Military Tribunals & Conscientious Objectors
In the then Hippodrome in Falkirk, on Thursday 4 May 1916, Mrs Charlotte Despard, a prominent, high profile suffragette, pacifist, and socialist and sister of Field Marshal Lord French of Ypres until December 1915 the Commander-in-Chief of the BEF, gave a speech in relation to the social and industrial life of the country. The meeting was under the auspices of the local committee for raising funds for the Scottish Women’s Hospitals for Foreign Service. In her speech she said that ‘The war had been instigated by men whose brains ought to have been employed in making the earth more beautiful and more productive..’ She went on that the war was a result of ‘a lack of social feelings amongst nations… That the present war did not actually commence in August 1914. For several years, pomp, passion, and desire for bigness had prevailed, and the war was a
manifestation of that long drawn-out battle amongst the classes.’ International tensions had been building for decades as imperialist finance capitalism assumed growing power and sought new markets and sources of raw materials. Between 1876 and 1914 Britain, France, Germany, Russia, Japan and America grabbed territory two and half times the size of Europe and held enslaved over five hundred million colonial people. Such a gigantic expansion must give rise to conflict and with the world parcelled out, the next phase, the redivision of the spoils was shaped by the changing economic and military power of the advanced countries. Lenin noted: ‘that the war of 1914-18 was imperialist (that is, an annexationist, predatory, war of plunder) on the part of both sides; it was a war for the division of the world, for the partition and repartition of colonies and spheres of influence of finance capital, etc.’ The Socialist opposition to the war was represented by the Independent Labour Party (ILP), British Socialist Party (BSP), and the Socialist Labour Party (SLP). The First World War was fought predominantly by the working class. It would not have been possible to fight the war without their participation either on the battlefield or on the home front. The First World War disrupted the continuity of British history more profoundly than any other event in the previous sixty years. The war also had some anti-radical outcomes in the form of patriotism but this patriotism alternated between patriotic fervour, war weariness, militant protest and radical social demands amongst the working class. There is a general consensus that for the people of Britain the First World War was not unpopular and from this we are to believe that those who were anti-war or were Conscientious Objectors (CO), that they were in the minority and on the margins of society, not really that important in the larger scale of the war. Trevor Wilson in ‘The Myriad Faces of War: Britain and the Great War’ writes that tolerating the CO showed that Britain was able to conduct a modern war: ‘without abandoning liberal precepts and the parliamentary system… Despite many lapses into beastliness, the fundamental of a liberal community had been preserved..’ The COs only numbered 16,500 or 0.33% of all conscripts and those who volunteered but they had a public impact beyond those numbers. Politically,
from the outset the British government presented the war as a noble and just cause. The Socialists opposed this view throughout the war. Within Scotland the ILP embarked on their Home Front anti-war and campaign for International peace in the full realisation that it would damage their membership numbers in the industrial areas where they had been growing in support, they had ninety-six branches in Scotland, twenty in Glasgow, when the war began, but they lost many members who had enlisted or drifted away from the ILP with membership reduced to 3,000. By the end of the war the number of branches had risen by 201 and the membership had increased by 10,000 with the ILP journal Forward declaring that Scots had listened to the ILP anti-war message and that ‘the ILP in Scotland lives, and in 201 towns and villages bears witness to the vitality of the Socialist Movement.’ The British Socialist Party (BSP), precursors to the Communist Party of Great Britain, had twenty five branches in Scotland by 1915, one in Falkirk, and a further six in Glasgow, by 1916 the BSP members had removed Henry Mayers Hyndman and the pro-war leadership and now led by John McLean supported the anti-war movement. The Socialist Labour Party (SLP) had fewer members and branches in Scotland with two branches in Glasgow, and one in each of the cities of Edinburgh, Dundee, and Aberdeen, and one in the towns of Dumbarton and Clydebank. The Scottish Socialist Sunday Schools had numerous branches and links with the ILP, BSP, and SLP. Alongside the political movement was the Scottish Trade Union movement and the Trades Councils and in 1914 were organised in all industrial and coal mining centres in the Lowlands of Scotland representing some 250,000 members. Both the STUC and the TUC took a pro-war stance by declaring and industrial peace for the duration of the war however, where the TU movement and the political left came together was on the question of conscription whether that was military or industrial conscription.
