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MEN WHO SAID NO | ROAD TO CONSCRIPTION | OBJECTION | PRISONS | SENTENCED TO DEATH | TRIBUNALS | WIDER CONTEXT |
RICHARD PENNIFOLD 1882 -  

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Little is known about Richard but we know that he rubbed uncomfortably against the system frequently challenging it. He refused the Home oFfice Scheme and when not absconding he challenged the prison’s rules by hunger striking. By January 1919 he had served 3 prison sentences of Hard Labour.

He is remembered by fellow absolutist CO Bob Stewart with whom he spent some time on Wormwood Scrubs. “Here it was that I first met Dick Pennifold of Brighton, who afterwards became a devoted member of the Communist Party and a leader in the co operative movement. I remember when we were given one week solitary confinement and loss of one day’s remission. It was Good Friday. On exercise I contrived to fall behind Dick and whispered, ‘You’ll get an Easter Egg with a red flag on it for tea.’ Dick laughed too loud and we were carpeted before the Governor next morning. Result, no association for one week, loss of eight marks and one day’s remission, which meant nothing.”*

After the war Richard became Vice-President of Brighton Trades Council and founder member of Brighton branch of the Communist Party c.1920.

Any information you may have would be welcome and we would be pleased to add it to this page.

The following is a brief outline of what happened to most COs at the start of their resistance to the war.

Dealing with conscientious objectors was a new and confusing situation for the authorities and the Army. The CO might have appealed to his Local and later to the Appeal Tribunal, or he might have been deemed to be genuine but refused the offered form of exemption. Whether an objector appealed to a Tribunal or not from the moment he was instructed to report to camp, whether or not he did so, he was ‘deemed to be enlisted’, and his absence made him liable to prosecution for desertion.

After a few days when his absence was noted he would be visited by a policeman, arrested, and taken first to the recruiting office and then to the police station, where he would probably spend the night in a cell. The next day he would be brought before the magistrate. The police or a recruiting officer offered evidence of his liability to serve, and the, now, prisoner again declared his conscientious objection. He would be fined for failing to report under the Military Service Act, and handed over to a military escort. This would take him to the barracks to which he had first been ordered to report. There he was required to change into uniform, to sign his paybook and generally submit to routine orders. If such orders were refused he would be charged with disobeying a lawful command and placed in the guardroom.

After an initial period of confusion the procedure outlined above emerged and quickly became standard.

 

 

 

 

  Do you have more information or photos of RICHARD PENNIFOLD? Let us know
 

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CO DATA

Born: 1882
Died:
Address: 9 Hampstead Road, Preston Park, Brighton, Sussex
Tribunal: Sussex Appeal; Wormwood Scrubs
Prison: Wormwood Scrubs; Portsmouth CP; Maidstone CP
HO Scheme: [1]
CO Work:
Occupation: Carpenter
NCF: Brighton
Motivation:
[2]
ABSOLUTIST

 


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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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