“It is important to remember that by no means everyone was in favour of military conscription – or the war. A series of events around the country, including in Bristol, are commemorating these men, along with the women and men who supported them.” Commented Professor Lois Bibbings.
The latest local event takes place this Sunday (26th June), with a re-enactment of the 'trial' of Bristol's most well-known conscientious objector's conscience.
Councillor Walter Ayles (later MP for Bristol North) appeared before the local Military Service Tribunal exactly 100 years ago, arguing that he should be completely exempted from conscription on the basis of his political and religious views. The re-enactment takes place at 2pm in the very room in which Ayles made his case (in what is now the Registry Office in Corn Street).
In a recent blog "Commemorating Conchies: A time to remember the men who rejected military conscription in WWI", Professor Bibbings focuses upon military conscientious objectors during the Great War, looking at who they were, why and how they objected and how they were treated.
The Military Service Acts of 1916 meant that men aged between 18 and 41 were deemed to have enlisted and decisions as to what happened to them were now in the hands of the state. However, in a controversial and seemingly contradictory move, the Act allowed men to be exempted from military service on the grounds that they had a conscientious objection to the undertaking of combatant service.