Industrial and Political Unrest – Falkirk District
When we look at the history of unrest before and during the First World War in relation to Scotland, we are drawn to Glasgow and ‘Red Clydeside’ yet in other areas of Scotland, such as Falkirk, industrial unrest before and during the war was prevalent. In 1900, a branch of the Social Democratic Federation (SDF), the SDF helped found the Labour Representation Committee (which became the UK Labour Party), though it later grew critical of it. The SDF dissolved/merged into the British Socialist Party in 1911. Prominent members of the SDF included William Morris, Eleanor Marx, George Lansbury, James Connolly, and Harry Quelch. A branch of the SDF was formed in Falkirk and the Scottish organiser William Gee wrote: ‘Falkirk possesses a people who are exceptionally sympathetic towards the socialist movement, and the membership of the branch could be increased tenfold.’ Moderate members of the Falkirk SDF branch got into trouble with government authorities for gun running to the Russian revolutionary socialists in 1905. In 1912, the Falkirk branch gave so much support to John MacLean that he described
Falkirk as a stronghold of socialism. (Justice 8 June 1912) In July 1914, using his pen name of ‘John Gael’ he reported (Justice 25 June 1914), that ‘Gael’s comrades on the Falkirk School Board - Primrose and MacPherson - had obtained free books, the abolition of home lessons and the restriction of corporal punishment.’ Pre-war industrial action included in May 1913 a three-month patternmakers’ strike at Carron Company iron foundry, and a five-week lock-out of workers of all the moulders in the Low and Mungal Foundries this spread to involve foundries at Bonnybridge and Bo’ness and there were over 4,000 men on strike across Falkirk District. In October 1913, the blast furnacemen at Carron Company went on strike against a reduction in their wages and they also wanted a change in the way their wages were calculated. The management issued notices to the men, who were tenants in the company houses in West Carron, that if they did not vacate their homes they would be evicted. They voted to return to work; however, sixty-five men were sacked. In June 1913 there was a four-week strike by 300 pit-prop workers at Bo’ness and Grangemouth. There was a pottery workers strike in Grangemouth and Bo’ness and sawmill workers were on strike in Bo’ness and Grangemouth. Dockers and harbour labourers were on strike in Grangemouth. The miners at Letham Colliery struck in February 1914 against wage cuts being imposed by the Carron Company. They were forced back to work in mid-March 1914. In August 150 Falkirk labourers employed in the building trades went on strike seeking a pay increase. In June 1915 there was a strike of iron moulders over the non-payment of an agreed wage increase and war bonuses. In September 1917 there was a strike by iron moulders in support of comrades in Glasgow foundries who were in dispute over pay and conditions. In 1918, the General Iron Fitters’ Association called in strike in Falkirk against ‘an attempt by the military to hustle many of our members into the army.’
Pro-War Movement and Recruitment in Scotland
By December 1914, 25% of the male workforce of western Scotland had volunteered. In the Ayrshire coalfield which had both a secure domestic and Irish market, affected little by the disruption caused by German U-boat activity, only 20% of miners volunteered. In the east of Scotland coalfields, it was different. Here, the exports to eastern Europe had collapsed and over 36% of miners enlisted. Unemployment and men being laid off on short time also affected the ports at Grangemouth and Bo’ness both were closed by the Admiralty and so preventing the movement of goods by sea. In Falkirk during the first weeks of the war the military had to open a recruitment office in West Bridge Street to cope with the men queuing to enlist. Many of those queuing had come from the Glasgow area. As early as the 24 August 1914 Lord Derby had approached the War Office with his suggestion for ‘Pals Battalions’ the idea having originated in the War Office on 12 August. In London, a ‘Stockbrokers Battalion’ of the Royal Fusiliers had already begun recruiting on 21 August. Not to be outdone the employees of the Glasgow Stock Exchange formed a Company for the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders. In Falkirk District, the Laurieston Westquarter Silver Band enlisted together in the 5th Battalion Royal Scots and the Camelon Pipe Band also joined the Royal Scots 7th Battalion. These ‘Pals’ Battalions were primarily an English phenomenon and in Scotland only seven such Battalions were raised, one being the 17th Battalion, Royal Scots, a Bantam Battalion
formed in November 1914. The link between the economic situation and recruitment played a part in the recruitment levels in 1914 just as much as patriotism. With the declaration of war in August 1914, the unemployment levels rose by 194,000 that month. In the month of July unemployment registration had risen by 112,000. Many workers were also on short term work and wages had been cut or reduced. These economic conditions had an impact on recruitment. The government also took a hand in forcing the unemployed to enlist by instructing local charity commissioners not to give poor relief to any able-bodied men who were of military age thereby starving them into enlisting. In his book ‘Plain Tales From Flanders, the Reverend Philip B Clayton M.C. ‘Tubby’ of Talbot House in Poperinge, wrote of the men: ‘Then estimate the spirit that sustained these few dying doggedly for the country which had starved many of them into enlisting.’ It was reported by employers that nine out of every ten men who had been laid off had volunteered or had been called up as reservists. During August and September rising unemployment, short-term working and the reductions in wages certainly was a contributing factor in the surge of recruitment.
