When Britain went to war in August 1914, there was a huge patriotic rush to join the colours. The addition of Lord Kitchener’s ‘Your Country Needs You’ recruiting campaign, saw some 2.5 million men flock to the flag.
However, as the casualty lists mounted through 1915, so voluntary enlistment started to decline. In January 1916, the Military Services Act was passed by Parliament on 28th January and the Bill received Royal Assent on 10th February 1916 – this heralded the first time that all men aged between 18 and 41 were compulsorily required to enlist for military service.
The Act gave six Grounds for Exemption from Military Service – They were: Those men who are better employed in their usual work (such as in food supply or the export trade), workers that are more suited elsewhere for the war effort (such as in mining, agriculture or engine drivers), young men being educated or trained, family and personal financial and domestic obligations, ill-health or infirmity and Conscientious Objection. Conscientious Objection was noted to be ‘perhaps the most important of all, and is likely to prove the most difficult in administration’.
The Military Services Act made limited allowance for those men who objected to military service in a combatant role. Conscription was a controversial issue but when a country was involved in Total War, it was necessary for all to play their part, and yet, those who objected to combatant service were known as Conscientious Objectors. They claimed the right to refuse military service on the grounds of freedom, conscience, disability and/or political and religious views and could attest by means of a Tribunal system.
Detailed in the pamphlet on the Tribunal of Conscientious Objectors:
‘Men who apply on this ground should be able to feel that they are being judged by a Tribunal that will deal fairly with their cases.
Many men who were primarily pacifistic socialists, refused to fight, wear uniform or obey orders. These men were often treated harshly and imprisoned, most notoriously on Dartmoor. Other Conscientious Objectors who were religiously forbidden to kill, such as Quakers, often accepted Military Service in a non combatant role and served bravely as ambulance drivers or stretcher bearers.
