Conscientious objectors: Those who refused to take up arms

The imperious visage and accusatory finger of Lord Kitchener demanding “Join Your Country’s Army!” is perhaps the most famous recruiting poster of the the First World War.

A million men answered Kitchener’s call to arms.

But by the end of 1915, the promise of “It’ll be over by Christmas” was a dim and distant memory. Hopes of a swift success on the Western Front had been dashed and the campaign at Gallipolli an outright failure.

Conscription was the Government’s answer to boost the number of soldiers towards a final victory. On March 2nd 1916, the Military Service Act came into force imposing conscription on all single men aged 18 to 41 with just a few exemptions.

Conscientious objection - refusing to fight on moral grounds - was one such. Labelled “conchies” or “shirkers”, these men were widely shunned by their peers. Many were given a white feather, the symbol of cowardice, especially by women whose husbands, sons and brothers had enlisted.

Around 17,500 people are currently on record as conscientious objectors. One was Huddersfield trade unionist and British Socialist Party member Arthur Gardiner. Arthur and his friend Percy Ellis had founded the Huddersfield Socialist Party in the years before the outbreak of war.

Like many on the left, they believed the war had been caused by “sordid capitalism” and an example of the ruling classes forcing the workers to fight. Together, they were made to explain their beliefs at tribunals deciding their fate - rather than wait to find out, they went on the run.

Arthur’s friend and biographer Cyril Pearce said: “They set off on their bicycles in May 1916, determined to stay away from the army and from home until the weather turned, their money ran out or they were caught.

“They camped out in the Yorkshire Dales, slept rough in campsites in the Ribble Valley and, for a time, worked on Liverpool docks. They successfully evaded capture and, in late September 1916, when their money ran out they came home.”

Gardiner handed himself in and Ellis was arrested. Both were handed over to the army, court-martialled and sent to Wormwood Scrubs and then the “house of correction for COs” at Wakefield Prison.

Both were released and Arthur returned to his life in politics; joining the Labour Party in 1918 and served as a councillor in the 1920s till the 1960s, becoming Mayor of Huddersfield in 1941 / 42.

Mr Pearce said: “Huddersfield had more than its fair share of COs and they were generally tolerated.

“I took the view that there was no such thing as a ‘national mood’ in terms of how people reacted to the war. On the basis of evidence from Huddersfield, things were different at a local level and they would be different right across the country.

“There may have been moments of high enthusiasm (for war) but this often coincided with chucking out time at the pubs.”