Conscientious Objectors During The First World War

We have by now probably all heard about the volunteer drive led by Lord Kitchener at the outbreak of the first world war. Where men up and down the country flocked in their thousands to enlist to fight. But not everyone wanted to fight and this became even more apparent when conscription was introduced in early 1916. In fact, there was over 16,000 men that refused to fight, usually for either morale or religious grounds. As a consequence, they were sent to a tribunal which more often than not were often harsh and the defendant could expect to be ridiculed. The details of these tribunals would be made public and men would often find that whole villages or towns would turn against them. They had a stigma attached to them and nobody wanted to be associated with them. There are a countless number of stories where these men have been refused service at a shop or pub and people would actually cross the road to avoid these men. Added to this, those men, known more commonly as Conchies, were often beaten up by groups of men. I can only imagine what a scary and lonely time this would have been for them. 

Despite all this, these men weren't just going to be allowed to sit at home for the duration of the war and in fact many of them didn't want to anyway. The often carried out medical roles such as stretcher barer's which I think is one of the most bravest things to do - go out on no mans land, without a weapon to collect wounded soldiers. Others carried out work of national importance often on roads or on the land. 

For over 6,000 of those men sent to tribunals, life wasn't like that. This was because they were refused exemption and were told instead that they still had to fight. If they still refused, they were either sentenced to prison or even the death penalty. 

A controversial organisation in connection with conscientious objectors was that of The Order Of The White Feather, which was set up by Admiral Charles Fitzgerald, almost immediately after war broke out.  The organisation asked women to hand a white feather to any young man who was not in uniform. It caused upset and humiliation to those men as the white feather was seen as a symbol of cowardice. Stories told of receiving a white feather show that they often had the desired effect, with those men joining up very soon after receiving one. 

As the war continued, these white feathers started to do more harm than good. For instance those soldiers home on leave and out of uniform often found themselves recipient of one as well as those who had been honorarily discharged. The Order Of The White Feather was starting to work the other way and was causing huge outrage. So much so that by the end of the war, the organisation was hugely frowned upon. 

The damage had been done and for many of those who had received a white feather, they would probably never forget the humiliation. For the conscientious objectors that returned to civilian life after the war, their lives would never be the same and many of them still found themselves carrying the stigma and being outcast from the rest of the community. Sadly, for those who were shot for their believes, it would be 90 years and many battles for their families to face, before they would be pardoned.