THE MEN WHO SAID NO | ROAD TO CONSCRIPTION | CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION | PRISONS | SENTENCED TO DEATH | TRIBUNALS | WIDER CONTEXT | INDEX
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THE MEN WHO SAID NO | ROAD TO CONSCRIPTION | CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION | PRISONS | SENTENCED TO DEATH | TRIBUNALS | WIDER CONTEXT | INDEX |
| FREDERICK MONTAGUE WILLIAM 1892 - |
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| Exemption from Combatant Service was the most common Tribunal decision when handling an application for exemption from a CO. It meant a transfer from a combatant regiment to the Non-Combatant Corps, a specialist division of the army set up to provide labour and logistics support carried out by COs guaranteed to be exempted from fighting duties. Accepting a posting to the NCC was not the end of the story for many men who initially took it. Frederick Williams had initially accepted the Exemption from Combatant Service verdict, and had been posted to the 4th Eastern NCC. He accepted the military regulation of the NCC for only six months before disobeying orders and being sent to prison and later the Home Office Scheme, where he would eventually be discharged from. There were many reasons that COs rejected the NCC after taking it up. For some, it was a gradual process that began with an uncertainty over the compromise they had made - accepting military rules and becoming part of the system, in exchange for the assurance that they would not personally have to kill. For others, it was a single incident, frequently concerning the transportation of ammunition or construction of military compounds. It is unknown exactly why Frederick rejected the scheme, but in December 1916 he had reached a point when enough was enough and stuck to his CO principles, willingly choosing the certainty and moral confidence of a prison sentence. Frederick's experiences help to show that Conscientious Objection was both a fluid and complicated matter, concerned with what an individual at the time felt was acceptable.
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