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PHILIP WILLIAM BAGWELL 1885 - 1958  

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At the time of his conscription under the Military Service Act in mid 1916, Philip Bagwell was a newsagent and bookseller working in Ventnor, but after his time as a conscientious objector would rise to prominence in local politics. A Baptist and committed Socialist, Philip refused to go to war on both political and religious grounds, and applied to his local Tribunal as a Conscientious Objector, most likely in June or July 1916. His call-up would have been delayed by both his age - 31 in 1916 - and his domestic situation, the sole wage earner for a family with young children. When it came, however, conscription would ignore these factors, and strip Philip from his home life, eventually condemning him to prison.

Newsagent windowHis appearance before his local tribunal must have been unsuccessful in securing Philip the exemption he was hoping for, and he resolved to make no compromise with Military Authority, choosing to ignore the Tribunal’s decision to send him to the Army. Consequently, in December 1916, he was arrested and tried as an Absentee, and escorted under guard to the Army in late December 1916 at the Exmouth Depot. There, he continued to refuse any compromise and deliberately disobeyed orders. By January 1917 the Army knew full well that military discipline would not break Conscientious Objectors, and he was dealt with quickly - the hearing a mere formality, Philip was sentenced to 84 days hard labour, just enough to remove him from Army control to a civilian prison.

This was the first of three prison sentences Philip would serve during the war. At the end of each sentence he would be released, only to be sent back to the Army, facing another court martial and swiftly sent back to prison. With conditions in prison worsening as the war lengthened, and no end to the cruel cycle of release and rearrest in sight, this pointless and continual punishment of COs took it’s toll on the health and resolve of many, but Philip remained committed to absolute refusal, even turning down the offer of the Home Office Scheme. By April 1919 he had served three sentences and more than two years in total, and so was released as a “two year man”, part of the Government’s plan to slowly release Conscientious Objectors from both prison and the army.

After the war Philip turned his socialist principles into political action, becoming a local councillor for the Independent Labour Party. He died in 1958 and his son, Philip, continued his father’s tradition of radical Christian Socialism as a labour and transport historian.

 

Prison Cell to Council Chamber - Phillip W. Bagwell 1885-1958.

 

 

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CO DATA

Born: 1885
Died: 1953
Address: 4 High Street, Ventnor, Isle of Wight
Tribunal:
Prison: Christian Socialist
HO Scheme: [1]
CO Work:
Occupation: Ndewsagent

Motivation: Christian Socialist
[2]
ABSOLUTIST

 


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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
PRISONS | more
HOME OFFICE CENTRES | more

READ | more

ONLINE RESOURCES
Conscientious objection in WW1
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