Jack Thom was one of many Conscientious Objectors who took on Work of National Importance (WNI) as an alternative to Military Service. WNI was not “the easy route” as COs had to navigate a complex and often deliberately obtuse system at the whims of both their employers and the Pelham committee, set up to administer COs on WNI. COs could not be paid over a certain amount (how much this was depended on the good graces of the local Tribunals, and in the case of COs, these graces were often hard to come by), usually had to work far from home and were expected to suffer in their work. Often, their lives were governed by the “principle of equal sacrifice” that suggested a CO should suffer as much as a soldier in the trenches. With mortal danger rare in market gardens and grocery shops this usually amounted to simply making the life of a CO as difficult and uncomfortable as possible.

When Jack was conscripted in 1916, he made an application for exemption to the Greenwich Military Service Tribunal. At some point in June his application was heard and he was passed “Exempt from Combatant Service, conditional on undertaking Work Of National Importance”.

Jack’s granddaughter, Dr Penelope Christensen, writes:
My grandfather Dashwood John (Jack) Thom and his brother Arthur Ernest Thom were both Conscientious Objectors during WWI. Conscription came in in 1916 and  Jack  was called up [he was 27 in 1916] before his younger brother Arthur [who was 25 in 1916]. Jack was a member of Plymouth Brethren at the time (through his wife’s influence) and thus his CO status was not questioned as much as Arthur’s. Jack never went to jail but Arthur did. Jack gave up all religion after his experiences during WWI.

The government reaction was one thing, but social ostracism was something else. Jack worked in grocery shops, for example at Dick Batt’s at 333 Canterbury Rd, Gillingham, Kent where he was a manager [Batt had 4-5 other grocery shops as well]. But as soon as the Batt son was old enough he was replaced by him with the excuse that he was a CO & he couldn’t dare keep him on! It was ‘bad for trade’. Jack once got work from a sympathetic grocer who employed him to weigh out dry goods such as tea & sugar as long as he stayed in the back room and wasn’t seen by the customers. Again, ‘bad for trade’. Jack worked at whatever he could find, sometimes more than one part-time job. As soon as his CO status was discerned he lost his job, and being an outspoken man, this was frequently. He had no regular work from 1916-1921 and his daughter Grace (born 1914) said she didn’t know how they lived. They had 1 meal a day, a vegetable stew, & Grace was very poorly. As her father was a CO he wasn’t eligible for any benefits from the state.
At least Jack was lucky because he was considered by the Pelham Committee to be a genuine religious CO and put to work of National Importance (in 1917 he was an optical lens grinder). The Pelham Committee controlled all the work force in WWI & COs were sent to do Work of National Importance. Employers were not allowed to pay more than a certain amount – ordered by the Tribunal.

Jack was finally demobilised in April 1919, allowed to go back to his civilian life having faced ostracism and his family, deprivation, as a result of his decision to refuse to kill in the First World War.