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 | |
| ABRAM MARKS 1882 - |
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| Abram Marks, born 1888, was working as a Commercial Traveller in Leeds when conscripted in 1916. He was one of many Conscientious Objectors with several reasons for applying for exemption from his local Tribunal. Jewish, the sole economic support for his parents, and a Socialist Sunday School teacher, he had political, religious and domestic reasons for his refusal to become a soldier. With this strong anti-war motivation, it was almost inevitable that Abram would become an absolutist CO, outright refusing any compromise withe the civil and military regime over conscription. His refusal to cooperate began at his Tribunal hearing in early 1916 when, after being offered the chance to do Work of National Importance in lieu of being conscripted as a soldier, Abram rejected this compromise, instead choosing the path of passive resistance against conscription. Having refused to take on Work of National Importance, Abram was legally deemed to be a soldier, and expected to report to barracks, but even this was a compromise too far and, like many Absolutist COs, he decided that if the Army was desperate to have him as a soldier, they would have to physically come and get him - forcing his arrest as an absentee from the army on the 17th of June 1916. A hearing at the Leeds City Court followed, and Abram was fined and handed over to the Army. Continuing his resistance, he was transferred to a training battalion at Whitley Bay but refused to obey orders and faced a Court Martial, which sentenced him to two years hard labour to be served in a civilian prison. By the 17th of July, Abram was in Newcastle prison, where he served only a month of his sentence before being transferred first to Durham prison and then to Wormwood Scrubs. At the Scrubs he was sent before the Central Tribunal who deemed him suitable for the Home Office Scheme. With the prison system full to capacity of stubborn and principled Conscientious Objectors, the Central Tribunal decided that Abram was a “Class A” Objector, one with a legitimate claim to CO status. Instead of making him eligible for Absolute exemption, this instead simply let him transfer to the Scheme, securing him marginally better conditions in exchange for a promise of good behaviour - usually an agreement to work on directed projects. Abram was sent to the Wakefield Centre and housed in the prison there until his release and demobilisation in 1919.
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