The stone on International Conscientious Objectors Day 2016. Photo: David Pybus.
The Conscientious Objectors Stone
Edna Mathieson tells the story of a significant rock
On Sunday 15 May a group of people gathered together in Tavistock Square, near Friends House in London, to commemorate International Conscientious Objectors Day. At the heart of this annual event is a piece of rock that has become an important focus for the witness of those who believe in the right to conscientious objection to war. The idea of having a stone dedicated to conscientious objectors to war began with an almost chance remark at the secular funeral of my uncle in 1976. He had been imprisoned in 1916 as a political rather than a religious objector (the latter tended to be treated marginally better than the former). He experienced the usual insults, ostracism, physical and verbal violence accorded conscientious objectors (COs) and their families.
