As a 24-year-old single man,
Hector Welsman Smaldon of 37 Elers Road, West Ealing, became
liable for military service in early 1916. He applied for absolute exemption in
February, stating his reasons:
I have
a distinct objection to Combatant military service, indeed to every form of military
service, consequent upon holding certain views in relation to Christianity [...
Biblical quotation, “My Kingdom is not of this world...”] This scripture shows
clearly that, as a servant of Christ and a follower of Him, I cannot undertake
Combatant service. Nor, as belonging to
the Kingdom of God, could I take up any service in support of a system, in
which Violence, and the taking of human life, have place, without contravening
my principles. (16th Feb. 1916)
When he failed to convince the Ealing Local Tribunal, he took his case to the
Middlesex Appeal Tribunal (Case Number: M5513), restating his position:
As a
Christian I have great objection to Combatant Military Service as contrary to
the Spirit & teaching of Christ. I consider that to serve in the Army in
any capacity would be a surrender of Christian
principles. (March 8. 1916)
The Local Tribunal explained its decision:
The
appellant stated that he belonged to the Plymouth Brethren: that he could not
undertake military service, either combatant or non combatant, for that would
sacrifice his christian principles: that he felt it his duty to do all the good
he could, but not as a part of any military system.
The
Tribunal did not consider that there were any difficulties of conscience,
particularly as two other members of the same religious body had expressed
their willingness to undertake non combatant
service, and the application was therefore refused.
The
Military
Representative made no observation on this case.
!3/3/16
By the time the Appeal Tribunal recorded its decision, after an
adjournment of the hearing, Hector’s situation had changed.
Decision [1st May 1916].
Temporary exemption 6 mos. from today conditional upon his remaining in
the position as an attendant at the City of London Lunatic Asylum, or in a
similar position elsewhere.
The exemption was granted on the ground that “a conscientious objection
to military service has been established”. His normal employment had been as a
Traveller for a firm –
the firm* – of
Ostrich Feather Manufacturers, Botibol & Co., but he had been referred to
the Committee on Work of National Importance which wrote to the Appeal Tribunal
on 12
th April stating they had been informed that the Medical
Superintendent of the
City of London Asylum located in Dartford, Kent, had
“employment suitable for Mr. Smaldon” and that it was desirable he should take
up his duties on the 17
th. The arrangement evidently suited him; he
asked for it to be made permanent rather than temporary. Instead he had to go
through the process of applying for repeated extensions of his exemption
throughout the war, resulting in a massive 80-page compilation of filed paperwork.
He was
not usually required to attend the hearings, however. The Medical
Superintendent testified to the quality of his work, and didn’t want to let him
go A couple of attempts by the local Military Representative to have his
exemption withdrawn got nowhere. He stayed in post at least until the end of
the war, possibly longer – it was in Dartford that he married, in 1921.
Hector Smaldon was far from being the only CO directed to work in a
“lunatic asylum” (there were upwards of 60 as recorded on the Pearce database)
but must have been one of the first, and possibly least reluctant. Among his
co-workers in 1916-19 were about a dozen overall, for varying lengths of time; Richard
Thomas Shirley of Westminster found the work didn't suit him, while Robert
William Miller of Islington complained that the strain 'of 14 hour days with
lunatics' was making him ill. About 30 COs appear to have been recorded as
‘certified insane’ during the war, but there are few if any matches between the
asylums to which they were committed (including Hanwell in at least 4 cases)
and those to which their (to some extent) co-thinkers had been sent to do their 'work of national importance'.
Smaldon
Family background
Hector’s older brother William James was also a CO, whose objection was
recognised by the Ealing Tribunal to the extent of granting him Exemption
from Combatant Service only. Apparently without lodging an appeal, he was drafted into the
Non-Combatant Corps, and within a few months was in France. He survived to be demobbed
after the war, late in 1919.
The 1911 Census shows the Smaldon household: Hector Welsman
(mistranscribed as Welsham on ‘Find my Past’) aged 19, a Clerk in a Drapery
Warehouse, living at 37 Elers Road with his widowed mother, and 26-year-old
brother William James, a Tramway Motor Man. Both brothers had been born in
Hull. There were three boarders, William and Harold Lucas, probably father and
son, and Harold Davies whose brother (probably) was also present on census night, visiting
from Taunton. In 1901 Hector's and William's father, a ship's watchman, was still alive, and the family were living in Kingston upon Hull.
 |
| The Smaldons’ (and boarders') address in West Ealing |
Hector eventually returned to his county of
birth, Yorkshire, where he died in 1987.
*Botibol: a name to conjure with in
ostrich feather circles...
A.
Theft from a specified place, 8th October 1912: BREWER, William (32, carman)
pleaded guilty, of ... breaking and entering the warehouse of Cecil Munton Botibol
and stealing therein 144 ostrich feathers and other articles, his goods... Sentence:
Three years' penal servitude. http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse.jsp?div=t19121008-16
B.
Lady Hawk's Folly - Google Books Result. Amanda Scott - 2013 - Fiction https://books.google.co.uk/books?isbn=1480415294 “...
to Oxford Street and the premises of W. H. Botibol, plumassier, in order for
Mollie to purchase a pair of ostrich feathers to wear in her hair that evening...”
C. The works of William Makepeace Thackeray: i. "By Saint Botibol, say not false," groaned the elder warrior... ii. "... A small prince's coronet of gold, from which rose three pink ostrich-feathers...” https://archive.org/stream/.../workswilliammak15thacgoog_djvu.txt
