Liverpool in the Great War by Stephen McGreal

Author:Stephen McGreal
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Bisac Code 1: HIS027090; Bic Code 1: HBWN; HISTORY / Military / World War I
ISBN: 9781473841277
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2014-09-30T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 4

1916

The Realisation

As the New Year dawned those reflecting on the previous year would have gained little consolation from the naval and military manoeuvres. The Western Front was frozen in aspic and the Royal Navy, colloquially referred to as John Bull’s teeth, looked increasingly fallible. The realisation dawned that the British Empire was embroiled in a war of attrition from which a British victory could no longer be guaranteed. Against this faltering military backdrop, the home front had evolved into an ever more productive supplier of all manner of essential products ranging from knitted gloves to battle ships, but recruitment was in decline.

At the request of the Secretary of State for War, Lord Derby had agreed in October to undertake the task of recruiting the army. At the beginning of the year he reported that the National Registration details revealed more married men than bachelors had enlisted or attested and 1,029,231 single men shirked military service.

But, as Derby’s Military Service Bill began to loom, men attested (signed up) under the Group Scheme and were assured single men would be called up first. After attestation, the majority of volunteers returned home to await their call-up papers when the Military Service Act of 27 January 1916 came into force.

Their compliance rankled with the Society of Friends (Quakers) and members of the Socialist Labour Party, who formed the No Conscription Fellowship and had successfully campaigned for a conscience clause in the 1916 Military Service Act. On moral and religious grounds the Conscientious Objectors (COs) refused to break the sixth commandment, ‘Thou shalt not kill’, whatever the circumstances.

The defiant men comprised three categories. Absolutists rejected any form of alternative war service. They refused to take up arms or participate in diverse civil employment encompassing building rifle ranges to sack making, for the end product could be used for coaling warships. Alternativists shunned weapons training and soldiering, but were willing to work in occupations not controlled by the army, such as agriculture. The ‘non-combatants’ accepted military service but only in a non-combatant role, and several thousand of this class served in the RAMC as medics or front-line stretcher-bearers. An early March 1916 Royal Warrant authorised the formation of the Non Combatant Corps for men who had been refused total exemption from military service. Dubbed the No Courage Corps by the press, the NCC were willing general labourers for any task except handling munitions.

Ultimately, over 16,000 men claimed the right of exemption from military service. More than 6,300 COs were court-martialled and incarcerated, and of these over 800 spent more than 2 years in jail. In common with other prisoners, they endured hard labour, talking was forbidden, sometimes a bread and water diet and instances of brutality. The uncompromising regime led to seventy-three deaths, while others left prison physically broken or mentally ill. Decades later a variant of this press-gang descendant would force other generations to a stint of military service; British conscription was finally laid to rest in the 1960s.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.