We have little information about Joseph at present. However we know that he applied for conscientious objection status along with his brother John at the Military Service Tribunal in Wallasey. Both were refused and both refused to sign army papers. After the hearing Joseph was “forced to give in and join the Army by systematic ill-treatment at the hands of the 3rd Cheshires at Birkenhead, who-persistently kept him awake day and night for four days”*.

Joseph was sent to France in June and ‘killed in action; four weeks later. He is buried at Oosttaverne Wood cemetery in Belgium and was awarded with the British War Medal and Victory medal. Joseph’s mother refused to accept scroll and plaque given to parents of men killed but, in 1922, his father, Alfred Owen Pearson, accepted the medals.

Any information you may have about Joseph would be welcome and we would be pleased to add it to this page. Let us know

Brother of John Sydney Pearson