Elizabeth Fry (1780 - 1845) and Forest Gate

Elizabeth Fry is one of Britain's most famous historical figures (of either gender).  Her Forest Gate significance is probably that her life donutted the district, with firm connections to: East Ham, Green Street, West Ham, Barking, Dagenham, Stratford, Plaistow, Hackney and Wanstead!

Elizabeth Fry - 1780 - 1845

She was born in Norfolk on 21 May 1780, as Elizabeth (better known as Betsy) Gurney. Her father was a banker and her mother was from the Barclays family, behind the eponymous bank. She was, by six years, Samuel Gurney's (see here)older brother, and when their mother died in Elizabeth's twelfth year, she took on a major responsibility for bringing up her younger siblings, including Sam. She was, like her family, a Quaker, but unlike most of them, took her religion seriously.

She spent her childhood years in Earlham Hall in Norfolk, after which the Forest Gate Grove is named.  That building now houses the law faculty of East Anglia University.

Aged 20, Betsy met Joseph Fry, also a Quaker and a tea merchant, who was a member of the chocolate manufacturing family. The couple married and moved to Brick Lane in Whitechapel - close to Fry's work place. They soon moved to St Mildred's Court, opposite Mansion House in the City and became hosts and hostesses to much of the City of London's considerable Quaker society - a duty Elizabeth hated.

Joseph's father died in 1808 and left the Fry estate - Plashet House, with servants and a cattle farm - in East Ham and Green Street, to him. The Frys upped sticks and moved. Their St Mildred's Court house has long gone but on its site is a City of London blue plaque, recording "Mrs Elizabeth Fry, 1780 --1845, prison reformer, lived here 1800 - 1809." (for details of the other, many, memorials to Betsy - see the end of this article).

Joseph Fry - Elizabeth's
husband, in 1824

Elizabeth, meanwhile, was busy producing her 11 children, who in turn provided her with 25 grandchildren. She would have been the first, however, to accept that a life of domestic bliss was not for her. In 1811 she became a Minister of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). She soon set up a girls boarding school in a large house, opposite her own in Plashet, with accommodation for 70 girls.

The Frys home in Plashet,
before hard times descended

Two years later, a French Friend, Stephen Grellett, was visiting  Newgate prison (on the site of what is now The Old Bailey)and witnessed, inside:

a sight and smell so dreadful ... above everything it is the plight of the women and babies, women lying in layers, the babies on the ground, all but naked, and dying in the cold - a population rendered diseased, brutish and depraved (that sends Grellett)out onto the street, chocking for breath.

Grellett rushed with his story to Elizabeth Fry, and she took up the cudgels.

She found, for herself, that the women's sections of prisons were over-crowded with women and children, who were forced to do their own washing and cooking and sleep on straw.

Elizabeth Fry, entering a women's cell at
Newgate. The overcrowding she encountered is
indicated by the cell, on the left of the photo

Her response was to get clothing in to female prisoners, establish education classes and sewing groups there and provide bibles. She set about bullying prison authorities to introduce humane, sanitary conditions for women, many of whom were held there without trial or on trivial, or no, charges.

In 1817 she founded the Association for the Reformation of Female Prisoners in Newgate, and four years later the London Society for Promoting the Reformation of Female Prisoners.

She was in her element, in the early years of the nineteenth century, and applied what would be regarded two centuries later as slick PR campaigns to draw attention to her and the female prisoners' causes. She called upon the resources of her well-connected friends to highlight prison conditions. 

She insisted on entering Newgate unaccompanied, and thereby gained both the trust of the female prisoners and great public attention for here "fortitude and bravery".

Visiting prison cells,
unaccompanied by prison staff

She campaigned against women being manacled in chains, against the public exhibition of female prisoners, against transport ships, solitary confinement and above all, capital punishment.

She would attract wealthy visitors (left of sketch) 
and supporters, to watch her read to female
prisoners at Newgate - good for fund raising

In 1818 she gave evidence to a House of Commons committee on conditions in British prisons - and so became the first woman to present evidence to the British Parliament. Not the only "first" to her name.

Above - Newgate Prison, in 1902, shortly
before its demolition.  Below, the statue of
Betsy that stands in the Old Bailey, built
on the site of the prison.

For relaxation, in 1824, the family took a lease on two fishing cottages at Dagenham Breach (pretty much on where Ford's factory is today) and spent subsequent summer holidays there. Elizabeth's daughter, and East Ham historian, Katharine wrote:

It is difficult to convey the sort of enjoyment Dagenham afforded us ... there was fishing, boating, driving and riding inland by day, and when night closed in over the wild marsh scenery the cries of water birds, the rustling of the great beds of reeds, the strange sounds from the shipping on the river gave the place an indescribable charm.

Dagenham Breach in 19th century

The charm was not to last, however. In 1829 Joseph Fry's business hit financial difficulties and the family were forced to sell the Plashet estate in order to survive. Family connections stepped in, to save the day. Elizabeth's younger brother, Samuel, himself a successful banker, was beginning to build himself a substantial property portfolio in the Forest Gate area.

