William Chadwick was born in 1892, and lived in Westhoughton, Lancashire, working as a fireman. A socialist, he opposed the First World War, and with the imposition of conscription in 1916 he applied for exemption as a conscientious objector. The Military Service Tribunal in Westhoughton, on 20 March 1916, allowed him only exemption from combatant service, meaning that he would be called up into the Non-Combatant Corps (NCC), guaranteed not to use or even handle weapons, but nevertheless part of the Army.

He ignored his notice of call-up, and was arrested by the civil police, taken before the Magistrates’ Court at the end of April 1916, fined, and handed over to a military escort. He was taken to Preston on 1 May, and passed on to 2 Western Company, NCC, where he refused to obey orders such as to put on a uniform, leading to court-martial on 12 May at Kinmel Park Camp, Abergele, Wales, and a sentence of two years imprisonment with hard labour. This meant transfer on 22 May 1916 to Wormwood Scrubs Prison, London, where, on 2 August 1916, he was interviewed by the Central Tribunal, sitting at the prison, who found him a “genuine” CO, after all, and offered him the Home Office Scheme; he accepted.

On 14 August 1916, he was transferred to Risbridge House, Kedington, for work on roadmaking at Clare, Suffolk. He was probably moved on to other work centres, until his final discharge in April 1919, when the Home Office Scheme was wound up and all work centres closed.

After the war, William found it difficult to get work, as many employers discriminated against COs, in a job market where even ex-soldiers with medals found jobs hard to come by. Eventually, William was able to start work as a coalminer in 1923.

William’s much younger brother, Harold, was a CO in the Second World War, doing as civilian alternative to military service what William did in ordinary life; a fireman and then a coalminer.