Conscription
In August 1914 England
declared war on Germany and appealed to the men of Britain to volunteer for the
army. Lord Kitchener’s famous “Your Country Needs You” poster encouraged a
million men to volunteer by January 1915. However, by the start of 1916 the
number of men volunteering had decreased, and men were urgently needed to
replace those that had been killed or injured. Until 1916 England had always
had a volunteer army but volunteers could no longer supply the men needed. On 2 March 1916 conscription (compulsory active service) was introduced and all single
men aged 18 to 41 were forced to join the army, unless they were in an
essential home occupation, were medically unfit or were a clergyman or teacher.
By May 1916 this was extended to married men and extended again in 1918 to
include men aged up to 51. Conscription was unpopular and there were
demonstrations against it, but despite this over 2 million men were conscripted
into the army.
Conscientious Objectors
For some individuals
joining an army and fighting was an abhorrent thought and it was against their
beliefs to engage in war, believing life was sacred and killing someone was
wrong. These individuals became known as conscientious objectors. Some of these joined
the army under protest, agreeing to serve in non-combatant rolls such as
stretcher bearers in the front line; others were forced to join the army and
were sent to the front line in France anyway where refusing to follow an order
could result in the death sentence; others were subject to court martial and
imprisoned in the United Kingdom. Those that refused compulsory service were called
absolutists, they were usually drafted into military service and if they
refused to obey an order from an officer they were court martialled. Thousands
of Conscientious Objectors were tried by court martial. To see if a member of
your family was as conscientious objector go to the Imperial War Museum’s
website “Lives of the First World War” where you can search a database of over
17,000 conscientious objectors.
It was while “remembering”
family members on this website that I came across the name “Charles Edward
Titheradge”, listed as a conscientious objector. I had previously seen some of
his military records, so I knew that he was imprisoned in Winchester for
refusing to obey an order and that he had no medal card, but had not realised
the significance of the information.
Charles Edward Titheradge 1890 – 1932
Armed with this new
information I wanted to find out more about Charles, an individual who held
such strong beliefs that war was wrong that he was willing to endure the very harsh treatment
given to conscientious objectors rather than go against his principles and
beliefs.
Charles Edward
Titheradge was the son of James Henry Titheradge and Alice Butterworth and the grandson
of Lewish George Titheradge. He was born on 29 May 1890 in the Pancras district
of London. Charles had two younger brothers, Percival born 1896 and Walter born
1898. I believe both brothers joined the Essex Regiment in 1916.
On the 1901 census Charles
was living with his parents and two brothers at 60 Arlington Gardens, St
Pancras, London. By the 1911 census the family had move out of central London
and were living at 55 Brookdale Road, Walthamstow Essex. On the census Charles
is shown as a decorative draughtsman.
On 2 April 1916
Charles married Catherine Louisa Armitage at the parish church in
Walthamstow. Their address was 106
Leucha Road, Walthamstow.
Charles Titheradge – the war years
When conscription began
in 1916 Charles would have been among those who were called up. Men could apply
to local Military Service Tribunals for exemption from conscription, but not
many appeals were upheld. Unfortunately, the records for most of these tribunals
were destroyed after the war by the order of the government. We know Charles
was a member of the “No Conscription Fellowship”, NCF, an organisation to
support those who objected to taking up arms. We can assume Charles was a
pacifist who believed it wrong to kill another human, but whether this was a
religious or moral stand is unknown. His appeal to the Military Tribunal was unsuccessful,
and therefore he was called for military service.
Charles refused to
comply with conscription and consequently was arrested on 25 May 1916. He
appeared at the Magistrates Court and as an absentee (one who had refused to
arrive at the army) he was handed over to the army. He was enrolled in the
Rifle Brigade on 29 May 1916 service number 19675. His
service papers have the words “enrolment Record” crossed out and replaced with
“Record of service” and the words “fitness of service on enrolment” changed to
“fitness of service on joining”. Charles
would not sign the enrolment form. He refused to obey the order of a senior
officer for which he was court martialled. His military records show he was
convicted by the civil power of “Absentee Military Service Act” on 29 May. On 30
May 1916 he was convicted by District Court Martial, the charge being that when
on active service disobeying a lawful command given by his superior officer. He
was sentenced to one year Imprisonment with Hard Labour.
On 14 June 1916
Charles was sent to the Civil Prison in Winchester. Life was tough for conscientious
objectors in prison, and 69 conscientious objectors died in prison. Hard labour was the most severe sentence the
courts could issue. The prisoners were put in solitary confinement for the
first month and were not allowed to communicate with anyone. They were let out
for half an hour exercise a day, but no communication was allowed. Charles’s
records show that he spent nearly 3 months in prison in Winchester.
The records for 5
September 1916 reads “Transferred to Class W Army Reserve, Army orders 203-1916”.
Class W reserve was used as a means of getting thousands of Conscientious Objectors
out of prison and into useful civil employment. Charles became part of the home
office scheme administered by the Brace committee which sent 250 conscientious
objectors from prisons to Dyce Camp in Aberdeen at a quarry. The men were still
in the army but had been released on condition they performed work of national
importance – in this case breaking up granite to produce stones for roads. Most
of these men were not use to physical labour and the work was tough. They were
put up in a tented camp in poor conditions made worse by the weather. After the
death of one of the prisoners the camp was closed down in October 1916. It is
not clear what happened to Charles at this time whether he went back to prison
or sent to work somewhere else.
The next entry in his
records shows that on 23 November 1917 he was discharged from the army as no
longer fit for service due to a condition Otitis Media which affects the middle
ear. The doctors thought this was the result of a childhood illness. His total
service was 1 year 179 days. It is noted
in his records that his pension entitlement was disallowed for misconduct and that
he had no medal entitlement. On discharge his address was to be 48 Bunyan Road,
Walthamstow and his intended employment a decorator of furniture /
cabinetmaker.
Charles Titheradge – after the war
Life was probably hard
for Charles after his release from the army. The war time prejudice against
conscientious objectors continued for many years after the war. Conscientious Objectors were nick name “conchies”.
There was a stigma attached to being a conscientious objector - people regarded
them as cowards and their families often suffered abuse as well as the men. The
men were often despised for their views. These attitudes continued for many
years after the war e.g. some job advertisements said no conscientious
objectors should apply.
Charles continued to
live in the London area until 1932 when he died on 8 August 1932, aged just 42
at 88 Ainslie Wood Gardens, Chingford, Essex. He was buried at Chingford Mount
Cemetery on Saturday 13th August 1932. Probate records show he left £695 to his
widow Catherine. Catherine and Charles had no children.
Catherine married
again in December 1937 in Essex to Frederick C Conyard and lived until 1975,
she died aged 84 in Southend-on-sea.
No comments:
Post a Comment