MEN WHO SAID NO | ROAD TO CONSCRIPTION | OBJECTION | PRISONS | SENTENCED TO DEATH | TRIBUNALS | WIDER CONTEXT |
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MEN WHO SAID NO | ROAD TO CONSCRIPTION | OBJECTION | PRISONS | SENTENCED TO DEATH | TRIBUNALS | WIDER CONTEXT | |
| RICHARD MANICOM 1881 - |
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| Richard Manicom was a successful engineer running his own business in Wimbledon during the early years of the First World War. Born in 1879 and married with two children, his call-up under the military service act was delayed until late 1916, when he appeared before the Wimbledon Tribunal to argue his case on two grounds - the importance of his work and his Christadelphian faith. His Tribunal hearing granted him exemption from the armed forces provided that he continued in his occupation under the oversight of the Pelham committee. This committee organised Conscientious Objectors undertaking "Work of National Importance", and directed COs to occupations where they would have a contributory role to both the war effort and the national economy. Richard, as an engineer, was working on several government contracts at the time of his Tribunal, and the Pelham committee agreed that his work was important to the nation, directing him to further work - with the Ministry of Munitions. Such a direct connection to the war effort would have been unacceptable to many Conscientious Objectors, who would have viewed it as tantamount to taking up arms themselves. Conscience, however, is a personal and individual matter. For Richard, working on government contracts with the Ministry of Munitions was morally separate from actively participating in war. Richard shared this position with many other Christadelphians who held that the act of murder through killing in war was the key moral issue they objected to. Richard would not kill - but his conscience allowed him to take up other work connected to the war effort.
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