Carter, Sydney Bertram (Oral history)

British civilian conscientious objector served with Friends Ambulance Unit in GB, Egypt, Palestine and Greece, 1939-1946; includes performances of songs and poems.

REEL 1: Aspects of period in GB, 1915-1939: family background in Islington, London; military service of father and uncle; religious influences; attitude to war; education at London County Council schools and Christ’s Hospital School, Sussex; problem of homesickness; reads poem ‘Christ’s Hospital’; attitude to humble family background; participation with Officer Training Corps; story of Quaker pupil refusing to join Officer Training Corps: attitude of pupils to Officer Training Corps; reason for changing attitude to war; story of attending Peace Camp in Geneva, 1930. REEL 2 Continues: story of religious conversion at age 13; reasons for leaving the Scripture Union; higher education at Balliol College, Oxford; activities with the Oxford Group; political beliefs; reasons for leaving the Oxford Group; reasons for seeking faith outside mainstream Christianity; development of anti-war stance; attitude to conscription, personal violence and nature of war; awareness of anti-war groups; opinion of Hitler’s ‘Mein Kampf’. REEL 3 Continues: first contact with Quakers; opinion of Quaker beliefs and dress; employment as private tutor and as teacher at Frensham Heights School; story of trip to Germany, 1938; story of using photograph of Hitler as shaving mirror; attitude of Germans friends to Hitler; reasons for extending stay in Germany; story of travelling across Germany with Jewish refugees; memories of Jewish refugees at Frensham Heights School; problem of reconciling pacifist stance with knowledge of concentration camps; story of writing essay ‘Pacifism in a Planned Society’; attitude to concept of vocation; influence of Gandhi; opinion of British Union of Fascists; attitude to use of boycotts against countries; nature of German society in the late 1930s. REEL 4 Continues: Aspects of period in GB, 1939: reaction to the Spanish Civil War; effect of outbreak of war on pacifist stance, 9/1939; story of engagement while at Frensham Heights School; story of registering as a conscientious objector and joining the Friends Ambulance Unit; story of being arrested as a suspected German spy; description of Tribunal at Reading, 1939; reads poem ‘My Dancing Doubt’; attitude of colleagues to pacifist beliefs; story of smacking a girl for calling him a coward; father’s attitude to pacifism. Aspects of period with Friends Ambulance Unit in GB, 1939-1944: organisation and ethos of Friends Ambulance Unit; financial inequality of members; shared beliefs and hierarchy; description of training at No.7 Camp, Northwood, Birmingham; hospitality of Quakers; description of bombing of Bull Ring in Birmingham; amusing story of lecture about VD. REEL 5 Continues: effect of being a conscientious objector on masculinity; attitude to sex; reads poem ‘Samaritan Be Good to Me’; description of shelter work in Whitechapel area of London during the Blitz, 1940; attitude to fear; description of work at Guy’s Hospital in Orpington, Kent; nature of casualties; story of surgeon treating a badly injured German; attitude of nursing staff to conscientious objector status; description of rest centre and shelter work in Newcastle; story of winning Rowntree Trust competition with essay ‘Pacifism in a Planned Society’; story of obtaining grant to write ‘The Rock of Doubt’, 1978; question of doubts over vocation as pacifist; story of being criticized by farmer for conscientious objector status; importance of support from Quakers and Friends Ambulance Unit; preparations for overseas service in Palestine; training at Mount Waltham, Hampstead; language tuition; description of voyage from Liverpool to Port Said, Egypt via Gibraltar. REEL 6 Continues: story of meeting with soldier aboard ship; attitude to rank in Friends Ambulance Unit and not being suitable as officer; description of khaki uniform. Aspects of period with Friends Ambulance Unit in Egypt and Palestine, 1944-1945: nature of work at Greek refugee camp in Nuseirat, Palestine; emotional effects of working in camp; story of considering joining the army; further comments on doubting vocation as conscientious objector; further description of work at Nuseirat refugee camp; opinion of female Friends Ambulance Unit personnel. Aspects of period with UNRRA (United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Association) in Greece, 1945-1946: description of reception on arrival at Piraeus; attitude of Greeks to pacifism; story of meeting old friends in Athens; nature of work with UNRRA; story of returning to GB to visit dying father. REEL 7 Continues: reads poem ‘In the Black Enamel’. Aspects of post-war period in GB, 1946-1986: story of joining the British Council and reasons for leaving; description of freelance work as a musician with the BBC and in folk clubs; importance of folk music in life and work; religious beliefs; story of writing novel about pacifism; comments on own compositions; opinion of treatment of conscientious objectors by British Government during the Second World War; opinion of Edward Blishen’s views on conscientious objectors; attitude to the UN; nature of current activities with the Peace Movement; importance of vocation for conscientious objectors. REEL 8 Continues: performs songs ‘The Devil Wore a Crucifix’, ‘Crow on the Cradle’, ‘Dr. Spock’, ‘Friday Morning’, ‘I Want to Have a Little Bomb Like YOU’, ‘If You Think With a Bomb’, ‘I Come Like a Beggar’, and reads poem ‘Imperial War Museum’.