Description
Object description
British civilian in Norwich, GB, 1914-1917; alternativist conscientious objector in Britannia Barracks, Norwich, Wormwood Scrubs, Dartmoor and Wakefield Prisons in GB, 1917-1918
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of period as civilian in Norwich, GB, 1914-1917: question of attitudes of those who participated in First World War; family background and life pre-First World War; reaction to outbreak of First World War, 8/1914; isolated decision to become conscientious objector; work in health food shop; links between vegetarianism and pacifism.
REEL 2 Continues: civilian attitude towards conscientious objectors; degree of contact with anti-war movement and fellow conscientious objectors; anti-pacifist pressure received from friends; support from family.
REEL 3 Continues: attitude of his wife to his views; arrest and trial before Norwich Police Court; sentencing and public attitude towards prisons.
REEL 4 Continues: question of avoiding prison. Recollections of period as inmate in Britannia Barracks, Norwich, Wormwood Scrubs, Dartmoor and Wakefield Prisons in GB, 1917-1918: conditions in guardroom at Britannia Barracks; move to Wormwood Scrubs Prison and conditions there; reaction to being in Wormwood Scrubs Prison during German air raids; removal to Dartmoor Prison, then to work in Wales; refusal to inform on fellow conscientious objectors in Wales; move to Wakefield Prison, then volunteering for work in Scotland; prison regimes.
REEL 5 Continues: opinion of prison food; cells; degree of contact with other prisoners; nature of prison punishments; prison work; state of health; death of conscientious objector Henry Firth in Dartmoor Prison.
REEL 6 Continues: lack of prison visits and importance of letters; lack of information available; question of problems arising from imprisonment; attitude towards prison life; degree of religion in prison; memories of Armistice Day, 11/11/1918; how his pacifist views remained the same during Second World War; significance of First World War conscientious objectors.