Description
Object description
British civilian alternativist conscientious objector imprisoned in Harwich Redoubt, GB and France, 1916; conscientious objector in GB, 1939-1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in GB prior to 1914: occupations; pride in craftsmanship; military service; education; transferring one's experience to another person; memories of Algernon Swinburne.
REEL 2 Continues: education; early career as piano tuner. Aspects of period as civilian in GB, 1914-1916: anti-German feelings and riots.
REEL 3 Continues: public's anti-conscientious objector attitudes; effects of war on piano industry; intellectual background to personal pacifism; war propaganda and atrocity stories.
REEL 4 Continues: public enthusiasm for war; moral status of Roman Catholic Church; father's attitude towards the military, attempts to enlist in Royal Army Medical Corps.
REEL 5 Continues: Aspects of period of imprisonment in Harwich Redoubt, GB and France, 1916: punishment at Harwich Redoubt; removal to France; shipboard conditions; treatment of conscientious objectors including Howard Marten by officers, NCOs and other ranks at Cinder City Camp, Le Havre; field punishment and insanitary conditions at Boulogne.
REEL 6 Continues: field general court martial proceedings; function of Royal Army Medical Corps; sentencing and subsequent treatment by officers and Non-Combatant Corps members; shot drill.
REEL 7 Continues: post-war testimonials to convictions of conscientious objectors; books and conscientious objectors; refusal of Home Office Scheme; membership of No-Conscription Fellowship.
REEL 8 Continues: power of military authority; quotations from Siegfried Sassoon; hope for future of pacifist principles; Field Punishment No 1; description of Harwich Redoubt.
REEL 9 Continues: occupying time as prisoner; leaving Roman Catholic Church; parents' attitude towards pacifist position; family split; pacifists and the Second World War.
REEL 10 Continues: effects of imprisonment; keeping mind alert; sense of humour; basis for attitude towards British Army; strained Anglo-French relations; reactions to hearing death sentence.
REEL 11 Continues: value of protest; Home Office Scheme; working conditions and strike in Wales. Post-war difficulty obtaining employment. Second World War conscientious objectors.