George William Taylor
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 …
… A well known member of the Oldham Society of Friends - Mr George W Taylor - who lives at 71 Green-street, Middleton, objected to all forms of military service, direct or auxiliary. His objection was based on deep religious convictions and he regarded war, for whatever purpose, as contrary to Christian teaching. War disregarded the sanctity of human life, it denied the common fatherhood of God and the consequent universal brotherhood of man, it involved absolute negation of the most primitive and central Christian doctrine of universal life and, by its appeal to violence, precluded any settlement on the basis of justice. "All good things can be worked out by good means. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but spiritual."
In answer to the Mayor, Mr Taylor said that he had preached that war was wrong and his convictions had grown stronger as he grew older.
The Mayor: Have you any objection to taking part in any of the country's needs?
- I am willing to uphold my country in what I believe is right but I believe that by taking any part in war, I am doing not only a disservice to my country but also to humanity.
Do you think it would be a disservice to prevent Germans landing in this country and doing the same as in Belgium?
- They would not have done anything in Belgium …
The Mayor (interrupting): They have done it and there is no other reason for it.
Mr Taylor (continuing): … if it had not been the custom of nations to draw up agreements to settle international disputes by violence.
The Mayor: Exactly, I agree with you, but as long as it is so, people have to take up an attitude towards it. Would you prefer being shot to taking part in any war?
- I would.
Mr Ashworth: I understand you prefer to serve your country in another form than taking part in the war. You object to taking life but do not object to saving life?
- Saving life in the war would be very much on a par with my helping a fireman to put out a fire while he went lighting another. Mr Tennant had stated in the House of Commons that conscientious objector are to be put on non-combatant duties. That is simply relieving men from these duties and putting them into the firing line.
Mr Taylor, in answer to other questions, said he was chief clerk and accountant to Messrs Jos Chadwick and Sons' paper bag works, Oldham.
The Mayor: Are they doing anything for the war?
- No.
Mr Ashworth: In which way are you willing to serve your country?
- One way in which I am serving my country now is as a member of the Oldham Workers' Educational Association. I am trying to keep a certain amount of education going among the working people and also devoting my Sundays to religious work and, as I think, helping people to maintain a sound view of things.
The Mayor: Are you taking any steps to prevent other men from taking part in military service?
- That is an offence against the Defence of the Realm Act.
I asked you a question. I am not here to be questioned by you.
- It is a standard principle of English law that a man is not bound to give evidence against himself.
Quite true.
- The people I come in contact with mostly are not those people who are eligible for military service.
Is it a fact that you have been chief adviser to many of the conscientious objectors in Middleton?
- No.
Is it a fact that you have assisted in answering for those who have come before the Tribunal today?
- I do not know that I have.
You won't deny it then?
- I have spoken to them but I can say the answers given are not my answers.
Are you connected with any organisation that has for its objective the assisting of conscientious objectors?
- I am connected with the No-Conscription Fellowship.
Mr Ashworth: Can you show us some proof that before the war you actively held these views?
- I have been, for some years, the correspondent for Oldham for Friends' Peace Day. I have also helped to distribute literature.
Have you taken any part in propaganda work?
_ I have not come before the public much. My work has been more of a private kind. I have taught in Sunday school and taught my class that war is wrong.
A good many teachers in Sunday schools are taking part in the war.
Councillor Monk: Are you teaching now on the same lines as you did before the war?
- Not as much because many of the boys I teach have fathers or relatives engaged in the war and I did not feel it right to say anything which would indicate to the children that I thought their fathers were doing wrong.
Mr Ashworth: You object to this war only?
- I object to all war, whether we or anyone else wage it. I have never believed that war was right but my views became much stronger at the time of the Boer War.
Mr Ashworth: Supposing your firm were engaged on war work, what would be your attitude then?
- I should resign my position at once. I should be prepared to sacrifice everything because I feel so strongly on it.
Is it against your conscience to nurse wounded soldiers, for instance?
- I have already answered that. By taking part in that kind of work, I should be releasing a man already engaged in that work to aid in fighting.
Do you go about addressing people at all?
- No.
Would you be prepared to go and speak to the wounded or anything of that sort?
- Well, if I felt a call for that, I should do so, I should have no objection but, holding the views I do, I scarcely see what message I should have for them.
The Mayor: I quite agree.
Mr Ashworth: You would then be helping the wounded to get better by cheering them up and so on.
Mr Taylor here mentioned that many people were against prize-fighting between, say, Jack Johnson and a white man and those people refused to go in the ring but if they saw them outside in a damaged condition no doubt they would be quite willing to help them. In the same way, whatever he did, he would have to feel at the moment that he was doing right.
The Mayor mentioned that Mr Rowntree never asked in the House of Commons for no work at all to be given to the Friends.