The Initial Response of the Anti-War Labour Movement
By 2 August 1914, over 100 anti-war meetings had been held throughout Scotland. In Edinburgh on the 5 August the Trades Council with the support of the ILP and BSP organised an anti-war meeting and also called on the government to control food supplies and prevent profiteering. On 6 August 1914, the leader of the Labour Party, Ramsay MacDonald, resigned in protest and was expelled from Moray Golf Club for his sins. He was replaced as leader by Arthur Henderson. However, by 8 August MacDonald was declaring: ‘Whatever our view may be on the origin of the war, we must go through with it.’ Nan Milton, daughter of John McLean, wrote in her book ‘John McLean’: ‘In Britain the socialist movement as a whole responded ‘gallantly’ to the Liberal government’s appeal to protect ‘poor little Belgium’ and to ‘fight for democracy’ against the threatening Prussian despotism.' On the 9 August 1914, 5,000 protesters attended an anti-war rally in Glasgow with speakers from the ILP, the BSP, and the Glasgow branch of the Peace Society. Forward, the journal of the ILP, reported the gathering as: ‘cosmopolitan in character and included doctors and dock workers and rebels of every possible brand from the mild peace advocates to the wildest of revolutionaries.’ The demonstration heard from ILP socialist James McDougall, who had already been sacked by the Clydesdale Bank for taking part in
socialist gatherings. McDougall stated that the war was an unnecessary capitalist adventure that would benefit the capitalist class. In September 1917, the ILP held an open-air meeting in Stenhousemuir, Falkirk District which was addressed by James Maxton. He told the meeting that ‘the people of Germany, France, Britain, Italy, and Russia your fight was at home, not against other nations, but within your own borders.’ Radical talk that brought in action within the Labour and Trade Union movement. John McLean called the war a rivalry between two capitalist ideologies and that the question of Belgium’s neutrality was just an excuse to wage a decisive war against Germany. Keir Hardie and Arthur Henderson (he later joined the Parliamentary Recruiting Committee) issued a manifesto calling for ‘vast demonstrations against the war in every industrial centre.’ In his book ‘Blighty’ Gerard DeGroot thought Keir Hardie to be confused writing that Hardie argued that the nation must be united behind war, that Hardie had urged that soldiers ‘must not be disheartened by any discordant note at home’ and that ‘German troops must be thrown back across their own frontier.’ The British Socialist Party executive, under the
leadership ideas and influence of H. M. Hyndman issued a statement supporting recruitment. The British Socialist Party, was being used by McLean’s former colleagues Robert Blatchford and H.M. Hyndman, according to Nan Milton, ‘for both blatant and subtle war propaganda.’ The majority of the grass roots and branch membership of the BSP took a different view and in 1916, led by McLean, removed the old leadership. On the 24 August 1914 the TUC and STUC and the parliamentary Labour Party leadership declared an industrial peace and on 29 August the Labour Party executive endorsed the decision of the Labour MPs to join in an ‘all party’ recruiting campaign. Henderson became a president of the Parliamentary Recruiting Committee together with the Prime Minister Herbert Asquith and the Tory leader. Thus, the working-class movement in Britain and the leadership was swept along on the jingoistic tide. Thousands of workers were joining the armed forces drawn, as William Gallagher described, ‘by the terrible attraction of war - the wild excitement, the illusion of wonderful adventure and the actual break in the deadly monotony of working-class life.’
