‘How do you prove you have a conscience?’
You came to me via a pdf,
Out of the blue,
Via a Facebook message,
On a hot afternoon in late July,
With names, occupations, addresses and ages –
A bit like a census, in a strange way:
Official, bald, and bureaucratic
In your modernity,
No telegrams today.
Eighteen conscientious objectors
Whose courage, principles and politics,
Whose ethics, morals and steadfastness
Enabled them to stand up against the crowd,
In those heated days before and after July 1916,
And before and after November 1918.
Men from Stroud and around the Five Valleys,
Part of the 16,000, countrywide,
Who faced angry, suspicious tribunals
That demeaned and intimidated,
That despised sincerity and conscience,
As they deliberated on their verdicts:
“Does this man deserve absolute exemption?
Or some alternative to military service?
Or an army non-combatant role?
Or is he a liar?
Should he be summarily dispatched?
To the army, to training camp,
The front line and ‘combatant duties’?”
Some of you may have taken on medical and hospital work
(Some 6,500 did),
Some of you may have absolutely resisted:
You may have refused medical examinations,
You may have refused to wear uniforms,
You may have refused to march, salute or stand up …
You may have faced polite persuasion,
Or you may have been forced to wear a uniform,
Or wear a straitjacket,
Or have been placed in solitary confinement,
Or been one of the 6,000 thrown into prison
(‘Funny. You’re in for murder and I’m in here for refusing to.’)
Or been given ‘field punishments’,
Or been beaten up,
Or been given a death sentence,
That after a few seconds pause …
With hearts racing and with anxious swallowing …
Would be commuted to ten years’ imprisonment with hard labour.
I don’t know the judgements that you received,
And I don’t know what happened to you after the war
(If you survived),
The victimization that you faced
Might well have gone well beyond losing the vote,
Work, wages, friendship, family, faith,
People spitting in the streets as you passed by,
White feathers slipped through your letter box,
While gathering numbers of others,
Began to shake your hand,
Or place an arm around your shoulder,
And begin to wonder whether you might have been right,
All along,
When you stood alone.
But I silently stand and shake your ghostly hands,
And hope that at the going down of the sun,
And in the morning,
We will remember you:
Eighteen conscientious objectors
Whose courage, principles and politics,
Whose ethics, morals and steadfastness
Enabled them to stand up against the crowd:
1. Allen, James Whiteway Colony Stroud Labourer 21 (1916)
2. Apperley, Ebor 32, Bath Place Stroud Printer/compositor at Copeland Chatterson and Co. 27 (1916)
3. Burford, Edward Wyatt Edge Road, Painswick Grocer’s porter 35 (1916)
4. Butt, William Henry Stonehouse Farmer 26 (1916)
5. Clements, Harry Whiteway Colony Stroud Market gardener
6. Clements, William John Whiteway Colony Stroud Market gardener
7. Cole, Will Whiteway Colony Stroud Chemist turned market gardener
8. Cossham, Philip Raymond Park Farm Lypiatt, Nr. Stroud Land Agent 21 (1916) b. Cirencester
9. Hampton, Thomas Moor Hall Randwick, nr Stroud Described as a ‘Monk’
10. Kenworthy, George C. Whiteway Colony Stroud Farmer and carrier 26 (1916) b. Birkenhead
11. Kenworthy, John F. Whiteway Colony Stroud Farmer and carrier 28 (1916) b. Birkenhead
12. Mortimer, William Nailsworth Nailsworth Nr. Stroud Antiques and furniture dealer 36 (1916)
13. Murray, Stormont Oliver Whiteway Colony Stroud 19 (1917) b. Islington June 1898
14. Rudland, William 2, Bank Buildings, Regent Street Stonehouse Brushmaker 28 (1916)
15. Stevens, Will or Bill Whiteway Colony Stroud
16. Tilley, Albert Edward 4, John Street Stroud Jobbing Compositor at Copeland Chatterson and Co. 28 (1916)
17. Trussler, Arthur William Moor Court Gardens Amberley Professional gardener
18. Weight, Joseph Alfred Nailsworth, near Stroud Refrigerating Engineer 39 (1917) b. Nailsworth