Mapping Courage: Project Sheds Light on Liverpool’s WWII Conscientious Objectors

Mapping Courage: Project Sheds Light on Liverpool’s WWII Conscientious Objectors

Hundreds of Liverpudlians feature in a new project uncovering the hidden history of Britons who refused to fight in World War II.

As Remembrance ceremonies honour war dead across the United Kingdom this Sunday, the Quaker project highlights the courage of those who chose a different path.

Upward of 65,000 Britons refused to fight in World War II, roughly the same as the number of British and Canadian troops who took part in the D-Day landings.

Now a new database and interactive map of conscientious objectors (COs) aims to ensure that the country remembers that other choices are possible.

The map includes the story of Joe Brayshaw, a conscientious objector who described the mistreatment of men in the Non-Combatant Corps at the Dingle Vale camp near Liverpool.

In a post-war history of objection, Joe Brayshaw said: “Every man’s hands seemed against them. They were half-starved, beaten and kicked.”

Other conscientious objectors from Liverpool who feature on the map include:

• Arthur Miller, a customs and excise officer and Christadelphian who appeared before a tribunal on 1 December 1941 and was ordered to serve in the land army, ambulance or civil defence instead.

• John Parry, a bricklayer of Ogden Close whose father was gassed in WWI with a dependent brother and sister, Roman Catholic. The appeal on 8 December 1939 refused his application but referred him to the Hardship Committee.

• Alan Pollard, a Jehovah’s Witness of Campbell Drive, Knotty Ash, who worked as a metal pipe fitter. The tribunal on 26 August 1943 ordered him to work at the coal face of a mine.

• Rosemary Glassey, 21, of St Marys Road, Garston, and a Jehovah’s Witness, was ordered to work as a dairymaid.

• Oliver Percy, 21, of Green Lane: a Christian grocer’s assistant who said he was willing to go to prison rather than kill or wound anyone.

Glasgow Quaker Barry Mills spent six years trawling through local newspapers online and on microfiche, unearthing the records of 15,000 COs, including 600 women.

More than 6,500 of these, including Quakers, Jehovah’s Witnesses and those of no faith, have been plotted onto an interactive map with names, addresses, religion, and tribunal notes and quotes.

Mills said: “With casualties in both World Wars being so high, there has been an emphasis on listing and commemorating the casualties and recording the stories of those who survived.

“Less is known about those who suffered for refusing to fight, showing courage in a different way from those who fought.

“My research aims to record and find out about conscientious objectors in Britain in World War 2, to honour them and to explore their backgrounds and motivations.”

Schools, Quaker meetings and other communities are invited to explore their peace heritage through the the map and database and to contribute further stories.