Francis Meynell was a publisher and journalist working for the Daily Herald newspaper under noted pacifist and socialist George Lansbury. As a committed socialist and religious objector, it was almost inevitable that he would become an Absolutist CO, and, after refusing to take on Work of National Importance in any capacity, he was arrested in late 1916 and turned over to the army as an absentee from call-up.

In 1916 with fellow Catholic, socialist and conscientious objector Stanley Morison, Francis formed the ‘Guild of the Pope’s Peace’ to publicise Pope Benedict XV’s appeals to stop the fighting: ‘dishonouring Europe and humanity’. Francis was eventually discharged from the army after collapsing from a hunger and thirst strike in defiance of all military authority lasting nine days. Eventually released, most likely in 1919, he would go on to become a published poet. He founded the Nonesuch Press in 1922, became an atheist and championed anti fascist causes. He was knighted in 1946 and died on the 10th July 1975.