• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team
  • HI folks the server that hosts the site completely died including the Hdd's and backups.
    Luckily i create an offsite backup once a week! this has now been restored so we have lost a few days posts.
    im still fixing things at the moment so bear with me and im still working on all images 90% are fine the others im working on now
    we are now using a backup solution

Birmingham conscientious objectors 1916-1918

Chris_Baker

Chris_Baker

master brummie
I have been asked to research a Sparkhill chap who was a conscientious objector in WW1.

I understand that records of the local Birminghamm tribunals that heard claims for exemption from military service have been destroyed - but I would be grateful for any information people have found about this subject, whether from newspapers or other sources.

By the way this man attended Carrs Lane Church and I am trying to determine the implications of this in terms of his specific religion or alliances ... could he have been a Christadelphian or one of the Plymouth Brethren? Again, any ideas or info very welcome.
 
Local tribunals are usually well covered in local newspapers but the problem here is that Sparkhill is a bit of a 'no man's land' at this time. As tribunals were based on local authorities what was the local authority for Sparkhill? It was part of Yardley in Worcestershire until 1911 and then became Birmingham but there would surely not be a tribunal after 1916 for the whole city. I could not find a Sparkill suicide in a coroner's report in 1910 despite looking in several 'local' newspapers. Incidentally the suicide was of the father of the 'Mad Major' (Wilfred Owen) who won the VC at Ors at the end of the war.
 
Alan Tucker said:
Local tribunals are usually well covered in local newspapers but the problem here is that Sparkhill is a bit of a 'no man's land' at this time. As tribunals were based on local authorities what was the local authority for Sparkhill? It was part of Yardley in Worcestershire until 1911 and then became Birmingham but there would surely not be a tribunal after 1916 for the whole city. I could not find a Sparkill suicide in a coroner's report in 1910 despite looking in several 'local' newspapers. Incidentally the suicide was of the father of the 'Mad Major' (Wilfred Owen) who won the VC at Ors at the end of the war.
Click to expand...

In WW1 responsibility for the appointment of military service tribunals lay with borough and district councils. Birmingham, as a county borough, therefore had its own tribunal, serving the whole city, and residence in Sparkhill, as distinct from any other part of the city, is irrelevant so far as this enquiry is concerned.

However, the majority of local tribunal records were destroyed in 1921 under an order of the Ministry of Health, which had inherited the functions of the Local Government Board (the records for Middlesex were retained as an example, and are in the National Archives; certain other records "unofficially" survived, but none are known for Birmingham).

Tribunal hearings were well covered in the local press, and it would not necessarily require a very local paper in Sparkhill to be trawled. The most accessible papers would be the Birmingham Post, the Birmingham Mail, the Birmingham Gazette, and the Evening Despatch. It would depend on the conscientious objector's age (not cited in the enquiry) as to when to trawl, but tribunal hearings began in early March 1916.

It is further worth mentioning that, in an attempt to fill the gap left by the destruction of the official records, the Peace Pledge Union (PPU) is compiling a database of every British CO of whom it has any trace. Currently 3900 WW1 names (out of a total of 16,000) are held, so there is a 25 % chance of the particular CO's name already being there. The database is not directly accessible to the public, but the PPU Archivist can be contacted at [email protected]

In addition to checking the database, the Archivist is often able to give further advice on researching individual COs.

I would add that if the CO attended Cars Lane Church, then he may be presumed to have been a Congregationalist, as that was the original designation of Carrs Lane Church, which was very prominent Birmingham religious life.
 
Thank you very much, both.

Along the way I have found this man's army service record. He was placed into the Non-Combatant Corps. His faith is given as Wesleyan on those documents that mention it.
 
Placement in the Non-Combatant Corps (NCC) confirms the man as a CO, as the NCC was specially created for COs, and all its privates were COs (it was serviced by NCOs and officers from other corps). The question remains, however, whether he accepted that designation. Some COs refused it by disobeying an order such as to put on a uniform, and were court-martialled and imprisoned; they saw even non-combatant service as being part of the war machine.

With regard to his being recorded by the Army as a Wesleyan (one part of what is now the [united] Methodist Church), this could an error (such mistakes did happen), or the man could have had a double loyalty, sometimes attending Wesleyan worship, and sometimes Congregational (this also happened). One reason for divided loyalty could have been that the WW1 minister at Carrs Lane was the Revd Leyton Richards, an outspoken pacifist and supporter of COs.
 
I wonder whether you saw in the other WW1 CO thread the detailed reply Clive Davenport received from the PPU regarding his grandfather as a WW1 CO, and whether you have received an equally interesting response. I am sure that the descendants of the still well-remembered Leyton Richards, Minister at Carrs Lane, would be interested to hear what happened with one of the COs he doubtless helped.
 
I've done my bit and reported the purely military findings to the soldier's family. I've also advised them on various things to follow up and believe they are now in touch with PPU. When I hear from them, I'll post the information here.
 
I have recently been in touch with the PPU myself, and I understand that no enquiry has ever been received fitting the description of a WW1 CO from Birmingham connected with either Carrs Lane Church or the Wesleyan Methodists. This seems a great pity, as the PPU CO database includes over 4000 WW1 COs (out of 16,000 altogether), so there is a 25 % chance of a WW1 enquiry being successful. For the record, the most direct contact is [email protected]
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top