The Upton estate, at the time of the Frys residence

He owned Ham House and its grounds - what was later to become West Ham Park. Within the grounds was Upton Lane House, which is said to have been constructed earlier in the century from the barn and buildings of an earlier house. He lent it to his sister and brother-in-law.

Upton Lane House - later
became the Cedars, see below

This later became known as Cedar House, with its distinctive yellow bricks and central pediment and classical porch. It was located on what is now Portway.

After the Frys/Gurneys moved on, the building became the headquarters of the Territorial Army, until its demolition in 1960.  The current building  on the site bears a plaque, commemorating Betsy's stay there.

Samuel was indebted to the Frys - Betsy had helped bring him up, after their mother had died, and Joseph had nurtured his career, when he first moved to London, in search of work. Samuel showed his gratitude, by loaning it out to the Fry family, until Elizabeth's death in 1845. Katharine was to remark that: "from the grounds there was a fine view across the river to Greenwich Park."

Elizabeth always referred to the house as "Upton".

The wolves, having been kept from the door, Elizabeth was able to resume her philanthropic works.

She worked with other Quakers, including her brother-in-law, Thomas Fowell Buxton, to fight against the slave trade. She founded a Night Shelter for the homeless in 1819 and, in one of her last acts,  a Refuge for Prostitutes, in Hackney, in 1844.

She campaigned vigorously against prisoner transportation, and visited 106 prison ships and over 12,000 convicts. Her campaign resulted in the abolition of prison ships, in 1837.

In 1840, she opened a training school for nurses and inspired Florence Nightingale, who took a team of Fry's nurses on her famous Crimean War mission in 1856.

Elizabeth Fry was no shrinking violet. She revelled in the public attention she attracted. Queen Victoria was an admirer and patron, and they met on a number of occasions.

Betsy sought, and gained, international recognition for her works, touring French prisons in 1839 and Danish prisons two years later.

Victoria was not the only royalty drawn to Betsy. In 1842 she entertained Frederick William 1V of Prussia, at "Upton", after she had given him a tour of Newgate Prison, following his interest in her reform work there. The visit caused all kinds of upsets in diplomatic circles, because many state protocols were ignored.

Above - King of Prussia pub
Prussia. Below Stratford pub named
after him, whose name was changed to
King Edward V11 on out-break of WW1

The king's visit to West Ham was commemorated by naming a pub on Stratford Broadway the King of Prussia  - a name rapidly changed to the King Edward V11, with the onset of war, in 1914.

Elizabeth Fry died in Ramsgate, aged 65 - on 12 October 1845, three years after the king's visit to Upton. She was initially buried in the Friends burial ground, in Barking, but as that closed, and the one at Wanstead Friend's House, in Bush Wood, was refurbed in 1968, she was moved there and remains.

Her legacy is huge - and at a time when, rightly, there are complaints about the lack of statuary etc to women in this country, Elizabeth and her supporters can have few complaints.

She became the first female non-royal to appear on a British banknote, when she adorned the £5 note, from 2001 - 2016. There are plaques commemorating her on the site of her birth, death and original burial ground, in Barking - as well as those in St Mildred's Court and site of Cedar House, referred to, above.  

There is a statue of her in the Old Bailey - the site of the old Newgate Prison, demolished in 1902 - with which she is most associated, and memorials to her at Kensall Green cemetery, Wormwood Scrubs, All Saints Church, Cambridge and the Home Office in Marsham Street.

St Stephen's, Upton Park - now demolished,
following WW2 bomb damage - St Stephen's
Parade on Green St sits on the site. Church
dedicated to Elizabeth Fry

More locally, there is a bust of her in East Ham library and St Stephen's church - finally demolished after bomb damage in 1954 - off Green Street, was dedicated to her. Katherine Road is a misspelled (should be Katharine)is named after one of her daughters and the broken drinking fountain on the corner of Capel Road and Woodford Road, is dedicated to one of her sons, Joseph, who ran the Metropolitan Drinking Fountain Association (see here).

Clearly, no small Fry!

Footnote
We are grateful to Derk Pelly's Upton Connection - 1732-1916, a story of families, for use of some of the line drawings of houses in this article.

John Fothergill (1712-1780): Quaker, physician, philanthropist and botanist

John Fothergill was one of the earliest prominent Quakers to make Forest Gate both his home and a place of national significance.

He was born in Wensleydale, Yorkshire, in 1712, and, after an apprenticeship as an apothecary, studied medicine in Edinburgh.

After graduating, he moved to London and practised at St Thomas', on the south bank. He worked with the poor, often without pay, and at times subsidised wholesome food for his patients.

