Gem From The Archive
Chris Clayton, a volunteer at the Working Class Movement Library in Salford, shares Thomas Henry Ellison’s scrapbook
A conscientious objector’s scrapbook from 1919
Conscription in Britain was introduced in January 1916 to meet the demand for men to serve in the First World War. However, an estimated 16,000 conscientious objectors (COs) refused to fight because of their religious or political beliefs. ‘Conchies’ were required to defend their stance before tribunals. Some accepted civilian work of national importance instead, while those who refused to participate in the war at all were courtmartialled and imprisoned in often harsh conditions. The Working Class Movement Library (WCML) holds many papers relating to the CO organisation the NoConscription Fellowship (NCF). Among them is a scrapbook compiled by CO Thomas Henry Ellison in 1919. We talked to WCML volunteer Chris Clayton about this book, and what it shows about the COs’ experiences.
Can You Describe The Scrapbook?
The scrapbook contains all of Ellison’s official documentation – from the passing of the Military Service Act in January 1916, which introduced conscription, to his final release from prison in 1919. It contains a copy of the Act itself; his call-up papers; his appeals against the local military tribunal who would decide if his objection to serving was acceptable to them; his courts-martial charge sheets; witness statements; his travel documents; and his certificate of discharge for misconduct after two years and 306 days of service – most of it spent in prison. These official documents are interspersed with handwritten copies of his statements at his courts-martial, poetry, press cuttings, and leaflets and letters from the NCF.
Why Did You Choose This Document?
The centenary of the First World War has stimulated interest in the lost lives of a generation of young men, and the suffering of those who lived and fought in appalling conditions in the trenches. But what has sometimes been overlooked is the minority of people who opposed the war, and their struggle to maintain their opposition to taking the life of another human being. I chose this scrapbook because it is a unique record of a man’s fight to act according to his conscience, despite condemnation from the majority of the public.
What Does It Reveal About COs’ Treatment?
Ellison’s call-up papers are dated 27 April 1916. At the time he was 21 years old, living in London and working as a railway-car dining attendant. The papers inform him that he had to report to the Army on 5 May 1916. This would only give a conscript eight days to prepare himself for probably the most important decision of his life: whether to accept his place in the Army, or apply for exemption on moral grounds and risk imprisonment for his beliefs.
If the tribunal decided that the man’s reasons were not acceptable, he would be told to report to his regiment; if he didn’t do so voluntarily then he would be arrested and taken there by the police. On arrival he would be ordered to put on a uniform. Ellison refused this order, and was sent before a courtmartial at which he received six months’ hard labour, commuted to 112 days. He
fight ‘It is a unique record of a man’s to act according to his conscience, despite public condemnation’
arrived at Winchester Prison on 19 June 1916. Once a CO was sent to prison, he was allowed to send a postcard to a relative or friend to let them know their whereabouts. He wouldn’t be allowed to write again for two months.
Like many other COs Ellison accepted work under a Home Office Scheme as an alternative to prison, and was transferred to a camp at Dyce, just outside Aberdeen. Several press cuttings in the scrapbook describe the appalling conditions faced by the COs, including one from the Granite Echo, a newspaper set up by the men in the camp, with an article written by Ellison. The camp was closed after the death of Walter Roberts from Stockport of a fever.
Ellison refused to report to another work camp, and returned to prison. Over the next few years he was incarcerated in Exeter and Wandsworth Prisons. After the war ended, some COs decided to go on hunger strike to protest against their continuing imprisonment. Ellison must have been a hunger striker, as he was discharged on 6 January 1919 under the 1913 Prisoners (Temporary Discharge for Ill Health) Act, which had been used to free hunger-striking suffragettes before the war. He was ordered to return to prison on 4 February 1919, when his health improved.
Ellison’s story is typical of many of the men who obeyed their conscience and refused to kill.
Can You Tell Me More About The NCF?
The fellowship was set up by Fenner Brockway, a journalist who edited the newspaper the Labour Leader from its offices in Salford. He later became a CO, an MP and eventually a member of the House of Lords. We hold editions of the Labour Leader for the war period, and many NCF leaflets. Documents from the Hyde NCF, a sub-branch of the Manchester NCF, include lists of the area’s COs and other members. They also show how the NCF was organised locally, with up to 10 branches in the Manchester area supporting the COs and their families.
What Other Records Does The Library Hold?
The library records over 200 years of organising and campaigning. We hold books and documents about events from the Peterloo Massacre to the suffragette movement and anti-racism campaigning in the 1960s–1980s, as well as trade union records.