Mr Taylor: I don't think he went as far as I do.
The Mayor: It was his speech in the House of Commons that got this cause put into the Bill.
- I am not responsible for Mr Rowntree's feelings.
The members of the Tribunal then retired to consider the case and after about ten minutes they returned and the Mayor said they had decided to exempt him from combatant duties only.
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The Oldham Standard report on this first Tribunal 23 March 1916 is similar and also states:
He was under secretary for the Friends' Institute and Accountant cashier for Messrs Chadwick and Sons, Paper Bag Manufactures of Oldham
Before the War he was Oldham Correspondent for the Friends' Peace Committee
He had distributed circulars on peace to minsters of religion in Oldham on behalf of the Oldham Friends' Meeting House.
He had been an active pacifist since the South African War.
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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 …
… George William Taylor, a member of the Society of Friends, also objected to service, combatant or non-combatant, for conscience sake. He is by occupation an accountant and confidential clerk. His objection, he wrote, was based on a deep religious conviction. He also objected to the decision of the local tribunal because before the hearing of his appeal had really got started he heard the chairman suggest to his colleagues NCC (meaning non-combatant service). The comment of the local tribunal on his appeal to the Appeals Tribunal was that they considered he ought to be engaged on some work of national importance.
Mr Taylor now said that he had been brought up all his life in the belief that war is wrong. He could not take any part in war without losing that faith. He believed that the teaching of Christ was that they should believe that everything good could be obtained by right means. War is an evil and, whatever might appear on the surface, he believed that war, being evil, is an absolutely wrong way to obtain that which is desirable in itself. That being so, he could not undertake any duty whatever in connection with military service. Nor could he accept non-combatant service as a compromise. "My conscience is such," he said, "that I feel I cannot compromise on this matter."
Mr William Taylor: May I support the appeal as his father?
Chairman: He has put forward his own case very ably.
Mr Taylor mentioned that his son was in the seventh generation in unbroken succession members of the Society of Friends.
The appellant mentioned briefly the part he had taken in religious work in Oldham. He felt that the religious work he was engaged in was the most important work he could do at present.
The chairman, stating the decision of the tribunal, said that they could not accept the fact that the appellant was working as accountant and confidential clerk as showing that he was engaged in work of national important [sic]. The application was adjourned until June 30th in order that he might satisfy them he had got engaged in some work of that description in the meantime.
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Salford Appeal Tribunal 30 June 1916
Reported 'The Friend' 14 July 1916
[A weekly Quaker magazine published in London]
G W Taylor (Oldham P M*) The Chairman (Sir William Cobbett) read G W T's statement of appeal and said that the case had been adjourned "in order that the appellant might satisfy the Tribunal that he had obtained work of national importance." The applicant said he had carefully considered the point but felt that he could not accept anything.
Chairman: You are not prepared to do any work of national importance?
G W T: "Not of so-called national importance, I consider that I am of most use to the nation where I am."
The Chairman then asked whether G W T had been before the Medical Board for examination and, on receiving a negative reply, the Tribunal dismissed the appeal against E C S [exempt from combatant service] only, which had been given by the Local Tribunal.
* A now obsolete term for a local community of Friends within a Monthly Meeting who gather regularly in meeting for worship.
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['The Friend' occasionally published extracts of letters from Quaker Conscientious Objectors.]
The Friend 1 September 1916
Letter from Kinmel Park
G W Taylor writes on August 16th:
I was court-martialled on Monday, sentence pronounced today - one year hard labour. I presume this will be commuted in the usual way.
We keep having fresh arrivals here. There are eighteen of us at present. We have had a number here after serving their sentence at Wormwood Scrubs. They have been released on furlough, except one who told the Tribunal that he would not accept alternative service. There is a decided tendency among us at attempts at poetry. I may say that we have no complaints as to our treatment; there is absolutely no persecution or harshness.
The Friend 3 November 1916
George W Taylor (Oldham P M) writes from Walton Gaol, Liverpool:
We were taken up to Wormwood Scrubs the week I arrived [at Walton Gaol]. My interview with the Tribunal was very short; as son as I said I was a born Friend, they said they need not trouble me further. A week after I was given the option of signing the Government Scheme; as you will expect, I refused. Those who signed have since gone out in batches. We who have refused have been officially informed that we are to serve our sentence, and then be sent back to our regiment, but that at any time during our present sentence we may accept the scheme.
Those of us who are in prison can do nothing at present but wait, but I trust we shall make it our business to see that all this un-Christian method of dealing with international affairs is finally abolished during our own lifetime, and not look upon it as something which shall be at the millennium. The struggle for personal freedom is but the beginning and means to this end.
