection in WW1
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