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 | |
| HENRY GEORGE OAKLEY 1882 - |
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| Though the majority of men who would become Conscientious Objectors were conscripted in 1916, some were not caught up in the military machine until significantly later. Age, occupation, marital status and domestic situation could all delay call up under the military service act. In the case of Henry Oakley, all of these factors may have been at play. Married with three children and in his late 30s in 1916, Henry's record as a CO begins only in 1918. Though his family would not have stopped him from being called up in 1916, his work might have. Henry worked for the Post Office as a porter, which, from late 1916 to early 1918 was a scheduled occupation, disbarring him from the provisions of the Military Service Act. When it was removed from the list of scheduled occupations in mid 1918, Henry became eligible for conscription. Applying to both the Mitcham Tribunal and, after receiving a verdict he was dissatisfied with, most likely Exemption from Non-Combatant Service Only, the Surrey Appeal Tribunal, Henry's case was passed to the Pelham committee. This committee was set up by the central government in order to monitor and manage Conscientious Objectors taking up Work of National Importance (WNI), setting rules and regulations for how and where they would work. Henry was one of few COs who were allowed to carry on in their current employment by the Pelham Committee. Though Henry was to stay with the Post Office, this was very different to exemption allowing him to freely continue his life. Regular reports from his employers and notification of any change in circumstance to the Pelham committee meant that close watch would be kept on his case throughout the remaining months of the war.
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