Archibald Shearer was an Absolutist Conscientious Objector whose refusal to fight in the War was motivated by his strong Baptist faith. As he was married and in his thirties, he faced conscription in one of the later groups called in 1916, and would have gone before the Twickenham Tribunal in June. There, it appears he received "Exemption from Combatant Service Only", sending him into the Non-Combatant Corps, an army formation set up specifically for Conscientious Objectors. There he would be expected to follow orders and wear a uniform, just like any other soldier, but with the guarantee that he would not be ordered to handle or use weapons. Archibald reported to the Houslow barracks as an NCC-bound CO on the 24th June 1916, and worked willingly with the NCC until December, when he was court martialled for disobeying orders and sent to Wormwood Scrubs for a sentence of six months hard labour.

Between June and December, Archibald's position had changed from "Alternativist" where, willing to work as part of the NCC he was taking up an alternative form of military service to combatant soldiering, to an "Absolutist" one, rejecting any and all alternatives and deciding to play no role in the military machine. NCC men changing their minds after time spent in the army is not unusual, and it appears that Archibald was involved in one of the largest demonstrations of NCC CO disobedience during the war - the strike at Newhaven. Gradually throughout November and December, NCC men had been accumulated at Newhaven and Archibald was among them. They had been congregated so that they would provide more direct support to combatant units through the loading and transportation of munitions. For over 100 NCC men this was the last straw. After being assured they would not work with arms or munitions, attempting to force them to load munitions caused many to take an Absolutist stand against the military. The CO newspaper, The Tribunal, reported that: "Many of the men in the NCC have been for some time past reconsidering their position with growing uneasiness… in clear and honest thinking, and the fearless following of conscience lies the only way to peace, whether for nations or for individuals". Archibald's stand would see him sent to prison for a total of three years, released at the order of the War Office in April 1919.