The Friend 13 April 1917
Extract from letter from G W Taylor (Oldham P M) in Wandsworth C P:
I realise that the 'passive' service we are rendering may have far greater results than much of our former 'active' work.
I imagine that the Conference of Friends after the war will lead to very far-reaching results, if they are willing to go deep enough into the subject and 'seek the truth whatever it may be, and to follow it wherever it leads.' We have now got beyond the stage of bearing testimony and must seek 'to turn to facts our dreams of good.' On the connection of war with our lives and the roots underlying the evils which foster the conditions which lead to war, we need to realise that if possession is nine points of the law, it has no part in our moral right, it has no part in our moral right, whether it be the possession of land, wealth, or the power to obtain advantage over our fellows.
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Middleton Tribunal 15 April 1918
Reported Oldham Chronicle 20 April 1918
Quaker and Tribunal Chairman
At the sitting of the Middleton Tribunal on Monday evening, a discussion took place on G W Taylor, a well-known member of the Oldham Society of Friends, now undergoing his fourth term of imprisonment for non-compliance with military orders.
The Mayor read a letter signed George William Taylor p.p. W.T.* in reply to remarks made by him (the Mayor) when Taylor's case was last before the Tribunal.
The writer said: "Instead of performing the judicial function vested in him under the Act and regulation (it is to grant such exemptions as the claimants are entitled to), your chairman has assumed the function of the military representative, whose duty is distinctly that of resisting applications. Surely the discretionary powers reposed in you are intended to be used in a judicial and not arbitrary manner.
Tribunals were set up for the purpose of protecting the individual, not as the tools of the military. I find your chairman is reported as saying: "We knew we had the right to give absolute exemption and deliberately decided not to." In answer to your query I attempted to explain clearly why I was unable to take up work which is termed work of national importance and I do not intend to repeat that explanation here. I would point out, however, that the question is not whether I am prepared now and always to render to the State and my fellow man the best service according to my ability and opportunity, but whether I was prepared to enter an agreement to leave the occupation, for which 16 years' experience had fitted me, to take up work for which I should certainly be less fitted, if not absolutely unsuitable. My reply was that, in my opinion, the best service I could render to the State was to remain where I was …
Your chairman begs the question in assuming that "the advantages of the country in which we wish to participate are the result of war" and those who refuse to enter into a compact with militarism do nothing for it, as I can confidently say this: I have never sought to gain personal advantage by the injury to another, so I refuse to seek national gain by the wholesale slaughter of men."
Mr Ashworth said that the only point was whether, when they reviewed Taylor's case, they knew they could give him absolute exemption.
Mr Clark: We have clearly said that we were under the impression that we could not give this man exemption.
Mr Ashworth said he wanted to be clear on the point. If they were under the impression, at the time they gave the decision, that they could not give him absolute exemption, then they had power to review it, provided there was any ground at all.
The Mayor pointed out that the man appealed against the decision of the Tribunal to the Appeals Tribunal, who gave the decision under which he now stood. He went to London over it. Months before receiving the letters they had a circular from the Local Government Board asking if the conscientious objectors were refused exemption because the Tribunal thought they had no power and their reply was that they knew they had the power, always.
Alderman Bentley: It seems to me he is quite willing to suffer. What he says is he does not like the way you talk about it.
The Mayor: I beg your pardon. He is in Strangeways Gaol, wanting to come out.
Alderman Bentley: He does not want to come out. He says he has every consideration.
The Mayor: Except from the Chairman of the Tribunal. The Mayor added that if the man had done what hundreds of his sect had done and said they were prepared to do other work, it would have been different. He heard Mr Rowntree make the appeal to Mr Asquith that they did not want Quakers to be made to fight. Immediately war broke out, hundreds of Quakers went to France to do work. He was not a man to be considered for absolute exemption at all.
Mr Ashworth: We have given absolute exemption on physical and mental grounds. This man is spiritually unfit for military service of any kind.
The Mayor: I don't believe any man is spiritually unfit for military service.
Councillor Monk agreed with Mr Ashworth.
In further discussion the Mayor said the decision was made by the Appeals Tribunal and it was impossible for that Tribunal to override them.
[*William Taylor, father of George William.]
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Letter from William Taylor held in the Archives of Friends' House, Euston Road, London
71 Green Street
Middleton nr Manchester
25 April 1918
Dear Friend
Marjory Newbold
I now write after having the opportunity of conferring with my daughter who visited my son whilst at Oswestry on his return to Camp there. I herewith send particulars of my son's imprisonment and state of health giving it as fully and yet as concisely as I can.
He was arrested over 20 months ago.
Beyond considerable loss in weight his health did not seriously suffer until the spring of 1917 when he had an attack of influenza in Wandsworth Prison.
Lack of medical care brought on serious heart trouble and much weakness.
