MEN WHO SAID NO | ROAD TO CONSCRIPTION | OBJECTION | PRISONS | SENTENCED TO DEATH | TRIBUNALS | WIDER CONTEXT |
|
| Back | Home |
MEN WHO SAID NO | ROAD TO CONSCRIPTION | OBJECTION | PRISONS | SENTENCED TO DEATH | TRIBUNALS | WIDER CONTEXT | |
| OWEN LINDSAY MORICE 1884 - |
|
||||||||
| Owen Morice (b1884) was a civil servant and an active member of his local Baptist Church when conscripted in 1916. As a married man in his mid-thirties, Owen was not called up under the Military Service Act until some months had passed, and his hearing at the Sutton Tribunal was in the summer of 1916. His religious principles led him to apply for exemption as a Conscientious Objector, arguing that his faith forbid him from becoming a fighting soldier. He received exemption from Combatant Service Only, a verdict that would send him to the Non-Combatant Corps (NCC), a branch of the Army set up specifically for Conscientious Objectors. The NCC were given a pledge that they would not have to use, or handle, weapons or ammunition, allowing them to serve in the military without compromising their principles. NCC men like Owen were stationed at home and abroad, working largely on menial tasks of transport and logistics. Owen joined the NCC as a member of the 6/11 Eastern Battalion in July 1916, until his demobilisation in December 1919. While many COs found service with the NCC to be impossible, or, if taken up, uncomfortable to ally with their conscientious objection, for many it provided a means to serve without betraying their principles.
|
|
||||||||
| EditRegion7 | EditRegion6 | ||||||||
|
|||||||||
 |
|||||||||
