Meeting for Sufferings: Record of all Friends who died in the first world war
A record of all Quakers who died during the first world - combatants, conscientious objectors, FAU and FWRC members, and civilians - will be created at Friends House
Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) has committed itself to creating a record of Quakers who died in the first world war, after rousing ministry at Meeting for Sufferings on 2 February. The record of the, at least, 265 Friends who died in the war will be kept at Friends House, London. It will include many who served within the military establishment.
The decision was reached after Friends considered three minutes sent in response to a minute sent to Meeting for Sufferings from Mid-Wales Area Meeting (AM) last July supporting a concern that Quakers could do more to recognise the different ways that Friends were involved in world war one.
Meeting for Sufferings did not make any particular commitment as ‘a variety of views were expressed at the time’.
On the issue of combatants who died in the war, one Friend said: ‘It seems to me we have sought to keep these people invisible. This is not about elevating any one group against the other. It’s about having a level playing field.’
He said that, as Quakers, ‘we talk about the Friends’ Ambulance Unit [FAU] and Friends War Victims Relief Committee [FWVRC], but not Friends who enlisted, and certainly not those who died. Part of the difficulty is the public discourse we’ve created about the Peace Testimony… I think we’ve corrupted our own Peace Testimony because it has communicated to the world we are pacifists… we may or may not be. We need to reconsider our history and remove a cloud of invisibility around our own history.’
The Friend cited figures from research from Quaker Gethin Evans that Quaker deaths in world war one consisted of at least 216 combatants, sixteen conscientious objectors, thirty-three FAU and FWVRC members, and two civilians.
One Friend said: ‘For me, it’s a big difference between having an accurate record that people can access and a book of remembrance and I wonder if that is an important distinction.’
Another Friend pointed out that Friends who had enlisted at the time were ‘acting out of their own integrity’ which they paid a price for and must have put them into conflict with other Quakers. He said: ‘All credit to them for their courage and following their conscience.’
One Friend cautioned that, while it was important to remember all of them, ‘we shouldn’t blanket out what they did – we don’t know if they killed anyone or not’.
The session followed minutes sent by Lincolnshire AM and Meeting of Friends in Wales, which urged all Friends to be remembered, including combatants, and included in a book of remembrance. Hampshire and Islands AM supported ‘the creation of an index of those who died’, but not a formal book of remembrance.
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