At the end of his sentence in May 1917 he found that his loss in weight since his arrest was 38 pounds.
He returned to the camp at Kinmel Park, Abergele and the next day the Company to which he was attached was transferred to Gobowen nr. Oswetry. There has been no provision to receive them and at first they had to sleep on the ground without bed boards.
The Court Martial necessitated a walk of 12 miles being a double journey owing to the adjournment of the Court till afternoon, which was far too much for him in his weak condition. He was returned to prison at Shrewsbury certified as unfit for hard labour.
His weakness continued to increase and culminated in a second attack of influenza 5 weeks before the expiration of his sentence on the 23rd of last month. During these 5 weeks he received every care and hospital treatment with better and more ample food with, as might be expected, beneficial effects.
The doctor at Shrewsbury Prison was confident that my son would be sent home at the expiration of his sentence but as yet no communication has been received from the Home Office and he is in consequence after his 4th Court Martial at present in Strangeways Prison in Manchester sentenced to 2 years hard labour with the proviso that hard labour shall not begin until he is fit for it.
Your friend sincerely
Wm Taylor
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'The Friend' listed names of Friends and Attenders who were in prison
These are the entries for George W Taylor.
[The dates are those of publication, so they postdate the event]
8 September 1916 Kinmel Park (1 year hard labour)
6 October 1916 Walton C P [Civil Prison] (1 year hard labour)
1 December 1916 Wormwood Scrubs C P
5 January 1917 Wormwood Scrubs C P
2 February 1917 Wormwood Scrubs C P (2nd sentence)
16 February 1917 Wandsworth C P
16 March 1917 Wandsworth C P
18 May 1917 Wandsworth C P
1 June 1917 Kinmel Park (3rd sentence)
15 June 1917 Shrewsbury C P
3 August 1917 Wandsworth C P
14 September 1917 Shrewsbury C P
26 October 1917 Shrewsbury C P
25 January 1918 Shrewsbury C P
19 April 1918 Park Hall Camp, Oswestry (4th sentence)
26 April 1918 Liverpool C P
3 May 1918 Manchester C P
28 June 1918 Released from Manchester C P on medical grounds
26 July 1918 Relegated to the Army Reserve
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The following letter is among the WO 363 records for George William Taylor
Home Office
Whitehall
25th March 1918
Pressing
Sir
I am directed by the Secretary of State to acquaint you for the information of the Army Council, that prisoner George William Taylor, No 2342, 3rd Western Company, Non-Combatant Corps, whose sentence of 12 months imprisonment passed at a District Court Martial held at Oswestry on the 23rd May last for disobedience to a lawful command expired in the ordinary course on the 23rd instant, has recently been ill and that the question of his discharge on grounds of health in accordance with the arrangement made with Lord Derby would have been considered but for the fact that he was in any case due for discharge last Saturday. The Medical Officer of His Majesty's Prison at Shrewsbury considered the prisoner unfit for Military Service.
I am, Sir,
Your obedient Servant
(Sd) H B Simpson
[The letter is rubber-stamped Infantry Record Office Warwick 4 April 1918]
The WO 363 records for George William Taylor further show:
4 August 1916 Enlisted at Bury into 4th Western Non Combatant Corps. Service number 2342. Posted to Kinmel Pak
5 August 1916 In Guardroom awaiting trial
14 August 1916 Court Martial, sentenced to 1 year with hard labour
21 August 1916 Sent to Liverpool Prison
18 October 1916 Sentence mitigated to 112 days.
16 November 1916 Returned to duty
17 November 1916 In Guardroom awaiting trial
24 November 1916 Court Martial, sentenced to 2 years with hard labour
30 November 1916 Sent to Wormwood Scrubs
28 April 1917 Unexpired portion of sentence remitted
8 May 1917 Released from Wandsworth Prison and reported for duty at Kinmel Park
15 May 1917 In Guard detention for disobeying an order. Court Martial, sentenced to 2 years with hard labour.
Sent to Shrewsbury Prison
10 June 1917 Sentence mitigated to 1 year with hard labour
23 March 1918 Released from Shrewsbury Prison and reported for duty, Park Camp, Oswestry
25 March 1918 In Guard detention awaiting trial
28 March 1918 Court Martial for disobedience of orders. But to be imprisonment without hard labour until fit for imprisonment with hard labour
3 April 1918 Sent to Manchester Prison
6 June 1918 Released from Manchester Prison
Transferred to Army Reserve
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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
Born Macclesfield 1877
Died Warrington, 20 November 1931
Buried Quaker Ground, Heyside, Oldham
1911 census
71 Green Street, Middleton
Single with parents
Occ. Accountant, paper bag manufacturers
1939 register
Deceased
Contributed by Dorothy Bintley
