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 | |
| MUNDY CECIL STUART 1890 - |
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| Cecil Mundy was a Conscientious Objector working as a grocer in Richmond when he was conscripted in 1916. A member of the Plymouth Brethren, Cecil's objection was religiously inspired, and took the form we now call "Alternativist", where he refused to kill in war, but did not refuse to serve in the Army. Cecil was single and only 26 years old in 1916, making him part of one of the first "groups" of men called up under the Military Service Act. His Tribunal hearing for exemption as a CO would have been early in March 1916, and likely passed him "Exempt from Combatant Service Only". This meant a posting to the Non-Combatant Corps (NCC), a branch of the Army set up for Conscientious Objectors, where men would be put to work providing logistical and labour support for the Army. NCC men accepted the posting in return for assurances they would not have to train with or use weapons, and their labour would not be put to directly offensive ends, such as transporting munitions. Cecil served with the NCC at home and in France from May 1916 to demobilisation in December 1919. In common with many other NCC men, Cecil was frequently in trouble for minor acts of disobedience, made while ensuring his work was not directly military. While other Objectors refused the NCC out of hand, the men within it did not acquiesce to the military machine totally, and the determination not to take life or directly aid in the taking of life put many NCC men in a difficult and often precarious position.
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