From the archive: Moving towards conscription

During the summer of 1915 the Friend reported on the growing resistance within the Religious Society of Friends to the threat of compulsory military service. Many Friends viewed the registration of adult males as a first step towards conscription.

Letter to the Friend

‘Do we not owe a… duty to our young men and those who are of enlistment age who are like-minded, in view of the insidious danger of forced labour and compulsory military service? The danger is creeping nearer, like a snake in the grass… One notes the persistent advocacy in influential quarters for the adoption of the principle of conscript service for the State. In event of any forcible attempt to mobilise the nation for war work, the Society, in my view, ought to let it be known that as members of the religious Society of Friends, we should not feel free to undertake such work.

Herbert Corder
The Friend
, 18 June 1915

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