THE MEN WHO SAID NO | ROAD TO CONSCRIPTION | CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION | PRISONS | SENTENCED TO DEATH | TRIBUNALS | WIDER CONTEXT | INDEX
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THE MEN WHO SAID NO | ROAD TO CONSCRIPTION | CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION | PRISONS | SENTENCED TO DEATH | TRIBUNALS | WIDER CONTEXT | INDEX |
| CHARLES WILLSDON 1892 - 1936 |
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| Charles Willsdon was one of many Conscientious Objectors who was exempted form the army on the condition that they carried on in their occupations. Millions of men around the country were judged to be in "useful" work, without whom, the country would struggle to function. Charles was one of these men, working as a railway clerk for London and South Western Railways. He lived with his father, the Officer Caretaker of Waterloo Station, and his work on the railways made him irreplaceable. He applied for exemption as a Conscientious Objector to the Lambeth Tribunal in early 1916, and it is possible that his work was the sole deciding factor in the Tribunal passing him exempt, as long as he carried on in his vitally important role. Unfortunately, Charles was to find that though the Tribunal directed him to work at the London and South Western Railways, they were less happy about employing a Conscientious Objector and, by May 1916, he had been fired. The Pelham Committee, organised to find work for COs doing "Work of National Importance" (WNI) directed him to farm work at Laycock in Wiltshire. Charles developed chronic illness while working on the farm, and within seven weeks he had been discharged as too ill to continue working. For the rest of the war he was shunted from occupation to occupation, each time leaving due to illness. It is likely that his illness never really left him, and he died relatively young, at 45. Charles' story shows that even for COs who took what is sometimes called the "easy route" of WNI, life was not simple. His dismissal in 1916 shows that the stigma and hostility many COs faced was a harsh reality of their struggle against militarism.
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