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WILLIAM BOAG 1885 -  

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William and Robert Boag were brothers who both resolved to have no part in the First World War, and registered together as Conscientious Objectors to Military Service.

They were part of what would become known as the Greenock Eight - eight COs from the small Renfrewshire town of Greenock, who would share the same experience of the war, and the same reasons for refusing to participate in it.

At the beginning of the war, in 1914, William, born 1885, was working as a cabinet maker and the assistant curator of the McLean Museum in Greenock. He was also a Quaker, attending the local Quaker meeting and it was from here that his conviction to resist war came.

When Conscription was introduced into law in 1916, William was forced to register his objection to military service by applying for exemption from the local Greenock Tribunal. His hearing, alongside his brother and six other local COs was on the 29th February 1916, where he declared that that “all war to be inconsistent with the teaching of Christ and being fully convinced of the sacredness of human life, and also bearing in mind the Divine Command “Thou shall not kill” I must therefore refuse to take part in that which means the inflicting of death and consequent engendering of hatred and bitterness between nations. In regard to non-combatant duties I would also claim exemption from undertaking same, under a Military Oath which necessitate obedience to all orders and makes one part of the military machine, such action on my part tending to make the work of killing more efficient. In putting forward these my main reasons I do so under the firm belief that in no other way can the principles of Universal Brotherhood be attained.”

This principled and absolute stance, that William could neither fight nor be involved in the war in any non-combatant form was unpopular with the Tribunal. The Tribunal granted him “Exemption from Combatant Service Only”, a verdict which would send him to the Army regardless of his stance - a clear suggestion that the Tribunal neither understood nor respected William’s absolute refusal to carry out this kind of work.

Appealing against this decision achieved little, and the Greenock Eight were legally considered soldiers. Absolute resistance to conscription meant giving no compromise to the system, and for William this meant refusing to obey a summons to barracks. As Conscription was law, refusing such a summons meant arrest - and William and the other Greenock men were arrested together, on the 20th of June. He recalls that:

“So the police were the next to give us a call on 20th June to ascertain our reasons for not reporting and at 5.30 the following morning two kindly policemen called to arrest us. They were good enough to let us walk down in front of them, and we were put in a room with a big roasting fire, while to our surprise the other members of the group had been arrested earlier in the morning and were awaiting our arrival.”

The Greenock men were tried as absentees from the Army, fined 40/- and handed over under escort to the military. Out of civilian control, they were sent to the Stirling barracks and expected to willingly play the role of Non-Combatant soldiers in the 2nd Scottish battalion of the Non-Combatant Corps. All refused. Putting on uniforms under duress - while protesting - they would soon refuse orders, and receive a quick, perfunctory court martial resulting in six months hard labour, to be served in Barlinnie Prison, Glasgow.

They did not serve the full six months in Barlinnie. Shortly after arrival at the prison they were sent before the Central Tribunal, which passed them both acceptable for the Home Office Scheme. Sent from prison to employment under the scheme, the Greenock Eight worked at the Wigtown Home Office Centre, felling trees for mining lumber. William and Robert would be retained at Wigtown until April 1918, when they would be sent to Wakefield Camp until the end of the year. In October 1918 both men were released to “exceptional employment” near to home in Greenock. Still monitored by the Home Office and officially undergoing punishment as Conscientious Objectors, they were for all intents and purposes, free to return to the lives they had before the war. "

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CO DATA

Born: 1885
Died:
Address: 39 Wellington Street, Greenock, Renfrew, Scotland
Tribunal: Greenock
Prison: Barlinnie
HO Scheme:Wigtown, Wakefield [1]
CO Work: Lumber
Occupation: Curator
x
Motivation: Quaker
[2]
ALTERNATIVIST ABSOLUTIST NON-COMBATANT

 


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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

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Conscientious objection in WW1
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The Greenock 8.
Robert Boag, William Boag, William Brown, William Johnstone, David Miller, William Booth Ogilvie, William James Spiers, and Barclay Stephenson

 

 





 
     
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