In 1914, Sidney Linscott was in Canada working for Westinghouse electric when Britain’s entry into the First World War was declared on August 4th. He returned to Britain, but not to enlist, and his reasons for doing so are unknown. As a member of both the Independent Labour Party and the No-Conscription Fellowship alongside his position as a prominent member of the Railway and Transport Union, it may well be that he returned to protest against the war.

His passage through the Tribunal system was interrupted after he had secured exemption from military service conditional on work of national importance. An appeal lodged by the military representative on the Newton Abbot Tribunal reversed the decision and his conditional exemption was withdrawn - forcing him into the army.

As for many other COs transfer to the army under military escort was merely a short step on the way to a lengthy prison sentence, and Sidney served a full year’s sentence at Wormwood Scrubs before accepting the Home Office Scheme after his second court martial.

Transferred quickly to Knutsford camp, and from there to the Whitland camp in Carmarthen, Sidney would have experienced progressively worse conditions in each camp that he passed through. By the time he arrived in Carmarthen - known as Red Roses Camp - he would see what was possibly one of the worst run and organised Home Office camps in 1918. Shortly after his arrival the camp was struck by the Influenza epidemic.

Sidney died soon after in November 1918.

The No-Conscription Fellowship published a damning letter on the conditions at the Red Roses camp in the newspaper “The Tribunal” on the 28th of November 1918, giving us an insight into the circumstances of Sidney’s death:

“A terrible state of affairs in the Home Office camps at Whitland, Carmarthen, has resulted in the death of two of our comrades from pneumonia.

The Home Office neglected to make even the most elementary provision for combating the influenza epidemic which attacked the camp. Some idea of the situation may be gathered from the following extract from a letter written by a visitor to the camp:-

No doubt you have heard that the influenza epidemic has been playing havoc in this camp. Last night a man named Peterson of Glasgow died, and this morning another, Liscott of Devonshire, also died. Only two or three men out of 45 have been out on the potato field each day recently. The others are either sick or waiting on the sick men. I am here visiting with Mr Sudell, who has had pneumonia following the flu. He and the two men who have died were moved into an empty cottage because of the pneumonia, but nursing is of course utterly inadequate. The Agent (Howell) is somewhat of a drunken bully and does nothing for the men, even complaining at the numbers who are attending on the invalids, and I can assure you there are none too many. Invalid cooking, orderly work of all kinds is being done by inexperienced boys and the result is that even the two rooms in the cottage are dirty and anything but comfortable. There are only plank beds with a thin hard mattress on and a few blankets. The Medical Officer, Dr. Philips, is human and does all he can, but seems to be up against a stone wall.

To-day, I suppose because of the two deaths he has decided that Mr Sudell must be moved to the infirmary at Carmarthen. There are others who are pretty bad, and are only on milk diet, and these ought to be moved, too, I think. It’s impossible to get a nurse here and even if trained nurses could be persuaded to come, the conditions would prevent anything like decent treatment being given them.”