Muirhead, Douglas Cogill: Ironmonger’s Assistant; 40, Oxford Road, Ealing, London W.
Excerpts from Central Military Service Tribunal and Middlesex Appeal Tribunal: Minutes and
Papers, Case Number: M214. (National
Archives http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/)
NOTICE OF APPEAL TO CENTRAL TRIBUNAL. Filled in by Applicant in duplicate, by hand.
(2) Grounds
on which appeal made: The
case has not been impartially & fully investigated by the Local Tribal
.& although am absolutely sincere Conscientious Objector to all war I
have been refused any consideration
whatever. I was not given an opportunity to explain my case. [Underlining
in red in original.] The Reasons
of the Local Tribal for refusing my application were chiefly that my
objection to Military Service was based on grounds of “Reason” rather
than on any definite Religious or moral grounds . The Appeal Tribal
Chairman asked what I had to say & I said the difficulty seemed to be a misconception
of the meaning of conscience which I then defined as a persons “deepest
innermost convictions” & said I did appeal on moral and Humanitarian
grounds & I believed all war was murder. Without any further investigation
the Chairman said “Your appeal is dismissed.” I find it impossible to accept
this decision as final. I do not want to be forced to break the law by refusing
as in accordance with the provision in the act I believe I am one of those the
conscience clause was intended to cover, but in the event of another appeal
being refused I shall have no alternative, I cannot take part in the killing of
my fellow men. It is impossible and I cannot do it whatever the penalty for
refusal, so I trust you will grant me the opportunity of taking my case to the
Central Tribunal.
[Signed] D C Muirhead, Mar 30/16
4 April 1916 The Appeal
Tribunal have decided in this case to Refuse leave to appeal to the Central Tribunal.
6th & 7-11-18 Papers relating to this case returned
by Clerk of Central Tribunal to Middlesex.
In his Notice of Appeal to the Middlesex Tribunal Douglas
Muirhead had stated his case in similar terms, making more fully explicit his
position – one that might perhaps be described as libertarian socialist or
anarcho-communist:
Notice
of Appeal. (2) Grounds on which appeal
made:
That
I have been refused Absolute Exemption which I clam in accordance with my
statutory right as a conscientious objector. I cannot take part in war in
any capacity, considering it wrong & immoral & against my deepest convictions.
l believe in the Brotherhood of man, in Cooperation, not competition & that
only by trying to understand each others points of view, & by combining
together for mutual aid will any improvement
be possible. The Race Hatred fostered by war tends to lead to further wars. I
believe war will only cease when those who think it wrong refuse to take any
part in it, & so I must make it clear that I cannot help in the prosecution
of war & that whatever may be the consequences I cannot violate my
innermost & sincerest convictions. I am an Idealist & look forward to the time when, – “Nation with Nation, land with land,
Unharmed
shall live as comrades free;
in
every heart and brain shall throb
The
pulse of one fraternity.”
[Signed] D C Muirhead, 40 Oxford Rd., Ealing Mar 8/16
Reasons
for the decision of the Local Tribunal
Appellant
stated that his objections were based, not on religious but on philosophical
grounds – grounds of reason rather than of faith. He was not a member of any Church, but last
July he joined the No-Conscription Fellowship. He believed in an individual resisting evil
and that, say, twenty men acting together, might properly resist any other
group that attempted to wrong them, but he denied that the logical extension of
this argument would justify a State in going to War for its own protection. In his view, an unarmed state would be so
strong that no other state would attack it.
Appellant said
that exemption from combatant service would not meet his case, and he had no
work of national importance to offer.
The Tribunal
taking the view that the appellant’s objections were not matters of conscience,
rejected his application.
The
Military Representative made no observations in this case.
Signed
by Chairman, 13/3/16
from MILITARY
SERVICE ACT, 1916, APPLICATION
AS TO EXEMPTION:-
Name: Douglas C. Muirhead Age 30
Occupation Shop Assistant
(Ironmongery etc.) Employer: Arthur
Scott, 37 Haven Green, Ealing
Nature of Application: Absolute exemption from
any form of war service.
I cannot take the
Military oath. I must reserve the right to act as my conscience dictates.
Reasons in support of the application
My belief that war is wrong, immoral &
illogical, & of no use is settling differences in any permanent way. The
strongest side wins and
that proves nothing. The Losers may be in the right. I am an Internationalist,
believing all mankind are brothers & their interests identical, I therefore
have no quarrel with the Germans. Austrians or Turks. I
believe in Co-operation not
Competition, in the preservation of life and in replacing wrong ideas with
right ones as the only hope for any improvement in the world.
D.C.
Muirhead
Feb
24th./16
FOR LOCAL TRIBUNAL:
Application refused
[Signed]
Chairman No.2 Section Ealing local tribunal
6
MAR 1916
Other documents on file:
Covering letter with Notice of Appeal and original claim form
(above) headed Borough
of Ealing LOCAL RECRUITNG
APPEAL TRIBUNAL and dated 13th
March 1916.
NOTICE OF HEARING dated 23 MAR 1916. Appeal to be heard 28 MAR
1916, Guildhall, 2.30 p.m.
NOTICE OF DECISION dated 28 MAR 1916: “... decided that the
appeal be dismissed.”
From Pearce Database
(early version)
Some of what happened after Muirhead’s appeal was refused:
·
sent to the Royal Fusiliers Depot in Hounslow – not
Non-Combatant Corps since he hadn’t been granted any, even limited (from
combatant service only) exemption
·
court-martialled at Hounslow on 28.11.17 and sentenced to the
customary 2 years Hard Labour handed to COs who resisted military discipline
·
served time in Pentonville Civil Prison
·
and was serving a second sentence during May 1919.
He is listed among the 'Men still in the hands of the
Military and Civil Authorities on 9.5.19'; their names were given to the
government by the Friends Service Committee. The campaign for their release
eventually succeeded.
Family background
The 1901 Census records the Muirhead household at Parrock
Street, Milton, near Gravesend in the district of Maidstone, Kent. Douglas at
15 was already an ironmonger’s apprentice, living with his parents and numerous
siblings.
Scott's Ironmonger's at 37, Haven Green, W5, where he was working in 1916, is now a Hair and Tanning Studio, although the chemist's next to it at no. 36 looks as if it may have been there (and presenting much the same appearance) 100 years ago.
Scott's Ironmonger's at 37, Haven Green, W5, where he was working in 1916, is now a Hair and Tanning Studio, although the chemist's next to it at no. 36 looks as if it may have been there (and presenting much the same appearance) 100 years ago.
 |
| 40 Oxford Rd., where DCM was living in 1916 |
Evidently he survived
the immediate aftermath as well as the war itself; he seems to have married (as registered in
Brentford District), in 1921.
In the name of Reason...
While the majority of COs based their stance on religious
conviction, an increasing number are being discovered who, like DCM, took a
principled rationalist or secular-political position, refusing to abdicate their ability to think
and decide for themselves.
Tribunals consistently denied such men the right to
“conscience”.
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