Ham House, as Fothergill renamed Rooke Hall
 - its grounds were to become West Ham
Park just over a century after Fothergill acquired it

He was a doctor in advance of his time, successfully treating what is now known as diphtheria, tuberculosis, migraine and influenza and introducing innovative methods to cure sore throats. He was a strong advocate of immunisation as a means of preventing smallpox, many years before it became accepted medical practice.

His reputation grew rapidly and he began to attract many of the rich and famous as his patients; among them, John Wesley, founder of Methodism and novelist Fanny Burney. As Fothergill himself put it: "I climbed on the backs of the poor to the pockets of the rich."

Such became his fame, that Fothergill had his portrait painted by Hogarth (see below).

Fothergill, by Hogarth

By 1774 he had the largest physician's practice in London, was said to work up to 20 hours a day and was reputed to earn the truly phenomenal sum of £5,000 per year (£700,000 in today's terms).

His medical fame and fortune provided him with an income to pursue his other - wide-ranging - interests, with notable effect.

Fothergill's first purchase of note came when he was fifty, and it was to become the foundation of his formidable non-medical reputation.

He bought Rooke Hall in 1762. This was a small estate of 30 acres that had belonged to the Rooke family for a century, from 1566. It then passed through the hands of Sir Robert Smyth and his descendants until it was purchased by Admiral Elliott. It was from Elliott that Fothergill purchased the property.

Fothergill extended and developed the house and grounds considerably - doubling its footprint to 60 acres. He renamed it Ham House. On his death it was sold, enlarged yet again, and soon became the property of the Gurneys (see here) and later West Ham Park.

It was, however, what Fothergill did with the property that made his stay there so significant. He was a keen botanist. He laid the enlarged lands out as flower gardens, surrounded by shrubberies, with a wilderness beyond. A watercourse ran through the land and the banks were planted with exotic shrubs.

Gilbert Stuart's portrait of John Fothergill (1712 - 1780)

Cartographers, Chapman and Andre, writing in 1777, described the grounds thus:

A winding canal, in the figure of a crescent, divided the garden into two ... occasionally opening on ... rare, exotic shrubs ... A glass door from the house gave an entrance into a suite of hot ... and green houses, nearly 260 feet in extent, containing upwards of 3,400 distinct species of exotics ... and in the open grounds ... nearly 3,000 distinct species of plants and shrubs.

Five years later, Sir Joseph Banks - botanist, president of the Royal Society for 41 years and advisor to George 111 on the establishment of Kew Gardens - said of the estate:

In my opinion no other garden in Europe, royal or of a subject, had so many scarce and valuable plants. It was second only to Kew in attracting visitors from overseas.

Sir Joshua Reynolds' portrait
of Sir Joseph Banks

He was able to stock his greenhouses and garden with unusual plants by paying plant hunters and sailors to bring back specimens of botanic interest from their voyages in the Americas, Far East and Africa.

Such was his influence on botanists of the day, he had species of plants named after him - for example Fothergill's Geranium and Fothergill's Lily.

Fothergill.  Although devoted to his botanic collection, was too busy with his medicine, which funded it, to devote much time to cultivating it.

He was rarely at Ham House, but paid 15 gardeners to tend his impressive collection. He was not just a collector, but a recorder and cataloguer of his stock A very detailed catalogue of it survives in the British Library (see below).

Above - the opening plate of the
catalogue of Fothergill's collection.
Below, the first page of the
detailed description of each plant

He also employed four artists, full-time, to make drawings, in vellum of each plant in full bloom. Below is a rare, surviving, black and white print of one of the Fothergill collection. 

Cortex Winteranus - one of the
thousands of drawings of Fothergill's
collection, painted on velum

The 18th century was the golden age of botanical drawings, and Fothergill engaged some of the finest artists to help him capture the images, including George Ehret (1708 - 1770) and John Miller (1715 - 1792). Below are surviving examples of their work, in full colour.

As for the Fothergill collection; it was sold on his death, along with his house and plant collection. Bizarrely, the prints were bought by Catherine the Great of Russia (1729 - 1796) - see photo, below. She was a keen horticulturalist and had had medical encounters with Dr Fothergill, so was well aware of him and his works.

Catherine The Great (1729 - 1796)
 bought Fothergill's botanical prints
and took them to Russia

The collection of 2,000 prints are now believed to be housed in the Komarov Botanical Institute, St Petersburg, part of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

They have never been shown in public and attempts to view them have been thwarted. It would be a fine gesture if the Corporation of London and St Petersburg's municipal authority could jointly mount an exhibition of this magnificent and historic collection.

The Komarov Botanical Institute,
St Petersburg - present home
to the Fothergill collection

As with the other Quaker polymath dignitaries who have lived in Upton over the years, Fothergill had a wide range of interesting pursuits. In addition to his innovative medical practice and - literally and metaphorically - ground-breaking botanical work, he played a full part in civic society.

He, for example, advocated the proper registration of births and deaths, sixty years before the national register was established and promoted the use of public baths, as a health measure a century before they became popular.

