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THE MEN WHO SAID NO | ROAD TO CONSCRIPTION | CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION | PRISONS | SENTENCED TO DEATH | TRIBUNALS | WIDER CONTEXT | INDEX
PERCY HALL 1900 - 1919  

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Percy Hall was one of the last Conscientious Objectors to be conscripted during the First World War, and tragically one of the youngest to die. Percy only became eligible for conscription in 1918 after his 18th birthday and applied for exemption at his local Tribunal in the middle of that year. By September, his application failing to secure exemption, he was arrested as an absentee from the army and escorted out of his hometown to a nearby barracks. By December 1918, he was in Wormwood Scrubs. By the time he returned to his home only three months later, he was terminally ill.

His obituary, printed in the No-Conscription Fellowship newspaper “The Tribunal” on the 5th of June 1919 told his story:

“It is with deep regret that we have to record the death of another of our absolutists. Percy Hall, of Old Dalby, Leicestershire, was only eighteen and a half years of age, and his plucky stand against huge odds eventually leading to his death through consumption, is an inspiration to all who have met him.

He was not a strong lad, but as soon as he had reached the age of eighteen last year, he was arrested and eventually sent to Wormwood Scrubs prison.

The prison life quickly told on him and after three months he was released suffering from consumption. He was never given proper medical treatment in prison, and was not even admitted to hospital, but was discharged straight from his cell and left to find his way, without escort or help, to his little village home in the Midlands. The tedious journey was too much for him, and he arrived home in a fainting condition. After a fortnight he was too ill to remain home, and was removed to the Leicester infirmary. He made little or no progress there and was sent home after a few weeks. He was then sent to a nursing home in Nottingham where the treatment he received proved beneficial and he was able to return home again, though still too weak to walk. Unfortunately, the complaint had too strong a hold on him and he quickly fell into a decline, and he passed to rest on Sunday 25th May.

Of all the tragedies of our movement I think the case of young Hall is one of the worst. He was one of the quietest and yet most cheerful comrades I have met, besides being a brilliant mechanic. It was pathetic to see him fight bravely against the pain that eventually conquered, but through all he still held to his convictions that he had taken the right course. When in the Scrubs he accepted the scheme, in what he considered a moment of weakness, but he could not be happy about what he had done, and he had an interview with the governor and explained that after all he could accept no compromise. It was very soon after this that he was released from prison on medical grounds.

The funeral was held at the Wesleyan Chapel, Old Dalby, on Thursday 29th May. About fifteen members of the Leicester N.C.F were present, together with friends from the neighbourhood. After the burial service had been read at the grave, the assembly sang the hymn “Lead Kindly Light”.

Percy Hall has left a father and mother, two sisters and a brother to mourn his loss, but one feels how truly he is still with us. He is another fallen hero of our movement, but his stand for liberty will remain to eternity.”

Percy’s stand for freedom of conscience, freedom from war and militarism is remembered, where it will remain, on the CO Memorial Plaque. Percy’s name, along with the names of 68 other Conscientious Objectors who died during the first world war is inscribed as a monument not just to their experiences and sacrifices but to their hope for the future. Instead of being a simple commemoration of the dead it enthuses and celebrates their aim - to work towards a better and more peaceful world - an ideal, which as the plaque states, can be arrived at through the work of people like Percy - “it is by the faith of the idealist that the ideal comes true”.

 

 

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CO DATA

Born: 1900
Died: 25/5/1919
Address: Old Dalby, Melton Mowbray
Tribunal:
Prison: Wormwood Scrubs
HO Scheme: [1]
CO Work:
Occupation:

Absolutist

 


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