MEN WHO SAID NO | ROAD TO CONSCRIPTION | OBJECTION | PRISONS | SENTENCED TO DEATH | TRIBUNALS | WIDER CONTEXT |
|
| Back | Home |
MEN WHO SAID NO | ROAD TO CONSCRIPTION | OBJECTION | PRISONS | SENTENCED TO DEATH | TRIBUNALS | WIDER CONTEXT | |
| STANLEY MUTIMER 1887 - |
|
||||||||
| Many Conscientious Objectors applied for exemption under the Military Service Act on several grounds. There were many ways to gain exemption based on employment, domestic and economic status, of which a Conscientious Objection to Military Service - officially category "F" - was only one. Stanley Mutimer applied to the Brentford Tribunal on two grounds - that he was a Conscientious Objector, and that he was employed in a certified occupation (category "G") in his work as a Motor Tractor ploughman. Applying on two grounds did not mean that Stanley was any less determined to register as a CO, and his application made his religious motivation clear. As a member of one of the free churches associated with the Church of Christ, Stanley held a deep-seated objection to taking life in warfare, one held by many members of his denomination. While Tribunals rarely treated CO applications with respect, this did not mean that multiple-ground applications were treated any differently. Stanley's Tribunal application shows that the main crux of his request for exemption was his faith - "as Christ came into the world to save life and not to take it" - but he was unwell and unable to attend his hearing. In his absence, the Brentford Tribunal seem to have considered his occupational grounds for exemption only, and passed him temporarily exempt provided that he continued his work. Attempting to secure a more lasting exemption as provided for as a CO under the Military Service Act, Stanley appealed against this decision, but was rejected, the Tribunal supposing that his CO status had only been introduced for the Appeal! While Stanley had consistently applied as a CO, this fact was ignored - the Brentford Tribunal taking it upon themselves to dismiss his legal right to exemption on religious grounds. However, Stanley's important agricultural work was a certified profession throughout the war, which gained him a final absolute exemption, granted in November 1918.
|
|
||||||||
| EditRegion7 | EditRegion6 | ||||||||
|
|||||||||
 |
|||||||||
