On Saturday 19th March, over 170 researchers, community activist groups, and members of the public were brought together to discuss and explore national and local aspects of conscientious objection and resistance to the First World War at Leeds City Museum. The day included fascinating panels on women and feminist resistance, international perspectives on resisting war and Empire, and the latest research on conscientious objectors in the UK. The plenary panel included papers from Cyril Pearce, Lois Bibbings, Julian Putkowski and Martin Crick, who presented their work on the different experiences and representations of conscientious objectors, resistance within the army and the Socialist response to war. Cyril Pearce also exhibited his latest research and additions to his database, which maps conscientious objectors (COs) and hotspots of war resistance in the UK. Chloe Mason and Nick Hiley shared their campaign to clear the names of the Wheeldon family when Chloe Mason’s great grandmother, Alice Wheeldon and her relatives, were wrongly imprisoned when they were framed for conspiring to murder Prime Minster Lloyd George in a shocking miscarriage of justice.
In between these captivating panels, there were excellent stalls and displays from local history groups from all over the UK, and peace activists. This included groups such as the Peace Pledge Union and CND, who exhibited on recent discoveries of local war resistance by community history groups. There were also stalls reflecting on war resistance today as well as a number of cultural interpretations of opposition to the First World War through poetry and print. Amongst this were representatives from Surrey, who put together an excellent display on their volunteer researchers groups and their findings; the National Railway Museum, who exhibited some of their research into the ambulance trains staffed by COs from the Friends Ambulance Unit, and stalls from Leeds and York Quaker groups researching Quaker men and women who had been active opponents of the war. The day was wrapped up with a film screening of Watford’s Quiet Heroes, a documentary by Watford Quakers on COs, which was followed by a Q&A, and a wonderful performance by storyteller Simon Heywood, which drew together different first-hand accounts by conscientious objectors to highlight forgotten voices from the First World War.
