Harold was one of the youngest men imprisoned as a Conscientious Objector in the First World War. Born in Tottenham in 1887, he was the son of a German immigrant father and British mother. His father had fled Germany due to the militarisation of society, only to find his son becoming a victim of a similar phenomenon in Britain.

Harold was only 17 at the beginning of the war. His time as a technical student came to a sudden end with the introduction of the Military Service Act and Conscription in 1916. As a member of the No-Conscription Fellowship, Harold was determined to resist Conscription when it was introduced and, as the son of a German immigrant, may have refused participation in the war as he did not want to kill men who may have been family!

His application for exemption was heard by Bromley Tribunal in early 1916, but was unsuccessful. We know from the records of other young COs that he very likely faced abuse from the (much older) members of the Tribunal on account of his age. No exemption was granted at County or Central Appeal Tribunals, and Harold was arrested for refusing to report to barracks, brought before a Magistrates Court and handed over to the military in June 1916.

Harold, like many other Conscientious Objectors, now found himself trapped in a 'Cat and Mouse' situation with the military and civil authorities. From 1916 to 1919, he would serve three sentences of hard labour in prison in Maidstone and Wandsworth. At some point during his prison sentences, he claimed to be a Quaker in order to escape from the monotony of prison life - Quaker COs could receive visits from volunteer “Chaplains” and attend meetings where COs could freely talk amongst themselves. Towards the end of his time in prison Harold’s health was rapidly deteriorating, but he was kept in the same terrible conditions until the end of his sentence.

Conscientious Objectors still in prison in April 1919 were released only under what became known as the 'Two Year Rule', whereby all kinds of prisoners convicted of army offences would be released if they had served two years or more. Harold was finally released in April 1919, long after his 'crime' of refusing to be conscripted had become irrelevant with the end of the war. On release he was expelled from the military and handed his discharge papers, which stated he faced another two years in prison if he tried to sign up again!

All surviving COs would receive similar papers notifying them that they were no longer in the army. While ridiculous, this clearly shows that the military thought of its 'soldiers' - willing and otherwise - as a mass of identical conscripts to be controlled. For many COs these discharge papers with their cruelly ironic warning against reenlistment would become treasured heirlooms and a testament to the challenge they had posed to the military establishment.