He was subsequently elected Fellow of the Society of Antiquities in 1753, and the Royal Society, a decade later.

The front plate on the first volume
of Fothergill's collected works

Like a fellow future Quaker resident of Ham House, Samuel Gurney, he was an active prison reformer. Just as Gurney had supported his sister, Elizabeth Fry, in the cause, so, a generation earlier Fothergill provided support to John Howard - after whom today's prison reform pressure group is named. Fothergill worked with Howard to try to get programmes of employment for ex-prisoners in order to facilitate their rehabilitation - quite a novel idea at the time.

Again, just as Gurney had become active in public affairs (education, campaigning against capital punishment, slavery etc), so too - in the previous century - had Fothergill. He was the founder of Ackworth public school, in Pontefract, Yorkshire. It was co-educational from its foundation and offered free education to poor Quaker children.  It survives today as one of only eight Quaker schools in Britain. 

Indeed one of the school's four houses remains named after him.

Ackworth school, today

Fothergill had close associations with pre-independence America,  and worked, to no avail, with Benjamin Franklin trying to prevent the succession of the American colonies in 1776, having been elected a member of the American Philosophical Society six years previously.

An illustration Fothergill sent to
Philadelphia, to help illustrate
a lecture on anatomy there.

On Fothergill's death, in 1780, the house and gardens were sold up and the plant stock dispersed. The garden and greenhouses, however, together with many of the trees survived Fothergill's tenure in the property.

The greenhouse function has continued until the present day. For almost a century and a half the Corporation has used them as a nursery, producing plants and shrubs for prestigious Mansion House events.

Until now, that is ... the Corporation has recently decided to "out-source" the function and bring to an end almost two and a half centuries of botanical pride and excellence to a small corner of Forest Gate. The Park Management Committee and Corporation of London are currently considering alternative uses for the space occupied by the now redundant green houses and nursery.

And so another bit of Upton's great history (like the Old Spotted Dog pub and Clapton FC) is facing extinction from those with cash signs in their eyes and minimal regard for local heritage.

Fothergill is still remembered in West Ham Park today, as a flower bed and rockery, named in his honour, survive - see extract from park map, below.

Footnote
Thanks to the Friends of West Ham Park, whose recent exhibition on Fothergill, in the park, has provided assistance with the contents of this article. Views in the article are should not be taken as theirs.

Forest Gate Conscientious Objectors in WW1

This article is posted to commemorate International Conscientious Objectors' Day, on 15 May 2017.

We have covered World War 1 many times on this site, before, including:

• The diaries of a romance of two local people that was extinguished on the battlefields of France, here and here; 

• The diaries of the Hammers Battalion during the war, here and here; 

• Life on the home front, in Forest Gate, seen through the eyes of  the Godwin school log book, here; 

• Anti-German riots locally sparked off by the sinking of the Lusitania, here, and:

• The fate of a number of WW1 memorials erected in memory of the local war dead (never forgotten, but quickly so), here.

We have never, however, covered Forest Gate Conscientious Objectors (COs) of the time and this post attempts to tell the story of almost 50 of them.

First a little national background. 

WW1 broke out in the summer of 1914 and, encouraged by the  jingoism and popular mood of the time, volunteers were sought and filled all the required military and fighting requirements for almost 18 months. As the war wore on and the grim realities of life in the trenches reached people at home, volunteers alone were not enough to fill the boots of those killed in battle.

In January 1916 conscription was introduced, to take effect from March that year. Basically, all able-bodied males between the ages of 18 and 44 were liable for military service and they began to be called up. People deemed to be doing jobs of National Importance (NI) were exempt from conscription.

1916 Act of Parliament that
brought conscription to Britain

A system of Military Service Tribunals (MSTs) was established in all areas of the country where conscripted men could appeal against being drafted. These tribunals were composed of the local good and the great complemented by a military presence.  

By common consent, they were regarded as being pretty much rigged in favour of the conscription order being upheld. Appellants, for example, were not allowed representation and the voice of the military presence was generally heard loud and clear.

There were a number of reasons for men appealing; and if turned down they could appeal again to a higher (probably county) tribunal.

Most of the appellants were pacifists of some form; mainly through religious convictions (see later), or some through political (usually socialist convictions). So, early national leaders of the Labour Party (e.g. Kier Hardie, Ramsay Macdonald and George Lansbury) all declared themselves pacifists.

The outbreak of war was said to have broken Kier Hardie's heart and he died within a year of the start of hostilities.

The MSTs could offer a number of judgments. They could reject the claim for non conscription outright and declare that appellant should be drafted into the armed forces. They could judge that the appellant should still be called up, but be assigned to a Non Combatant Corps (NCC) e.g. field ambulance, or that the appellant could be excused military duty, on the grounds that he undertook a job of National Importance (NI).

