Imperial War Museum launches world’s most comprehensive archive on 16,500 British pacifists who refused to serve in Great War, often at huge personal cost. First world war records have now been placed online by the Imperial War Museum (IWM) to mark Conscientious Objectors Day, along with those of 16,500 others who refused to serve. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/15/poignant-stories-of-first-world-wars-conscientious-objectors-go-online
Whilst making this database accessible is to be welcomed, it is unfortunate that in their press release the IWM, followed without question by the Guardian, have created confusion. The group photo of conscientous objectors is not of them in prison, but at Wakefield Work Centre, converted from a prison by taking locks off the cell doors, allowing them to wear plain clothes, not a prison uniform, and allowing them out in the evenings and on Sundays. Conditions were still harsh, but the public understanding is not helped by misleading captions. Also, James Millward could not have written home in the winter of 1916 saying that he was off to Dartmoor the next day, as Princetown Work Centre, similarly converted from Dartmoor Prison, was not opened until March 1917. His letter must have been written in spring 1917.
