Library resources for researching World War I: prison experiences of conscientious objectors
Most of the men who found themselves imprisoned for conscientious objection during World War I were characterised as absolutist objectors. These men were not willing to participate in the war effor…
Library resources for researching World War I: Wartime Statistics Committee
The Wartime Statistics Committee was established by Meeting for Sufferings in June 1917, a year after the introduction of conscription, to collect statistics on men of military age. Its records are…
The conscience of the nation: the work of three Quaker MPs during World War I
The Military Service Act came into force on 2 March 1916, and Quakers nationally are marking the centenary. Our new online exhibition Matter of conscience: Quakers and conscription gives an overvie…
“The Women were marvellous”: To what extent were the contributions of radical women activists significant in the No-Conscription Fellowship’s ability to maintain a stance of opposition to the First World War?
Doctoral Thesis. This study concerns the war resistance activities of groups of women who worked for the No-Conscription Fellowship (NCF or Fellowship), a pacifist organisation that operated on mainland Britain during the First World War. It examines how women’s contributions to war resistance, enabled this organisation to sustain its position of opposition to the war, and the government’s policy of conscription.
Home · Conscientious Objection & the Great War: 1914-1920
This website seeks to showcase hundreds of digitized archival items from the Swarthmore College Peace Collection (and, in time, other institutions), presenting a wide range of Conscientious Objector (C.O.) thought from the time period of 1914-1920, giving us both non-religious and religious viewpoints and experiences from America and Great Britain.
Documenting Dissent highlights the ways in which ordinary people from Lancaster have contributed in often extraordinary ways to the historical struggles for peace, equality, human rights and social justice.
Voices of the First World War: Conscientious Objection
Episode 37: Around 16,000 men refused to take up arms or fight during the First World War for any number of religious, moral, ethical or political reasons. They were known as conscientious objectors. Hear soldiers recall how they were treated for resisting military service.