The British national memorial to COs,
 unveiled in London's Tavistock Square
 on 15 May 1994

Most people appealing to the MST seemed prepared to accept the Tribunal's judgment, but others refused.  Most notable amongst there were people called Absolutists. Often they would have been told by the Tribunal that they could be exempt from military duties, provided they undertook a job of NI - farm work was most commonly decreed.

Absolutists, however, objected to this on the grounds that they were effectively substitutionists - i.e. replacing a farm labourers who had gone to fight - and so were, indirectly assisting the war effort. Their case got no sympathy and they often ended up being extremely harshly treated, as some of the case studies below makes clear (see below for details of local Absolutists).

A number of COs, when called up, simply went AWOL, or refused to obey orders.  They then  faced a Court-martial and were typically given between 4 months and two years imprisonment, with Hard Labour (HL), this was often repeated on their release from prison after the original sentence. After the war was over, in 1919, the government decreed that nobody should face more than two years in prison, in total, from that time onwards - so many COs were released without having served their full subsequent sentence.

Men who refused to fight were often victimised locally by people calling them cowards, waving white feathers at them , them, having stones thrown through their windows, being assaulted in the streets etc.  Life as a CO was never comfortable. We have no examples of this kind of treatment locally, but undoubtedly it would have been meted out.

White feather of kind
waved at Cos.. Find our
more aboiut then via
@wfdiaries, and
#whitefeather

Nationally, about 17,000 men declared themselves COs and went through the MST process. The Imperial War Museum (IWM) has very recently taken a very sympathetic look at the plight of the COs and has published, on-line (accessible for a small charge), a remarkable piece of work by an ex-Leeds university academic, Cyril Pearce, who has tracked, in skeletal form at least, the stories of each of those men.

Some of the 17,000 CO's - Conscientiously
 Objecting to military service, during WW1

Pearce's work suggests that of the total number of COs, about 7,000 -  40% - were offered NCC status and became e.g. stretcher bearers. About 4,500 - 25% - were offered work of NI, usually farm work, and 6,000 were forced into the armed services and adopted forms of passive resistance which usually resulted in Court-martial and prison sentences with Hard Labour (HL).

We have interrogated Pearce's database and found reasonably full details of almost 50 Forest Gate COs (our definition being they had a Forest Gate address - see list below) and found references to  a similar, additional, number who have slightly less concrete Forest Gate connections (went to a local church, were said to be from the area, but no address was given etc).

The list below provides a portrait, in outline, of the 48. We have supplemented some of Cyril Pearce's remarkable work by reference to a card index in the library of the Society of Friends (Quakers), in Euston. We are extremely grateful to the incredibly helpful staff there for their assistance in this regard.

South Esk Road c 1914. Near Barclay
Hall and home to at least 4 local COs

The most striking thing to note about the list below is the number. If there were 18,000 COs nationally, pro rata, there should have been about 18 in Forest Gate - given the size of the population then. There were, in fact almost three times that number of confirmed Forest Gate residents and six times that number if the "vague Forest Gate connections" numbers are included.

This begs the question: why? 

As explained above, one of the main grounds for people appealing against being called up was religious, pacifist, convictions. Perhaps the group mostly associated with this were the Quakers.
  
We have discovered 10 local Quaker COs (John Edwin Davies, Alexander Stewart Fryer, Frank George Hobart, Ernest George Mountford, Reginald William Mountford, George Leonard Pratt, William Ronald Read, Frank Augustus Root, Robert Sandy and George Alfred Weller). 

A surprisingly large number. Most of them, as the list shows, were clustered around Green Street, probably been because of the presence of Barclay Hall.

Barclay Hall in Green Street was founded by the Bedford Institute Association, a Quaker philanthropic organisation, in 1900. The hall was named after Joseph and Jane Barclay, two prominent Quakers from Leyton.

Barclay Hall in Green St, today.
In the early years of 20th century a major
Quaker meeting place, and spiritual home to
many of Forest Gate's Conscientious Objectors

Within a year, over 800 people were attending the venue, associated with various missionary organisations. It became a full meeting church and in 1906 it was rebuilt into the brick building it is today. It was bought by the then West Ham council in 1948 and turned into an adult education centre. It was sold, for £2.1m in October 2015 and is now a campus for the London Churchill College.

The Bedford Institute, itself, was established and named after another Quaker philanthropist, and silk merchant in 1867. It developed over time to provide a range of social and charity functions for the local poor. In 1998 it changed its name to Quaker Social Action and continues to support east London communities. See here for an article on this site for its work in recycling unwanted furniture for local families.

Twenty of the other local COs quoted religious objections as their grounds for seeking exception from military service, a number of these were Jehovah's Witnesses, but others were members of the Church of England (CofE), and members of a basically pacifist arm of it, the International Bible Students' Association (IBSA) - see below.

Two of the 48 claimed political objections to fighting (Edmund Howarth and Frederick Thompson, the former described as an "Anarchist/Communist/ Athiest" and the latter as a member of the Independent Labour Party). 