The two Military Service Acts of 1916 allowed men to register their exemption from military service on the grounds of conscience. However, when the Bill for the Military
Service Act was first drafted there was no provision for conscientious objectors but, when the final draft Bill was put in front of Parliament for approval a conscience clause had been added. Asquith was aware of Liberal, Quaker, ILP and No-Conscription Fellowship (NCF) opposition and that there would be those who would refuse military service on grounds of conscience. The NCF, although opposed, accepted that there would be conscription but had lobbied Parliament for a conscience clause based on an 1898 act were a conscientious objection sworn before a local magistrate was enough. This followed the precedence established against conscientious objection to compulsory smallpox inoculation. The Christadelphians had petitioned Parliament in February 1915 for legal exemption. When the final draft was put before Cabinet for approval on 1 January 1916, a conscience clause had been added which allowed men to apply for exemption ‘who had a conscientious objection to undertaking combatant service.’ As the draft Bill was debated in Parliament there were those who wanted the clause removed, changed or, to apply to Quakers and to others who objected on religious grounds. The Quaker MP Edmund Harvey wanted the clause to be widened to include ‘conscientious objection to undertake any service or engage in any activity in support of the war or to the undertaking of combatant service.’ The original clause was kept and it was also decided that those claiming conscientious objection would have to appear before a Tribunal.
Anti-Conscription and Conscientious Objectors
In November 1914 the No-Conscription Fellowship (NCF) was formed and was led by the socialist Clifford Allen other notable members were Fenner Brockway, C.H. Norman, and Bertrand Russel who took over as leader when Allen was sent to prison. Hundreds of Women were also active in the NCF prominent amongst them were Sylvia Pankhurst, Lydia Smith, she was editor of the NCF journal The Tribunal. One of the women members, Alice Wheeldon, was tried, with highly suspect evidence used, of trying to poison Lloyd George and Arthur Henderson and was sent to prison for ten years. Over 12,000 of the military age male members served sentences for their opposition to conscription. By mid-1915 volunteerism was failing with fewer recruits coming forward. At the behest of
Kitchener, Edward Stanley, 17th Earl of Derby, came up with what was named the ‘Derby Scheme’. This entailed determining how many men could be obtained for war service by canvassers visiting men at home to persuade them to ‘volunteer’ for war service. Every eligible man aged 18 to 41who was not in essential work was required to enlist immediately or defer their service to a later date and to appear when called up. The Derby Scheme ultimately failed and the government resorted to conscription in January 1916. There were 16,500 men who were conscientious objectors, 1,500 were absolutists, they opposed military service for many reasons: some on religious grounds, others on political and humanitarian grounds. They included clerks, engineers, teachers, journalists, post-office workers, skilled tradesmen, lawyers, musicians and builders. Many were Quakers but others were Methodists, Plymouth Brethren, Anglicans, Christadelphians, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Marxists, socialists, Liberals and anarchists. and refused to fight, and many were brutally and systematically tortured. Thirty-four men were sentenced to death and seventy-three died in prison or as a result of their imprisonment. Thirty-one men were driven insane. For those who had hoped that compulsory conscription would have ‘flushed out hordes of slackers’, compulsory conscription had proved a disappointment. The numbers of recruits in the first six months of its introduction falling by some 40,000 per month, which was half the rate under the voluntary system. On 10 March 1916 a new Corps the Non-Combatant Corps (NCC) was created by Royal Warrant. The officers and NCOs of the Corps came from medically downgraded infantrymen. The capitalist press referred to them as the ‘No Courage Corps.’ The NCC was organised into companies of one hundred men for service in Britain and on the Western Front. The Non-Combatant Corps had a strength of three thousand men and eventually formed thirty-two companies, eight of which served on the Western Front. The men were trained in drill and on how to use the various tools in field engineering. The privates were paid the infantry rate for privates and equipped as infantry but not armed. Initially, those posted to the NCC were to be sent to regimental depots or to Reserve Battalions and as no formal depot for the NCC was established one was set up within the Royal Warwicks depot. The titles for each Company were taken from the Home commands for example No.1 Northern Company or No.3 Eastern Company. The companies employed on the Western Front mostly worked in quarries or in building camps for billets the Director of Labour thought the work of the men to be ‘satisfactory in every respect.’ One of the governments better initiatives was setting up the Pelham Committee named after its chairman, H.W. Pelham. It had an advisory remit and it produced a list of suitable
occupations which it saw as work of national importance. These occupations were then communicated to the Tribunals. The list of occupations included such areas as agriculture, farming, forestry, docks, canals, railways, mining, hospitals and education. However, as the Pelham committee was purely advisory the Military Tribunals choose to ignore their recommendations. For COs who refused to fight, conditional exemption was often the compromise offered by hostile or unsympathetic Tribunals, often called ‘Alternativists’. The alternatives, numbering some 5,000 and exempted combatant service, undertook non-combatant service with 3,000 joining the RAMC, Royal Engineer Labour Battalions or the Army Service Corps Labour companies. The remainder went into ‘work of national importance.’ On the home front and they numbered some 3,900. The specific conditions had to be clearly written on the exemption certificate. If the man changed jobs, quit, or failed to meet the conditions, the exemption could be revoked, making him liable for military call-up or subject to fines up to £50. Refusing both combat and the assigned conditional civilian work could lead to a military court-martial and imprisonment. The main problem, as the State saw them, were the Absolutists those COs who refused military service and refused to accept the decisions of the Tribunals. The War Office established a special section known as AG3(CO) to process them. The CO was deemed to have enlisted and if they failed to comply with Army Form W3236, which was their summons to the Colours, they were
