Tower and Town, September 2014

  (view the full edition)

An Experience Of Conscientious Objection

At the moment I can’t listen to a news programme on the radio without some reference to World War 1 commemorations. Many friends and family have delved into their family history for reflections of their family’s part in this. For my part I know that one of my grandfathers helped run a munitions factory for part of the war but I have more knowledge of my Father and World War 2.

My Father had become a Quaker and enjoyed a Quaker wedding at Jordans (Buckinghamshire) in 1936. At Jordans, in accordance with their peace testimony, Quakers would have discussed and been active in encouraging peace talks, and alternatives to war at the highest possible levels. They were not inactive. By the start of WW2 my Father had 2 small children. He worked editing the Countryman Magazine.

Quakers are generally committed to pacifism. When World War 2 broke out each had to search his soul and with the help of God find his own way forward. They held to no absolute doctrines. Some felt the only choice was to join up. Others served in less confrontational roles with the Friends Ambulance Unit, a volunteer ambulance service founded in 1914, which worked on the front line during the first world war and was reformed in 1939 to do the same. But others, such as my Father, felt even that was a compromise, and so he was sent to court where he had to justify his position in front of a daunting panel; a very difficult, challenging time. He was successful, in that he was sentenced to market garden in the village where he lived to provide food for king and country. My parents also ran a children’s nursery for evacuees from Bristol and homed two Jewish refugee families. In the village, life was difficult, especially for my mother. They were ostracised by the many whose husbands had gone off to fight. Why was her husband around?

Some people think pacifism is an easy option but pacifists feel and endure the pain of their inaction while watching what they consider to be the foolishness of their fellow men.

Rachel Rosedale