There were four Absolutists - and they had a totally torrid time.  They were Howarth and Thompson (above) plus Frank Augustus Root and George Arthur Weller.

Twenty-one of the Forest Gate 48 served prison sentences because of their CO status - some in a number of prisons. Fifteen - almost a third of local COs spent time in Wormwood Scrubs (Scrubs), 4 in Winchester, 2 in Dartmoor and one each in Maidstone, Pentonville, Newhaven and Wakefield, while 4 spent time in unspecified prisons.

The gates to Wormwood Scrubs prison,
where 15 Forest Gate Co's served time

The full lists of locally confirmed COs, with their fates is provided below. It is a totally absorbing and fascinating read.

We have used extensive abbreviations, and tried to use a fairly standardised template for providing the pen portraits, produced in alphabetical order, to make it a more manageable read.

This is a subject we would like to return to in the future and would be delighted to hear from anyone who has tales of Forest Gate COs to share.

Abbreviations

AE - Absolute Exemption
AMSF - Associate Member, Society of Friends (i.e. an irregular attendee at a Friends' Meeting Place)
Bttn - Battalion
C-m - Court-martialled
CO - Conscientious Objector
CofE - Church of England
ECS - Exemption from Combatant Service
FAU - Friends Ambulance Unit
HL - Hard Labour
IBSA - International Bible Students Association
MST - Military Service Tribunal
NCC - Non Combatant Corps
NCF - Non Conscription Fellowship (CofE)
NI - National Importance
Scrubs - Wormwood Scrubs

HE Baker
23 Sidney Road. b 1884.

Bank cashier.

MST granted ECS/NCC, if he maintained his existing job.

Henry Chapman
23 Tower Hamlets Road. b 1882.

Worked in the furniture trade. It is claimed he was an "Anarchist/Communist/Atheist". He was a trade unionist and member of the Society of Polishers.

He was C-m in central London. Jan 1917, given 112 days, with HL. May 1917, given 1 year with HL. Apr 1918 given 18 months with HL, in Scrubs and later Winchester prison. Eventually released in Apr 1919 - having served more than 2 yrs.

Arthur Corke
57 South Esk Road. b 9 May 1895.

An AMSF. He was for several years a teacher at the Friends (Quaker) First Day School and a member of the United Methodists. 

He declared himself a CO, but refused to attend an MST to get dispensation. He was arrested and faced charges at East Ham police court (fore-runner to magistrates court) and "forced into the ranks".

He was conscripted into the army as a member of the Royal Sussex Yeoman Bttn and was sent to Egypt. Fate thereafter unknown.

William George Corke 
57 South Esk Road. Unknown DOB.

He was a tea salesman in the City. An AMSF. He was for many years a teacher at the Friends First Day School. He was an active member of the Men's Adult School and undertook various forms of work at Barclay Hall.

His father made an appeal to the East Ham local MST on his behalf, but was refused CO status.

He was arrested twice. The first time he was sent home. The second time he was ordered to sign up for military service; he refused. He was C-m and sentenced to two yrs at Scrubs.

John Edwin Davies
7 Chestnut Grove. Unknown DOB.

Iron Fitter. Quaker.

Claimed AE, given ECS in Aug 1916. Sent to work in a shipyard.

William Thomas Dopson
15 Jephson Rd.  b 1888.

Printer. Member of Company of Believers.

C-m in Hounslow. Sentenced to 112 days with HL, initially in Scrubs, later transferred to Dartmoor.

Arthur Downing
129 Green Street. Unknown DOB.

C-m Dartmouth 1917. Sentenced to 112 days, with HL. Served in Scrubs.

William George Easterford
281 Odessa Road. b 1891.

Shop assistant, carpet salesman.

Arrested on 26 Sep 1916 for not responding to conscription order/being an absentee. MST - 1 yr with HL; served in Scrubs.

Percy William Faunch
131 Capel Road. b 1887.

Insurance claims clerk.

Applied to MST in Essex; directed to work of NI. Sent to timber trade, in Northamptonshire.

Henry Arthur Freedman
19 Rectory Road. b 1886.

Member of NCF.

June 1916 MST. Refused to sign military papers. Arrested Jun 1916 and sentenced to 112 days HL, served in Maidstone Prison.

Alexander Stewart Fryer
27 Crosby Road. 6 Oct 1879.

Quaker. Superintendent at Barclay Hall - a branch of the Bedford Institute Association (see footnotes). He was also an assistant chaplain at Pentonville prison.

AE given by MST, on the condition that he remained in his current employment.

Edward Fuller
47 Spratt Hall Road. Unknown DOB.

Journalist. Member of the Forest Gate NCF.

Charged with "printing and making statements likely to prejudice recruiting, discipline and administration of HM Forces". Fined £100 and sentenced to 91 days in Pentonville.

S Galin
145 Osborne Road.  Unknown DOB.

Schoolmaster.

