Description
Object description
British civilian absolutist conscientious objector in GB, 1939-1946, including periods of imprisonment in Oxford Prison, 1945 and 1946
Content description
REEL 1: Aspects of period in GB, 1927-1939: family background and childhood in Amersham, Buckinghamshire; story of being born after father's death; influence of Quakers on early life; first contacts with pacifism and peace movement at Quaker meetings during 1930s; Aspects of period in GB, 1939-1945: entered Sibford School, Banbury, 1939; strong pacifist element in school; influence of large number of German Jewish refugees on school and other pupils; Christian basis of pacifist beliefs; attitude to war during period at school; relations between school and village; story of schoolmaster putting up effigy of Hitler on school roof; question of school acting as sanctuary for former pupils during war.
REEL 2 Continues: story about former pupil badly disfigured in war returning to school for convalescence; description of employment with accountancy firm; involvement with anti-war movement towards end of war; attitude to registering as a conscientious objector and reasons for adopting absolutist stance. Aspects of period in GB, 1945: story of registration as conscientious objector and Tribunal in Reading, 1945; description of court, panel and proceedings; opinion of support from Quaker elder; reaction to verdict; preparations for Appeal Tribunal in London; decision of first Tribunal upheld and directed into land work; story of local constable delivering summons to home in Chesham.
REEL 3 Continues: description of proceedings at Chesham court; support received from John Bunny; story of choosing one month prison sentence in preference to £10 fine; support from local cricket club. Aspects of period in Oxford Prison, 7/1945: comparison of prison conditions with boarding school; loss of weight; arrival at prison; description of prison clothing; support from other conscientious objectors in prison; description of prison and young prisoner wing; confined to main wing; first impressions of prison; description of cell, furniture, food and sanitary arrangements; problem of lack of heating and exercise; story of one night stay in young prisoners wing; contact with other prisoners; attitude of prison warders to conscientious objectors; story of being visited by Quaker; importance of prison visits.
REEL 4 Continues: censorship of mail; story of being reprimanded by Prison Governor for criticising chaplain in letter home; description of work with mailbags and problem of not being able to fulfill quota. Aspects of period in Oxford Prison, 2/1946: nature of work duties; description of hangman's cell; problem of boredom; story of release and adjustment to daily life; reflections on experience of imprisonment; attitude to overcrowding in prisons; returned to employment with accountancy firm; description of 'cat and mouse' system applied to conscientious objectors following release; story of re-arrest and court appearance, summer 1946; story of MP James Hudson taking up case in House of Commons; effect of prison record on career.
REEL 5 Continues: Aspects of post-war life in GB: reflections on periods in prison and effect on pacifist beliefs; attitude to concepts of patriotism and the 'just' war; comparison of treatment of conscientious objectors in First and Second World Wars; reasons for non-involvement with current peace movement; comparison of peace movement in 1930s/1940s with1980s; opinion of CND; basis of pacifism since becoming an atheist and attitude to religion.