Prompted by conscience
Esme Weeks writes about her experience with a project group led by the history department at The Mount School in York
The project group worked with the key question: ‘Do conscientious objectors in world war one matter?’ Using this question they have explored the historical significance of conscientious objectors and other war resisters and learnt about how other students across Europe regard the significance of people who stood out for peace between 1914-18.
They presented this work as part of a panel at the eighty-third Anglo-American conference of historians, held in London in July.
My opinion on conscientious objectors (COs) is, actually, unchanged by the project. I still regard them as people who should be admired. The project has deepened my understanding and admiration. My previous knowledge was that COs objected to war for a variety of reasons, were allowed to object, but were humiliated. I now understand that there was great diversity among the over 17,000 people who objected to the war in Britain; both in terms of their backgrounds and motivations for objecting, as well as their experiences of being a CO.
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