William May was 23 when faced with Conscription in 1916 after the introduction of the Military Service Act forced all men between 18 and 41 into the Army. William was a member of the International Bible Students Association, now the Jehovahs’ Witnesses, a sect that held a longstanding opposition to war, and it was this Christian belief that inspired him to become a Conscientious Objector. Unusually for a Firs World War CO, William had volunteered for military service before the war, and had spent four years in the 9th Batallion of the Royal Scots. It is likely that after his time in the Army, William either converted or reaffirmed his faith as IBSA members believed that they should endeavour to be “separate from the world”, and that this meant that they could not follow any civil law that contradicted religious law - especially military service.

William took this stand to his local Tribunal in Arbroath, where he was granted Exemption from Combatant Service (ECS) only, the most common verdict given to COs by Tribunals, and one that William, along with thousands of others, rejected. Accepting ECS would mean accepting conscription and being sent to the Army as a soldier - albeit in a non-combatant role. William’s faith meant that he could not accept any position in the military and so he decided to refuse orders, knowing that punishment would result. It did on the 19th of June 1916 when he faced a court martial in Hamilton barracks and was sentenced to four months hard labour.

Out of the hands of the military, William was sent to Barlinnie Prison, where his sentence was brought to an end by a Central Tribunal hearing on the 31st of August. The Central Tribunal met in prisons in England, Scotland and Wales to hear the cases of COs imprisoned for military offences, not to grant them exemption, but to judge whether or not they were suitable for the Home Office Scheme (HoS). A favourable verdict from the Central Tribunal - which William received - would see a CO transferred to the HoS and out of prison, put to work in one of the many labour camps set up for COs around the country.

William was transferred out of prison and onto the HoS in November 1916, and was sent initially to Wakefield, before he was moved to a HoS camp closer to home, in Broxburn, West Lothian. He stayed at Broxburn Camp until mid 1918 when, with decreasing restrictions on the employment of Conscientious Objectors, he was transferred to what was known as “exceptional employment” at the shale works, for increased pay, in marginally normal conditions. It was at the shale works that he had a fatal accident while working with the railway wagons that accompanied the shale processing plant. He was found dead on October 2nd 1918. William, along with 69 of the more than 100 Conscientious Objectors who died during the First World War is commemorated on the Conscientious Objector memorial plaque, today hanging in the offices of the Peace Pledge Union. His name is engraved under the phrase “It is by the faith of the idealist that the ideal comes true”, which stands as a testament to the aims and purpose of all those who resisted, and resist, war.