THE MEN WHO SAID NO | ROAD TO CONSCRIPTION | CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION | PRISONS | SENTENCED TO DEATH | TRIBUNALS | WIDER CONTEXT | INDEX
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THE MEN WHO SAID NO | ROAD TO CONSCRIPTION | CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION | PRISONS | SENTENCED TO DEATH | TRIBUNALS | WIDER CONTEXT | INDEX |
| FREDERICK JOHN TRITTON 1888 - |
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| As the secretary of the Kingston Branch of the No-Conscription Fellowship, Frederick Tritton would have been well known in the pacifist and anti-war community of Kingston long before he became a Conscientious Objector. The secretary of local NCF branches played an important role in the coordination and support of COs in their local area, organising meetings, collating information on local COs and overseeing the distribution of pro-CO material produced by the head offices of the NCF. This work - entirely voluntary and very time consuming - was vital to the CO movement, and Branch Secretaries had to be highly organised. NCF branches were set up around the country from 1914 onwards, and the Kingston branch was well established. Frederick himself went before the Surbiton Tribunal in mid-1916, which passed him exempt from Combatant Service conditional on him taking up Work of National Importance. Frederick took up farm work, first locally and then from December 1916 at Cheltenham. COs doing Work of National Importance (WNI) were expected to suffer through "equal sacrifice" with soldiers at the front. Lethal risk not in great supply in Cheltenham, Tribunals scrutinised COs work, and expected harsh treatment, inadequate pay and rations and frequently demanded arbitrary transfers to different occupations far from home. This system was nothing more than an attempt to punish COs who stood up for their right to refuse to go to war, and was an example of the petty vindictiveness that characterised much of the CO-local government interaction.
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