PRICE OF PEACE

ALBUM BEARS WITNESS TO MEN WHOSE FIGHT WAS A LONG WAY FROM THE WWI BATTLEFIELDS

- CHARLES HANSON

THERE is always a huge sense of pride when items of militaria, such as medals, appear in the saleroom, celebrating the bravery of the men and women in countless conflicts down the generations.

But wartime bravery doesn’t always take place on the battlefield.

I was reminded of this when a rare First World War album was consigned for sale. Its 58 pages are packed with poems, thoughts, autographs and illustrations from a group of men, once vilified for their beliefs, but whose actions paved the way for some of the human rights we enjoy today.

These were the conscientious objects, known as COs, or “conchies”, some 1,000 of whom were imprisoned in Dartmoor Prison from 1917-1918.

When the Military Service Act of 1916 introduced conscription for the first time in British history, up to 16,000 men refused to wear the “king's uniform” and take up arms to fight the enemy.

Most, including members of Quakers, Plymouth Brethren and Methodists, were following hard-felt religious beliefs. Others held political antiwar views, including anarchists and radical socialists.

But what both groups had in common was universal condemnation. Newspapers vilified them branding them cowards and they were ostracised by both family and society.