Arthur Winterbottom - Military Tribunal Reports

Extract from longer report in Oldham Evening Chronicle July 4th 1916,
the rest is not concerned with Arthur Winterbottom

Several Oldham men appealed to the Oldham Tribunal on Monday afternoon for exemption from service on the ground that they hold a conscientious objection against war and against having connection with war.

Arthur Winterbottom (26 years), ledger clerk employed by the Manchester and County Bank Ltd., and living in Chamber-road, claimed absolute exemption from military service because he believed all war to be wrong and contrary to the highest religious and moral instincts of humanity. War was entirely opposed to the spirit and teaching of Christ and was against the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. Force was no remedy for evil.

He pointed out that his grandfather was a member of the Society of Friends and his father, although not a member of that society, had always been an ardent pacifist, so that the whole tendency of his bringing-up had been to give him a bias towards pacifism. His objection to non-combatant service was that he could not recognise any moral distinction between combatant and non-combatant service. The man who made the shell, the man who helped to convey it to the front and the man who fired it were all equally responsible for what followed by the use of the shell. As he was only skilled in his present occupation it was obvious that it would be a waste rather than a gain to the nation to put him to an occupation to which he was unskilled. He was unskilled in all the occupations recommended by the Pelham Committee. He considered that the work he was doing was of national importance.

Mention was made of the fact that the appellant is secretary of the men’s class held at the Queen-street Congregational Sunday School¹. A letter was read from Mr Ernest Lee, who wrote that he did not believe that there was a man in the class but believed, as he did, in the appellant’s bona-fides. He urged Mr Winterbottom to make some sacrifice and strongly advised him not to have anything to do with any organisation: he was hostile to organised conscience.

Councillor Frith put it to the appellant that banking companies were helping in the war. If the banks closed, so would the war. Appellant said that the banks were also helping to carry on the civil business of the country. If there was any application for war loan, or the like, the other clerks, out of sympathy, relieved him of the duty.

In reply to Councillor Schofield, he said that he was willing to do anything that the Government wished him to do unless it conflicted with his conscientious convictions.

One of the questions put to the appellants asked what sacrifices they had made for their principles. Appellant wrote in answer that, as the question had only recently become a burning one, and as they had imagined that the fight for liberty of conscience had been fought and won, he had had no opportunity of making sacrifices for the principles he held. But he offered to the tribunal that he was willing to be placed for the duration of the war in no better position financially than if he were a private in the army, and the remainder of the salary he got, after making allowance for his wife, could be given to charity. It did not look fair, he agreed, to other people, that he should, in any sense gain by the views he held, and therefore he was ready to make some material sacrifice.

The tribunal, as before, only exempted him the appellant from combatant service, not from non-combatant service.

¹ Present day Union Street Congregational Church was also known as Queen Street Congregational Church. It was built to replace an older building on Queen Street and stands at the corner of the two streets.

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Extract from a longer report in the Oldham Evening Chronicle July 27th 1916,
the rest is not concerned with Arthur Winterbottom

Appeals by Oldham and Failsworth men who decline military service on the grounds of a conscientious objection were heard before the Appeals Tribunal at Manchester on Wednesday.

Arthur Winterbottom (26) ledger clerk employed in the Failsworth branch of the Manchester and County Bank Ltd and living in Chamber-road. He is secretary in the men’s class held at Queen-street Sunday School.

The appeal of Arthur Winterbottom was first heard. When asked by the chairman what he proposed to do he said that he recognised that some sacrifice was expected, so he offered to be placed for the duration of the war in no better position financially than if he were a private soldier, the money deducted from his salary could go to charity.

Chairman: I don’t see how such a thing would be worked out.

Mr Winterbottom thought it would be fairly simple in working.

The chairman then pointed out that other sacrifices, as well as financial were being asked for. The man at home simply sat there and his comfort and security were being secured by the men who were risking their lives at the front. Besides, it might be that the stay-at-homes got promotion at their work as well.

Appellant replied that as a matter of fact his action had, he supposed, brought him into the bad books of the bank and would prejudice him afterwards. As to taking up work of national importance, he pointed out that he is efficient at his present work and no other.

A member of the Tribunal remarked that men were going to farming who knew nothing about it. One of them broke his leg by going over a ploughed field and came to the Tribunal to tell them about it.

Appellant was advised to go before the Medical Board at Ashton. If he was certified as only fit for home service the Tribunal would be inclined to leave him in the bank. The hearing was accordingly adjourned for 14 days.

He had been medically examined by his own doctor and said that he would not care to go before a medical board. Exemption would be granted in that case on grounds other than those on which he claimed.

Judge Mellor expressed himself as getting out of patience with these crotchets of the conscientious objectors. The Tribunal was doing its best for them and they kept bringing up these objections.

Winterbottom: If rejected I shall not be exempted on the conscience claim.

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Extract from longer report in Oldham Evening Chronicle August 12th 1916,
the rest is not concerned with Arthur Winterbottom

Several Oldham men, conscientious objectors, who had been ordered by the Appeals Tribunal at Manchester to find work of national importance came before the Tribunal again on Wednesday.

Arthur Winterbottom (26 years) ledger clerk in the Failsworth branch of the Manchester and County Bank and living in Chamber-road, Oldham.

The case of Arthur Winterbottom gave the Tribunal rather more trouble. The difficulty was that he had been medically examined and was found not to be fit for hard physical work, The question therefore was whether or no he should be left at his employment as a bank clerk. He said that he was willing to make the financial sacrifice he had proposed at the previous hearing of his appeal that he was willing to be put on the same financial funding as a private soldier and the difference could go to charity.

Mr Keane: But your sacrifice would require a clerk to keep up with you.

Sir James Jones remarked that it was of no use sending the appellant on a farm for he could not do the work. Perhaps he might get a place as a clerk in a railway or canal office. He must leave his present appointment.

The chairman suggested to Winterbottom that he should go to the Labour Exchange and the hearing was adjourned for 14 days so that he might get work in the interval.

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Contributed by Dorothy Bintley