Applied to MST Sep 1916. Granted ECS, conditional on remaining in current occupation, of NI. Offered a position at Penketh Friends' School.

Simon Peter Grant
29 Strone Road. b 1886.

Cemetery worker.

MST in Jun 1917, granted ECS, on the grounds that he continued with his job, one of NI.

Ernest Green
95 Capel Road. b 1894.

Commercial Traveller. Member of CofE and of IBSA. He additionally sought exemption from combat service on the grounds that his father was Hungarian and "he did not wish to fight against his father's people".

MST Apr 1916. Was granted ECS, but refused to accept. He was declared a service absentee and was arrested in Aug 1916. C-m and given 1 yr, with HL, in Newhaven, and later a further 18 months, with HL.

George Alfred Hall
125 Halley Road. b 1892.

Member of the NCF. he was conscripted, then turned absentee.  Arrested 27 Sep 1916. C-m and given 2 yrs with HL. Sent to Scrubs.  In 1917 given an additional 2 yrs and sent to Winchester Prison.

Frank Rivers Hancock
73 Hampton Road. b 5 Aug 1883.

His occupation was "Agent and Collector" - a door to door insurance sales worker. An AMSF. He was a Wesleyan Methodist preacher.

He made four appeals to the local MST, on CO grounds. He was turned down on each occasion.

He was arrested on 28 May 1917 and C-m. he was sentenced to two yrs HL, Scrubs and was later transferred to Dartmoor, where he joined the Quakers.

Frank George Hobart
323 Romford Road. Unknown DOB

Manufacturing chemist. Quaker.

Became a member of the FAU.

John Horn
140 South Esk Road. b 4 Apr 1895.

Clerk. An AMSF. Member of (Friends) Adult School, secretary to Men's classes, "helps out generally, in a helpful way".

Became a member of the FAU on 29 May 1916, then became a farm labourer in Essex.

Made two appearances before local MST. Application for CO status was dismissed on the first occasion, but accepted on the second, provided he undertook work of NI.

Edmund Howarth
106 Dames Road. b 1893.

Clerk. An Absolutist, member of the NCF.

Conscripted to Middlesex Regiment. C-m for attempting to escape. Sentenced to 112 days, with HL. Given a second conviction of 1 yr, with HL and later a third conviction of 2 yrs with HL. He was released in Jan 1919, having served three sentences of more than 2 yrs in total.

Arthur Stewart Ingram
33 Shrewsbury Road. b 1881.

Master Butcher. Member of the IBSA (mainly Jehovah's Witnesses).
Called up; refused to fight. C-m. Sentenced to 2 yrs with HL. Served in Scrubs and Wakefield prison.

Ernest J Lee
Earlham Grove. b 5 Oct 1894.

Clerk at the Great Eastern Railway office, Liverpool Street. An AMSF.

He made two appearances before the West Ham local MST, to be recognised as a non-combatant. He work was classified as work of NI. He later joined the FAU and worked on the land.

Asher Samuel Lill
204 Strone Road. b 1895.

Clerk.

West Ham MST declared him ECS only.  He was called up and refused to serve. Sentenced to six months with HL, in Scrubs.

John Lloyd
6 Upton  Avenue. b 1878.

Furniture buyer. A Primitive Methodist.

He refused to sign any army papers, when called up. He was C-m in Stratford and sentenced in Dec 1916 to 2 yrs imprisonment with HL. He was released after 2 months and sent to a NCC of the army.

Gerald Matter
41 Halley Road. b 1884.

Drug Clerk and Shorthand Typist.

MST - granted ECS, subject to remaining in his current job which was deemed to be of NI.

James McKenzie
70 Margery Park Road. b 1896.

Compositor.

MST granted him deployment to a NCC. He refused. Was C-m and sentenced to 6 months with HL at  Scrubs.

Tudor William Ralph Mead
376 Katherine Road. b 1898.

IBSA.

MST refused non conscription. Sent to Royal Fusiliers. Refused to take up arms. C-m - 112 days with HL, Scrubs.

Ernest George Mountford
204 Shrewsbury Road. b 1892.

Teacher. Quaker. Adult school lecturer.

Enlisted in the Royal Army Medical Corps - went to Egypt and Palestine with the Expeditionary Force.

Reginald William Mountford.
204 Shrewsbury Road.  DOB 1900.

Quaker.

MST Apr 1918. ECS, subject to joining the War Victim' Refugee Service in France. He was a member of this between Apr 1918 and Jun 1920.

William George Moorcroft
35 Strone Road. b 1884.

Compositor.

No religion, but a member of the NCF.

He was conscripted to the Rifle Brigade. Refused to serve. C-m. Given 1 yr with HL, followed by 2 yrs with HL. He was released in Aug 1919, under the 2 yr rule.

Percy C Ogden
Woodgrange Road. b 1874.

Ironmonger.

MST 22 Oct 1918. Decision was that he should join the Special Constables. He appealed against this and agreed to work on a job of NI. He took up farming, 3 days per week.

