MEN WHO SAID NO | ROAD TO CONSCRIPTION | OBJECTION | PRISONS | SENTENCED TO DEATH | TRIBUNALS | WIDER CONTEXT |
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MEN WHO SAID NO | ROAD TO CONSCRIPTION | OBJECTION | PRISONS | SENTENCED TO DEATH | TRIBUNALS | WIDER CONTEXT | |
| BENJAMIN JEFFREY BALDWIN 1882 - |
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| Herbert and Benjamin Baldwin were living and working in Sutton when, under the Military Service Act 1916, they were conscripted. Both brothers were in their mid-30s, and called up in mid 1916, most likely appearing before the Sutton Tribunal in July where, as members of the local Quaker meeting, they argued their case as religiously-motivated COs. Joseph, the younger brother, applied to the Croydon Tribunal and was involved in the wider CO movement, acting as the head of the Sutton Branch of the No-Conscription Fellowship. Each of the three brothers received verdicts they could not accept from their local Tribunals, most likely Exemption from Combatant Service Only (ECS), a decision that would see them sent to the army as non-combatant soldiers. Instead of complying, all three refused to report to barracks, officially becoming "Absentees". Herbert was arrested as an "Absentee Soldier" in August, while Benjamin and Joseph were picked up in September. Unusually for a group of sibling COs, their experiences after arrest were very similar. They were tried and fined as absentees and taken under guard, to the Kingston Barracks, nominally to become members of the East Surrey Regiment. They refused to have anything to do with the Army and steadfastly chose to disobey any and all orders, leading swiftly to a court martial and prison sentence - Herbert receiving double the sentence of his brothers, with 12 months to be served in Wormwood Scrubs. After their release, another sentence followed, in all three cases being a result of disobeying orders in Winchester camp. By January 1917, Herbert, Joseph and Benjamin were all once again in Wormwood Scrubs, this time to have their cases assessed by the Central Tribunal, which passed each of the men suitable for employment in one of the Work Camps set up under the Home Office Scheme (HoS). Quickly processed through the Scrubs, in April the brothers were sent to Dartmoor, where they were put to work on the many tasks deemed suitable for COs - amongst which were wall building, road clearing and ploughing. The brothers remained on the Home Office Scheme until the end of the war - Herbert staying in Dartmoor, while Joseph and Benjamin were transferred to Penderyn Camp, Wales, in 1917.
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