arrested, charged as deserters and prosecuted. If they were found guilty, they were then placed in military custody. This was problematic for the army as the CO refused to sign any paperwork, undergo a medical or wear a uniform. The No Conscription-Fellowship also began to publish complaints from COs about their treatment by the army. In handing out punishment to the non-complying CO the commanding officer took their guidance from army form AG3(CO) on how to manage the CO who refused to comply with army orders. The punishment available to him if they were on the Western Front was Field Punishment No.1 or if in the UK it was twenty-eight days’ detention. If the CO continued to non-comply with army order he would be remanded for court martial and this could award the CO up to two years imprisonment in a military prison or detention centre, later reduced to 112 days. The Cabinet decided that conscientious objectors, who had been convicted by court martial on the Western Front, in an active war zone, and sentenced to death should not face capital punishment but that they should face hard labour in civil prisons. This also applied to all COs who had received sentences to be served in military prisons or detention centres. Over 12,000 men were sent to prison for their beliefs and when compulsory military service was abolished in December 1920 some 1,500 men were still in prison and serving their sentences in full. The British state in a fit of pique and spite disenfranchised all conscientious objectors for five years unless they could prove that they had performed work of national importance.
The Tribunals Composition
With the introduction of Conscription in January 1916 the War Office Form W3236 began to be delivered from February 1916, it went out indiscriminately to all on the military register including to those who had been exempted by the Act and to those who had tried to enlist but had been rejected. The Military Tribunals which heard the appeals against military service consisted of local magistrates, a military representative and in some, not all, a representative of the labour movement (this could be a trade union representative or, a worker from the local area). The Tribunals had first been used in the Derby Scheme registration, to hear appeals mostly from employers’ for the exemption of their employees, set up and appointed by the Local Government Board and they carried on with the introduction of conscription however, the Local Government Board had
urged that the new Tribunals be more representative of the community. Each Tribunal matched each local authority region for example the Falkirk Burgh Tribunal or the Grangemouth Military Tribunal, and the East Stirlingshire Military Tribunal included Falkirk District. All tribunals recognised the need to maintain production whether it was agricultural or industrial. The Military Service Tribunals were to assess the validity and sincerity of the applicant’s beliefs and to pronounce on the outcome which was to determine whether the conscientious objector was to be exempted from military service.
Under the Military Service Act 1916, tribunals could grant absolute, temporary, or conditional exemptions. A conditional exemption meant the man did not have to join the armed forces as long as he stayed in a designated vital job. Common Types of Work typically included: Agriculture and farming, Coal mining, Teaching or educational training, Other essential industrial or civilian roles supporting the domestic war effort. This was a huge
responsibility placed on Tribunals and by March 1916, there were 2,086 local Tribunals with 281 of these set up in Scotland. In addition, there were 15 Appeal Tribunals in Scotland. There was also a Central Appeal Tribunal, where the applicant who was not satisfied with the outcome of the Local Appeal Tribunals decision could lodge an appeal. The Tribunals consisted of local notable figures such as a magistrate, businessmen, a labour representative, it could be a trade unionist and women were also Tribunal members. A Military Representative sat on all Tribunals and they opposed exemption on the grounds of conscience. The Tribunals were open to the public, unless the Tribunals decided otherwise, the press were also present. The Falkirk Burgh Tribunal and the East Stirlingshire Military Tribunal members were the Town Provost as chairperson of the committee, three Councillors, an ex-Councillor, a clerk, who held the rank of Major and was employed by the Town Council, and a Solicitor as the Military Representative. The Grangemouth Military Tribunal members were the Provost as chairperson, four Councillors, the military was represented by Major Guthrie of the Black Watch, and a clerk to the Court from the Council. There was no representative from the Labour Movement. At their meeting in December 1915 Falkirk Trades Council discussed the composition of the new Military Tribunal for Falkirk noting that the Trades Council had not been consulted about the formation and appointment of members to the new Tribunals in Falkirk. The meeting was of the view that the working class should have representation on the Tribunals that would sit in judgement on those cases and ensuring that those from their class that were being withdrawn from their ranks got justice. The Trades Council also noted that the Military Tribunal had been appointed and that the Falkirk Burgh Tribunal had also been appointed with no representation from the trade union movement. They undertook to write to the Local Government Board seeking a place on the Falkirk Tribunals. They were not allocated a place.
