Conscientious Objectors could receive very different decisions from a Tribunal, but one of the most common was “Exemption from Combatant Service on the condition of undertaking Work of National Importance”. Work of National Importance meant doing some work that was economically, militarily or socially vital to British society. It could range from farming to munitions work to dentistry and pharmaceutical employment. There is often an idea that a CO who agreed to do work of national importance was somehow taking the “easy way out” but this is most definitely wrong. Work could often be hard, backbreaking and dangerous. When it wasn’t, even simply getting and keeping a position could be very difficult.

William Rollison was a Hackney CO living in the Victoria Park area when he was conscripted into the army. While we don’t know what verdict the Hackney tribunal gave him, we do know that he went before the London County Tribunal to appeal against their verdict so he must have been turned down or passed “Exempt from Combatant Service Only” at the local Tribunal. The London County Appeal Tribunal granted him exemption from the army provided that he did Work of National Importance. This put him under the jurisdiction of the Pelham committee which was set up in mid 1916 in order to decide what work COs could do and manage how, where and when they did it.

The Pelham committee approved of William working with British Ever-Ready making batteries in September 1916, but towards the end of the war he became increasingly uncomfortable with the ever larger proportion of the company’s work that went towards the war effort. Aside from producing batteries for both civilian and military lamps and other lights, more and more of the company’s time went towards making submarine batteries in 1918. Like many COs who realised they were contributing to the war effort, William decided to leave the company as it was impossible to continue without compromising his stance as a CO.

He would soon return to the company in October 1918 after being assured that the work that he was doing was not helping the war effort. It was, however, considered of great importance to the economy to the extent that William was given scheduled occupation status, protecting him from any call-up to the military. Scheduled Occupation status, however, meant that he was no longer considered a Conscientious Objector, and his original exemption was withdrawn. Almost immediately after restarting his work with British Ever-Ready his Scheduled occupation status was withdrawn as well, making him eligible for the army!

Though William was not sent back to the army after this, his experiences show the difficulties Conscientious Objectors had in working within the complicated and often contradictory system set up by the Pelham committee. Work of National Importance did not mean an easy life and complicated stories like William’s are shared by many other COs.