the men who said no
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ELEAZOR THOMAS  

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Eleazor Thomas was a committed socialist and pacifist Conscientious Objector. Growing up in South Wales as the son of a coal miner, Dil was passionately committed to the socialist ideal of a better world. He was involved in many of the great pre-war socialist causes and a member of the Independent Labour Party. His decision to become a CO after the introduction of Conscription was politically motivated. His grand-daughter writes: “his motives were never religious. They were driven by a view that war was waged on behalf of the upper classes to preserve the privileges of the rich, or defending empires which could be exploited”.

Working in heavy industry, Dil could have applied for exemption on industrial grounds as he was carrying out work of National Importance. This would likely have meant remaining in his employment and never having to register his sincerely held belief that the war, and the conscription it caused, was wrong.

Instead, Dil chose to stand up and be counted for his principles and applied for exemption from Military service as a Conscientious Objector. His Tribunal hearing in 1917 refused him Absolute Exemption and he was sent to Kinmel Park to the 12th reserve Battalion, Welsh Regiment. There, as a CO, he refused to obey orders and as a consequence was sentenced to two years hard labour by Court Martial.

By the 23rd of June 1917 Dil was in Wormwood Scrubs and his sentence had been commuted to 253 days. At the Scrubs, along with thousands of other Conscientious Objectors, he went before the Central Tribunal convened to decide his eligibility for the Home Office Scheme. He was placed in class A - Conscientious Objectors seen as “genuine” COs with a deeply held conscientious belief.

A month later, Dil was placed in the Dartmoor work camp alongside thousands of other Conscientious Objectors. He would stay there for the rest of the war, perhaps forming part of the large Socialist discussion and meeting groups that likeminded COs set up to pass the time. Family folklore related by his granddaughter tells us that he escaped from a working party at Dartmoor and travelled home to see his third child - returning without being missed!

After the war his family faced ostracism and hostility, though Dil was committed to improving his local community through public service. While serving on the Neath Town Council he continued to campaign for fair treatment and the socialist cause. For Dil, pacifism and anti-war activity formed a part of a wider set of beliefs about what was right and wrong, a view that is shared by many today.

 

 

 

 

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About the men who said NO

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CO DATA

Born:
Died:
Address:
Tribunal: Wormwood Scrubs
Prison: Wormwood Scrubs
HO Scheme:Dartmoor [1]
CO Work:
Occupation:
NCF:

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WIDER CONTEXT | more
ROAD TO CONSCRIPTION
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CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION
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TRIBUNALS | more
SENTENCED TO DEATH | more
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HOME OFFICE CENTRES | more

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