Letters of a conscientious objector

Kate Macdonald writes about a fascinating correspondence

by Kate Macdonald 29th June 2018

On 4 November 1916 Frank Sunderland – a pacifist from Letchworth in Hertfordshire, north of London – was formally arrested for refusing to take up military service under the Military Service Act 1916. He was court-martialled as an absentee, classed as an ‘absolutist’ conscientious objector and on 15 November sentenced to six months’ hard labour at Wormwood Scrubs. He was given two extensions to his sentence and was released shortly after 14 April 1919.