Eye - 16 September 2016

From conscientious objection to Sunday sailing

by Eye 16th September 2016

We will not fight

A five-scene play that tells the story of conscientious objector John Hubert (‘Bert’) Brocklesby during the first world war has been made available on YouTube.

Bert, who became a Quaker later in life, was a lay Methodist preacher and passionate in his opposition to war. He was one of a group of British pacifists sentenced to be shot as deserters in the spring of 1916, a sentence which was commuted to ten years penal servitude.