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THE MEN WHO SAID NO | ROAD TO CONSCRIPTION | CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION | PRISONS | SENTENCED TO DEATH | TRIBUNALS | WIDER CONTEXT | INDEX
ALFRED EUNGBLUT 1895 - 1917  

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Alfred Eungblut’s experiences as a Conscientious Objector were, in the early days of Conscription in 1916 much the same as any other COs. Like thousands of other men before and after him, Alfred’s strong belief that war was against his religious convictions did not convince his Tribunal to grant him the absolute exemption he was entitled to and shortly after the failure of his appeal, he voluntarily submitted to arrest as an absentee and was sent to Fovant Camp in Salisbury. As a deeply religious and committed Absolutist CO, Alfred refused to obey orders under military control, and was swiftly court martialled and sent to prison.

“We deeply regret that we have to record the death of another of our members, Alfred A. Eungblut, who died early in this month in Epsom Asylum, aged 22 years. In May of last year he claimed absolute exemption from his local Tribunal at St. Pancras, basing his claim exclusively on religious grounds. For many years he had been imbued with a boundless enthusiasm for his beliefs, and conducted a class at a Presbyterian church. The local Tribunal dismissed his application. He was arrested in September 1916, court-martialled and sent to Wormwood Scrubs, where the separate confinement proved a great torment to his highly strung temperament, and eventually drove him out of his mind.”

By November 1916, after harsh and brutal treatment by the military and two months solitary confinement in Wormwood Scrubs, Alfred was sent to Epsom Asylum, broken in mind and body. He would never leave.

Concerned by his case and the treatment Conscientious Objectors received, Henry Chancellor, Haggerston and Shoreditch MP raised the issue in the House of Commons on the 14th of March 1917:

“Asked the Secretary to the Local board whether he is aware that Alfred Eungblut, a conscientious objector who voluntarily gave himself up on 12th September last, was court-martialled at Salisbury, sentenced to two year’s hard labour, sent to Wormwood Scrubs, and from there to Epsom lunatic asylum; and seeing that this man was driven insane by the ill-treatment that he received at the hands of the military, and is now in a serious state of health and possibly dying, will he say what action he proposes to take?”

The answer was simple, evasive and effectively condemned Alfred to die:

“I have no reason whatever for supposing that his insanity was due to ill-treatment by the military”

Alfred’s mistreatment and condition was swept under the rug - and the next time he would be mentioned in Parliament he would be dead. Alfred died of heart failure after receiving inadequate hospital treatment. He was never transferred out of the asylum to a proper medical facility. No inquiry was carried out and no individuals or groups would ever be held responsible for his death.

 

 

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CO DATA

Born: 1895
Died: May 1917
Address: St Pancras, London
Tribunal: St Pancras, Refused
Prison: Wormwood Scrubs
HO Scheme: [1]
CO Work:
Occupation: Piano Tuner

Absolutist

 


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