Wilfred Kenyon
Middleton Tribunal 23 March 1916
Reported Oldham Chronicle 24 March 1916
The first conscientious objectors to appear before the Middleton Recruiting Tribunal attended the sitting on Thursday … In each case notice of appeal was given …
… Wilfred Kenyon, 17 Moreton-street, Middleton, was against all form of military service. He believed in the fatherhood of God and this was separate from the brotherhood of man. Jesus Christ was sent to us as a pattern life from which to establish that brotherhood. The teachings of Christ were practical for individual life and therefore must be practised for national life and war was only possible when we ignored His teaching. He could not take any part directly or indirectly in the war. He had held those views ever since he was able to reason for himself.
The Mayor: They are not of mushroom growth caused by the Military Service Act then?
- No.
We do not ask soldiers to go to fight and to show hatred and bitterness to anyone. Are we to understand that you would not fight in self-defence?
- That is in a different thing to war.
This war is one of self-defence on our part.
- I am a resister to any war at all.
Would you be prepared to fight in self-defence?
- No.
You would not ask a policeman to protect you, would you?
- No, I trust to God.
You do so absolutely?
- Yes.
Do you look about you when you cross the street? God gave you brains to think with and a will and your trust in God is not absolute and blind, I presume?
- No, but I cannot imagine Jesus Christ dressed in khaki.
You are not going to place yourself in the position of Christ, are you?
- I am one of his followers and I have always been taught to believe in Him.
Belief in Christ prevents you from fighting for your country?
- Yes.
All Christians that go to war, then, are hypocrites?
- I cannot speak for others.
You will not fight under any circumstances?
- No, nor assist anyone to do so.
You would not defend anyone?
- I would defend them with my body but would not take life at all.
Applicant said he was a packer at the Albany Mill.
Alderman Wood: Don't you think every man has a responsibility?
- To some extent he has but I object to war in any way.
The Mayor: So does everyone else.
Alderman Wood: To my mind a conscientious objector cannot live in this world. He ought to begin and object to being born.
- I cannot help being born at all.
The Mayor: You have no objection to living?
- If I wanted to starve, someone would feed me.
Yes, he would be the Good Samaritan Christ held up as an example. On what part of Christ's teaching do you base your claim for non-combatant duty?
- Christ would not go about in warfare.
Do you mean it is against Christ's teaching to help a man to recover? Did not Jesus Christ say render unto Caesar what is Caesar's?
- Yes but he also said render unto God the things that are God's.
The Mayor: That is proof He recognised there was some power in the State.
Applicant said he was a Congregationalist.
Mr Ashworth: Are you willing to render any service at all?
- I am doing that now.
The Mayor: What, at cop packing?
- Yes, I cannot take part in anything for war purposes. He added that the Church was not Christian at the present time.
The Mayor: That adds real assumption and presumption on your part.
Councillor Clegg: If you were informed that the cops that you were packing were going to be eventually used for the making of khaki, what would be your position then?
- I was at the mill before the war started.
That is not the point.
- Well, I don't know where the cops are going.
The Mayor: That does not matter. You do not know whether you would kill anyone if you went in the army.
- I should be sent out with that intention.
He was exempted from combatant service.
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Manchester Appeals Tribunal 17 April 1916
Reported Oldham Chronicle 21 April 1916
Men from Royton and Middleton who desired exemption from military service, came before a section of the Appeals tribunal at Manchester on Monday to appeal against the decisions of the Royton Tribunal and the Middleton Tribunal sending them to service either with the army or in some non-combatant branch …
… Wilfred Kenyon, by occupation a cop packer, objected on conscientious grounds to going on service. All war was wrong, he wrote. The comment of the Middleton Tribunal on the hearing there was that the members were not satisfied that he had a genuine conscientious objection.
Kenyon: Why should they grant me non-combatant service if I hadn't a conscientious objection?
Chairman: That is not a question I feel bound to answer at all.
Kenyon: I have a conscientious objection to all war because I believe in the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man.
His appeal was dismissed and the decision of the local tribunal affirmed; non-combatant service.
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The WO 363 records for Wilfred Kenyon survive (held at The National Archives, available online via Find My Past):
24 March 1916 Enlisted at Middleton 1-4 Western Company Non-combatant Corps Service number 1147
23 May 1916 Court Martial at Kinmel Camp - 2 years with hard labour at Liverpool Prison.
23 September 1916 Released from prison, accepted work under the Home Office Scheme
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He has an entry on the Pearce List HERE.
The Pearce List of over 17500 WW1 Conscientious Objectors can be found on the Imperial War Museum's website HERE.
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Born Middleton, 27 March 1890
Died Middleton, 25 April 1962
1911 census
17 Morton Street, Middleton
Single with parents (only child)
Occ: Cotton cop packer
1939 register
11 Jubilee Road, Middleton
With wife Sarah, son and widowed father
Occ: Steel and non ferrous worker.
Contributed by Dorothy Bintley
