From the archive: The war and children

Janet Scott continues her series of extracts from the Friend published during the first world war. In this selection she considers the impact of war on children.

At the Yearly Meeting in 1916 two sessions were devoted to children and one to education. The edition of the Friend on 2 June contained extensive reports on Yearly Meeting and on these sessions. Maurice Whitlow highlighted the fact that, initially, children had made an amazing contribution to the ‘war effort’.

School prizes were surrendered, hundreds of thousands of glass bottles collected, scores of tons of old newspapers harvested, and enough woollen mufflers knitted to warm half-a-dozen army corps. But the reaction was inevitable. The headmaster of a notable grammar school wrote, in reference to a serious drop in the standard of school discipline, “another contributory cause may have been the injudicious appeals to boys’ sentiment… We sent considerable sums to various war charities, but it would have been pleasant to find that there was no less zeal in performing ‘the trivial round, the common task.’”

…On the Religious and Moral side the spirit of self-sacrifice, a sense of responsibility, an acceptance of inconvenience, and a desire to serve had been expressed; while on the other side were seen bitterness against enemies (much lessened during the past eight months); an unsettled state of mind, rising from a desire to do something that can be seen and an impatience with mere study when compared with khaki or red-cross work; a sense of unfairness somewhere, prices of food rising, privileged people staying at home, poorer people sent off to the war, &c.; and a loss of discipline, owing to unwonted prosperity and the relaxation of home restrictions.

One head teacher at Yearly Meeting is quoted as saying: ‘I cannot but feel that this war, which seems but a pitiless mockery of nearly every ideal the school stands for, must already have troubled their growing sense of the significance of justice and kindliness in human affairs.’ Another teacher wrote: ‘Militarism has emphatically made a deep impression on all young minds.’ Maurice Whitlow also noted the economic effects of the war on children:

…The widespread exploitation of Child Labour, on one side, Child sweating (in one midland town 70 girls and 100 boys under 10 years of age were licensed street traders), and on the other, the dangerous fact that boys of from 14 to 17 were earning men’s wages, and were therefore in a state of economic independence without the experience necessary to use it wisely.

In another session, Geraldine S Cadbury spoke of the effect of the war on juvenile crime.

[In Birmingham] there was a considerable increase in the number of juvenile offenders. Among the offences were many grave ones, including some which they did not like to mention in connection with children, such, for instance, as attempted suicide. There had also been a large increase in the number of children charged with non-attendance at school, and there was an increase in lawlessness among children generally. For this there were many causes which must be faced. The first was the absence of the fathers in the army, and the second the fact that in many places the mothers were engaged on State work, though, if they were mothers of children, their great work, she considered, was home. There was also the general growth of unrest, and in the schools which had been doing exceptionally good work, owing to the reduced staffs they found the classes larger than ever, and the remaining teachers faced with an impossible task. The work and wages of children were another cause of offences.

Summer Quarterly Meetings took up this subject and there were interesting reflections published in the Friend on 28 July. In Bedfordshire, Friends ‘were reminded that the future of this nation is bound up with the right all-round equipment of our boys and girls, so that they may be able, in days to come, to avoid some of the terrible mistakes which this generation has made’. Bristol and Somerset thought that ‘Young Friends might be encouraged to become teachers in elementary schools’.

In Durham, Charles J R Tipper pointed out that:

…in some quarters, there was a great desire to remove children from school at an early age in order that they might become wage earners; an increasing lack of proper discipline in schools owing to so many teachers having been absorbed by the army and a tendency to want of modesty on the part of young girls was also manifest. On the other hand, the sight of wounded soldiers returned from the war, and the appeals for help, have awakened much sympathy among children and induced an admirable spirit of unselfishness. There was, however, a danger that, after the war, education would be allowed to fall into the background, to the permanent injury of the growing generation; and the speaker expressed the hope that those who were interested in educational work would see to it that, if possible, it should be made more, and not less, efficient.

Education debate

The Friend, on 21 July, reported a debate in the House of Lords where viscount Richard Haldane quoted ‘appalling’ figures in regard to ‘our waste of talent’, owing to the denial of the opportunity of development and training. On ‘high authority’ he stated that in England:

…out of 2,750,000 boys and girls between the ages of 12 and 16, only 1,100,000 received any further school education after 13. Of these, only 250,000 go to proper secondary schools, where in most cases they remain for but a very short period. Between the ages of 16 and 25 there are in England and Wales 5,350,000 who get no education at all; only 93,000 have a full-time course, for a period which is generally very short; and 390,000 have a part-time course in evening schools. In England only 18,000 young men and women enter our university institutions annually.

Friends boarding schools

The Yearly Meeting had noticed the effect of war on the Friends’ schools. Charles E Stansfield pointed out, in the issue of 2 June, that at both Bootham and Leighton Park there were:

…half-a-dozen boys who would be 18 before the end of the present term. As to old boys who had joined the army, fifty Old Boothamites and Sidcotians (Friends) had done so, and no doubt other schools would show similar results, while large numbers of old scholars were serving in the FAU and with the War Victims’ work.

At Axbridge J Quartus Smith, head prefect of Sidcot School and a birthright member, was asked during a long period of questioning: ‘You are prepared… to obey the regulations of the Society of Friends… but not the laws of England?’ The Friend of 25 August printed his reply: ‘The regulations of the Society of Friends
 do not offend my conscience, whereas some of the laws of England do.’ He was given six months’ exemption so as to complete the school year, attend a training camp and join the FAU.

School reports

J Quartus Smith, who was also the boys service corps adjutantat at Sidcot, reported on 11 August:

644 hours of work on farms and gardens, which had earned £8 1s at 3d per hour… The corps voted a guinea towards the cricket materials which had been sent by the school to the No. 17 Ambulance Train, and £7 to the Polish Victims’ Relief Fund.

The girls had earned £3 from gardening, which they contributed towards a country holiday for little town girls.

The Leightonian has news of old scholars and contains ‘a record of a curious botanical find by a member of the Friends’ Ambulance Unit who among other orchids has discovered a “Twag Blade” and a “Scented Soldier”!’

A story of peacemaking

The Friend on 4 August reported that in The Friends’ Quarterly Examiner: ‘L Violet Hodgkin contributes a charming story for children under the title of “Fierce Feathers.” We hope this may some day find a place in a collection of Quaker stories, for which there should be an opening.’

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