Herbert Wilfred Pate
65 Capel Road. b 1887.

Member of the Plymouth Brethren.

MST declared him ECS. Served for 6 months in 1918 in the NCC.

Charles William Pratt
170 Halley St. 10 Nov 1894.

An auctioneers' clerk and secretary of the Band of Hope, of the Young People's Council , of a Department in the Sunday school. Quaker. Captain of the Barclay Hall swimming and cricket clubs.

Underwent 2 tribunal hearings. At the first, East Ham 1916, he claimed AE. Granted exemption from military service if he undertook work of NI. He became a farm labourer in Essex and later a member of the FAU.

George Leonard Pratt
170 Halley Road. 11 May 1897. 

A chartered accountant. Quaker. A Sunday School teacher, and Adult and Boys' Club worker in Barclay Hall.

He made 4 appearances before local MSTs. He was told to find work of NI. He was an absolutist, and refused.

He was arrested in Jan 1917 and found guilty of non-compliance with military conscription summons. He was fined £4, but refused to pay. He was re-arrested and handed over to military authorities. He was C-m on his 20th birthday and sentenced to 2 yrs imprisonment, with HL in Scrubs. Released in Apr 1919.

Cyril Thomas Prince
6 Horace Road. b 1895.

Member of the Plymouth Brethren.

MST, Stratford - sent to NCC from 17 Aug 1916 - 27 Dec 1919.

William Ronald Read
180 Monega Road. 7 Jun 1898. 

A furrier's clerk. Quaker.

Made 2 appeals to the local MST. Undertook farm work in Essex when conscripted. He joined the FAU in Jan 1917.

Frank Augustus Root
323 Strone Road. DOB 1880.

Book keeper with local authority. Quaker. Absolutist.

MST Sep 1916 - given ECS, on condition that he maintained his existing employment.

Robert Sandy
128 Odessa Road. b 1877.

Chemist, owning his own business. Quaker.

MST August 1916, Claimed AE. Granted ECS, on that he maintained his existing job, which was deemed one of NI.

George Henry Scanlon
8 Margery Park Road. b 1877.

School teacher.

MST - ECS: joined NCC.

Hugh Patrick Scanlon
8 Marjory Park Road. b 1877.

MST - ECS - NCC in France: May 1916 - Jul 1919.

George Sim
339 Upton Lane. b 1886.

Handicraft teacher, West Ham LEA.

MST - allowed work of NI. Remained a teacher in West Ham.

John Smiley
65 Pevensey Road. b 1886.

Clerk, National Insurance Commission.

MST directed him to work of NI - continued in existing occupation.

Nathaniel Streimer
2 Margery Park Road. b 1897.

Confectioner's foreman in family firm of Morris Streimer and Co of Stratford.
MST said must find work of NI. Sep - Dec 1918 worked as a labourer at Gibbs Soap Works, Wapping. Left to undertake farm work in Hounslow, but had to leave when all CO's on the farm were sacked because of local opposition to their presence. Then went to undertake farm work in Romford.

Joseph William Tantner
11 St John's Terrace, Green Street. b 1891.

Milkman.

Volunteered in Sep 1914 to East Anglian Field Ambulance Service. Sent to Egypt. C-m in July 1918 for refusing to take up a weapon. Given 5 yrs penal servitude, later reduced to 2 yrs.. The sentence was suspended when he contracted dysentery. He was then transferred to the Essex Regiment to perform guard duties at a POW camp. He waived his right to early demobilisation and discharged and continued serving until Apr 1920.

Frederick Thompson
19 Huddlestone Road. b 1880.

Printer. An Absolutist. A member of the Independent Labour Party and of the Printers' trade union.

Went to MST in May 1917, but refused to accept their conditions. He was C-m in Winchester and given 2 yrs with HL, spent in  Scrubs and Winchester prison.

He was given a second sentence of 2 yrs with HL in 1918, but was released in Apr 1919, under the 2 yr rule.

Henry Bertram Thomson
32 South Esk Road. b 22 Nov 1899. 

Started work as an office boy in 1914.  AMSF . Was a teacher at the Barclay Hall Sunday School, Green Street (see footnote for details about this building, which features prominently in this blog and the organisations associated with it).

He made two appearances before the East Ham local MST and one before the Essex Appeal Tribunal. He was given work of NI, as a clerk at Prices Patent Candle Co, in Battersea.

Henry Edward Thrower
28 Lancaster Road. b 1891.

Clerk. Congregationalist.

MST said ECS. Went to FAU, where he served from Apr 1916 until Feb 1919.

George Alfred Weller
299 Shrewsbury Road. b 1883.

Absolutist. Quaker.

Went to MST. He refused to accept their conditions. Was given 3 sentences of imprisonment with HL, served at Scrubs and Winchester. He was released in Mar 1919 on medical grounds, having served almost 2 yrs.