Falkirk District Tribunals - Selection of Cases
The experience of most conscientious objectors of the Tribunals were that they were bullying and intolerant. The Provost chairperson of the Falkirk Burgh Tribunal stated that ‘if everyone held the same views as these objectors, our country would have been ruined and debauched.’ In his book ‘Objection Overruled’ David Boulton highlights the inadequacy of Tribunal members when it came to assessing CO’s: ‘Appointed by virtue of their social reliability and unquestioned and unquestioning patriotism, they brought to their work a baffled suspicion of all dissenters, total ignorance of the psychology of religious and political idealism, and a class-bred, bitter hostility to Socialism. Coupled with this was a lack of experience in any kind of judicial work, and a widespread ignorance of their powers under the Act.’ In March 1916 the appeal case of a patternmaker and also a CO, working at Etna Foundry which was producing munitions, came before the Falkirk Military Tribunal. He had applied for exemption from military service on the grounds that he was against taking human life. He was asked if he considered Germans human to which he did not answer. His length of time as a CO was then questioned and he answered that he had been a CO since the South African War. He was then berated by the committee chairperson: ‘You don’t object to other men fighting for you in order to save your life? You take advantage of other men fighting to enable you to carry on your occupation and live in peace. You object on conscientious grounds. How do they appeal to you…’ He was then asked if he would make patterns for munitions work and replied: ‘It’s my ‘calling’ and if I didn’t do it I would starve, I suppose.’ He then said that he would have no objection to make patterns as suggested, but he was not engaged in that class of work in Etna Foundry. His appeal was dismissed. With casualties running high and with public opinion regarding conscientious objectors unfavourable, they were seen as cowards and traitors, it would be difficult to see how members of the Tribunal would not be able to remain unprejudiced. The case of a Clerk employed at a local foundry was also heard by the Military Tribunal in March 1916. The clerk, a member of the Plymouth Brethren objected to the taking up of arms to take human life. The Military Representative said that he was assisting to kill Germans by taking his wages from a company engaged in making munitions. He replied that he had no objection to non-combatant service and that he had nothing to do with the shipping of the shells. The chairperson in attempting to belittle the man said that: ‘If all men in the country were of your mind, where would we be? You would have no wages at all.’ The appellant replied: ‘If all men were of my mind, there would be no wars.’ He was then asked by the Military representative if he drew the line at any munitions work to which he replied that he did not refuse but that he did not regard it as taking part in the killing of men. He was exempted from combatant service. What was termed as an ‘irregular case’ came before the Military Tribunal. It concerned a Bonnybridge firm seeking exemption for an 18 year old fitter engaged in the making of stoves for the Government. The boy had already attested before he was 18 and as he was employed in Government recognised munitions work, the firm had received a letter from the Ministry of Munitions stating that the stoves were classed as munitions of war, and that other men ‘in khaki’ were employed at the works, his employer sought exemption. The Military Representative said that the boy should be called up now as he had attained his 18th year. The Tribunal refused the claim and left when the boy was to be called up to the Military representative. Married men ‘taken’ before single men At the October meeting of the Falkirk Burgh Military Tribunal there were 130 claims for exemption with the Tribunal sitting from 9.30am to 7pm. Amongst the claims for exemption were two foundry employees, their claims were on personal grounds, as their employers did not claim for exemption on the grounds that the men were not on the list of those released for Military service as agreed with the Military authorities and the foundry owners. The two men indicated in the choice of men retained for civilian employments in their particular foundry, preference was being given to single men, and that the married men were being released by the owners of the foundry for military service. The Tribunal was advised by the Military Representative that the Ministry of Munitions had visited this foundry and agreed the number of men to be released in agreement with the iron foundry owners. The Tribunal was not happy with the arrangement whereby married men were being taken before single men with one member stating that: ‘No single men should be left in any departments and married men taken.’ Another stated that he was not ‘prepared to hand over the future destiny of a working man to an employer.’ He was happy to settle it for him via the Tribunal. Having sent other married men to military service the hypocrisy of the Tribunal was now evident when they were concerned about breaking up homes with the chairperson stating that: ‘A single man has no home to break up in the first place.’ The Tribunal decided to send the chairperson and one other member to visit the foundry and to continue the cases for inquiry. The Falkirk Herald took up the campaign of the Military Representative on the Tribunals when at a Tribunal meeting on 24 May 1916 he highlighted the number of unemployed elderly men that should be employed to free up men of military age. The Falkirk Herald gave its opinion in their issue of May 27, 1916, under the heading ‘Unemployed Elderly Men’ as well as attacking ‘shirkers’ they advocated that all elderly unemployed men should replace all men of miliary age in the iron foundries in Falkirk District and attacked the trade union movement and their hard fought agreements on pay and conditions as being ‘hard and fast rules’ being to blame. Exemption sought the for the Secretary of the Grahamston and Bainsford Co-Operative Society Prior to the outbreak of the war the Co-op had employed forty employees who were eligible for military service, nineteen had enlisted directly, ten had been called up, three claims for exemption were before the Tribunal meeting in May 1916, while their slaughterman was still to claim exemption. Fully 50 per cent of the male employees were now serving. The Secretary was the head of the commercial department, and was responsible for making up the balance sheets, official returns, and for correspondence. He also spent a quarter of his time supervising the different branches. Before the war he had three senior clerks and two junior clerks, now he only had one senior clerk, two junior clerks, and a typist. The Secretary was a married man with three of a family. The Military Representative thought that he could recommend exemption, and one month’s exemption was granted. Head Teachers Exempted The Tribunals were not consistent in their application of exemptions. Cases of teachers applying for exemption had been heard and rejected yet in the case of the head teacher at Blackbraes Public School it was claimed at his appeal that he was indispensable for the carrying efficiently of the Education Acts. Blackbraes school had a roll of 265 pupils and the appellant was the only male teacher; the remainder of the staff comprised six female teachers. He was also headmaster of the Evening Continuation School. He was represented at this appeal by solicitors acting on behalf of Muiravonside School Board. A second appeal concerned a headmaster of Drumbowie School with a roll of 482 pupils and ten female teachers. The Military Representative objected to exemption being granted in both cases on the grounds that the Education Department had refused to certify that the head teachers were necessary, and that a substitute had been appointed. Both men were given a conditional exemption. Class bias also played a part in who was given exemptions and who was not. The Falkirk Tribunal heard two cases for exemption at their January 1917 meeting. One was from a working class man who was the only support to his widowed mother and had three brothers serving in the army. His appeal was dismissed. A partner in a local aerated water manufacturer, today they are A.G. Barr manufacturers of Irn Bru, stated to the Tribunal that it was expedient and in the national interest that he was not taken to the army. He said that the Government derived a large revenue in direct and indirect taxation from the firm. His three brothers, who were also in the business, were not in the army. He had been granted temporary exemption some time ago, but since then the local premises had been destroyed by fire, and it was necessary that he be there to supervise while the premises were rebuilt. He was given a conditional exemption. A one eyed Grangemouth draper, Thomas Terris, sought absolute exemption from military service on the grounds that he was the head of a business, and had a wife and four children. He stated that that he having been redeemed, not with gold and silver, but with the precious blood of Christ, he desired to be free of military service. His case was continued in order that he underwent a medical examination. The Tribunal did take into consideration the effect of the war on local businesses. The Falkirk Herald reported on a case that came before the Grangemouth Military Tribunal in July 1916 with the heading ‘Let Grangemouth Flourish’ A firm of joiners appealed for three of their employees who they stated were necessary to go on with the extension of a Red Cross Hospital and Nurses Home. The Provost spoke in favour of the exemption on the grounds that he knew of an order that the firm had to refuse because of a shortage of labour and another firm came from Leith to complete the work. He did not think there was much use in the military taking the men from Grangemouth while other firms from outside the town were securing work. The Military representative said that in order that ‘Grangemouth may continue to flourish’ he gave his assent that two of the claimants received conditional exemptions while the third was refused. A case in Falkirk District from 1918, reflects this public feeling against COs were a family who had already lost two sons and with two more serving had the youngest called up. The manager of the employer, Carron Company, wrote to the local MP on behalf of the widowed mother. His language used in the letter reflects that prejudice against COs ‘…. If this man had been some wretched hypocritical so-called conscientious objector, no difficulty would have been experienced in finding relief.’ Tribunals were not fair, impartial or even tolerant and it was clear that tribunal members had little or no understanding or sympathy towards conscientious objectors. Compelling Exempted men to Join the Volunteer Force In February 1917 the Tribunals in Falkirk District received an instruction from the Army Council concerning the Volunteer Force. The Army Council operated from the War Office and it managed administration, policy, logistics, enlistment, age limits of recruits, and army discipline. The Tribunals were advised that there was a new Section B to provide recruits for home defence for men of military age and that the Tribunals were to make it a condition of exemption that men are to join the Volunteers under this section. The various Military Tribunals in Falkirk District
granted exemption to men at appeal however, they began stipulating that the man’s certificate of exemption could be withdrawn if the man did not join the Volunteer Forces in the District so using undue compulsion on the men. At their meeting in April 1917 Falkirk and District Trades Council passed a unanimous resolution which was sent to the Secretary of State for Scotland protesting against this practice. The motion, which came from the Secretary of the Denny Branch of the Associated Ironmoulders of Scotland stated: ‘We, the delegates of Falkirk and District United Trades Council, representing ten thousand workers in Falkirk and district, including Denny and Grangemouth, hereby protest against undue compulsion by the various Military Tribunals being used on men whom they have exempted for the purpose of obtaining recruits for local Volunteer Forces. It has been brought to our notice that the Denny and Grangemouth Tribunals have issued notices to these men, stating that their certificates will be reviewed if they do not enrol within fourteen days.’ A copy of the resolution was also sent to each of the clerks of the various Tribunals. As previously highlighted the Labour movement did not have representation on any of the Tribunals in Falkirk District.
Conclusion
Politically, from the outset the British government presented the war as a noble and just cause. The Socialists opposed this view throughout the war. There can be no doubt that the anti-militarist and socialist agitation and propaganda before and during the First World War was to play a vital part in radicalising the working class. The evidence for this can be seen in the votes cast for Labour and socialist candidates in both the 1918 and 1922 general elections. In Falkirk District hundreds of men applied for exemption from military service with the Tribunals sitting in lengthy sessions to process these applications. The role of the Tribunals was to obtain recruits for the armed forces and to weed out shirkers, as they saw them. Justice was not a concern, expediency was. By 1918 tensions were rising at the methods being used by Tribunals in Falkirk District with the General Iron Fitters’ Association Union in Falkirk taking strike action against ‘an attempt by the military to hustle many of our members into the army.’ The COs only numbered 16,500 or 0.33% of all conscripts and those who volunteered but they had a public impact beyond those numbers. William Marwick, writing in the Scottish Journal of Science, Conscientious Objection in Scotland in the First World War wrote of the goodwill between conscientious objectors and conscientious assenters who had volunteered for the armed forces in Scotland. With one volunteer writing from the trenches to a CO in Scotland: ‘Your situation is worse because you are so misunderstood.’
Sources and Further Reading
David Boulton – Objection Overruled Conscription and Conscience in the First World War
Nan Milton – John McLean
William Marwick – Scottish Journal of Science – Conscientious Objection in Scotland in the Frist World War
G.C. Field – Pacificism and Conscientious Objection
Ann Kramer – Conscientious Objectors of the First World War, A Determined Resistance
William Kenefick – Scotland and the Great War – Chapter 3 – War Resisters and Anti-Conscription in Scotland: ILP Perspective
Robert Duncan – Objectors & Resisters Opposition to Conscription and War in Scotland 1914 -18
Will Ellsworth-Jones – We Will Not Fight, The Untold Story of World War One’s Conscientious Objectors
Thomas C. Kennedy – The Hound of Conscience, A History of the No-Conscription Fellowship 1914-1919
John William Graham – Conscription and Conscience, A History, 1916-1919
Cyril Pearce – Comrades in Conscience, The Story of an English community’s opposition to the Great War
Cyril Pearce – Communities of Resistance, Conscience and Dissent in Britain during the First World War
Trevor Wilson - The Myriad Faces of War: Britain and the Great War
Gerard J. DeGroot – Blighty, British Society in the Era of the Great War
Web
The Imperial War Museum site https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk/ and the link to the details of 16,500 individuals who refused conscription to the British armed forces during WW1 on the grounds of conscience.
The British Newspaper Archive –
Falkirk Herald
Labour Leader
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