Another CO from Bedford Park: Imprisoned in two world wars

From the Pearce Register:

William Burgess Haines

Marital status    Single

Occupation         Scientific research, Imperial College

Age        25

Birth year            1891

Year       1916

Soldier Number                -

Address               9, Addison Road

Address 2            Bedford Park

Local authority  Chiswick UD

County Middlesex

Country                England

Latitude               51.49

Longitude            -0.25

Ordnance Survey reference        TQ210790

Motivation          Religious

Military Service Tribunal                MST (Military Service Tribunal) Chiswick 25.2.16 appeal on grounds of national interest (A) and CO (F) - refused; Middlesex County Appeal 28.3.16 - dismissed

War Service        (?) [see below, W B Haines]

WO363 false

Sources                NA/MH47/9/29 - on line

Record set          Conscientious Objectors' Register 1914-1918 

W B Haines

Age        -

Birth year            -

Year       -

Soldier Number                -

Address               -

Address 2            Leytonstone (Ward)

Local authority  Leyton UD

County Essex

Country                England

Latitude               51.56

Longitude            0.0

Ordnance Survey reference        TQ309870

Motivation          -

Military Service Tribunal                MST (Military Service Tribunal) Central Tribunal 22.7.16; Central Tribunal at Wormwood S. 21.8.16 - CO class A, to Brace Committee

Central Tribunal                Central Tribunal Nos. W.559 M.213

War Service        27 (R) Middlesex CM (Court Martial) Aldershot 16.5.16 - 84 days Det., Wandsworth MP (Military Prison)

Prison   Wandsworth MP (Military Prison)

Work Centre      HOS (The Home Office Scheme, administered by the Brace Committee) 28.8.17 at Dartmoor

WO363 false

Sources                NA/WO86/70/27; Not found in NA/WO363; NA/MH47/125; NA/MH47/1 Central Tribunal Minutes; FH/SER/VOPC/Cases/4(2099)

Record set          Conscientious Objectors' Register 1914-1918

The above records appear separately on the online database of First World War Conscientious Objectors (COs) but can be taken to refer to the same person, supplementing each other's information as given in the Middlesex Appeal Tribunal file and Central Tribunal Minutes respectively. The different addresses cease to be a problem in view of the 1911 Census, which shows William Burgess Haines as an East-Ender, living with his parents, siblings and others in Leytonstone (often parental-home addresses are supplied for COs, rather than the latest residence at call-up).

     (with Relation to Head of Household      Age         Occupation      Birthplace)

Henry James   Haines  Head     Married    Male       52  Marble Merchants Manager   Bethnal Green

Ellen Mary     Haines  Wife      Married   Female      49   -                          Whitechapel

Montague Bartram   Haines  Son   Single    Male      25     Bank Clerk     Stepney

Grace Redivion Haines  Daughter  Single    Female 23      Elementary School Teacher    Ratcliffe

William Burgess Haines  Son   Single    Male      20    Research Student U Col London   Ratcliffe

Ellen Muriel        Haines  Daughter             Single    Female 19           -     Essex Leytonstone

George Cecil      Haines  Son        -              Male      11    School       Essex Leytonstone

Reginald James Haines  Son        -              Male      9         -               Essex Leytonstone

John Boyd           Haines  Father   Widower             Male      84 Retired     London Spitalsfield

Cyril Edward  Millard  Boarder Single Male  21   Ironmongers Commercial Traveller    Clapton

Frieda Elsie         Millard  Visitor   -              Female 6              -              Essex Leytonstone

About some other "Bedford Park People"

W B Haines was living in Bedford Park in 1916

Appeal (Dismissed 28-3-16)
Haines lodged an appeal on 28th February 1916 against the Local Tribunal (LT) decision not to grant him exemption (Middlesex Appeal Case Number: M213. William Burgess Haines of 9 Addison Road, Bedford Park, Catalogue reference: MH 47/9/29). Abandoning the grounds of his occupation being important to the nation, he stood as a CO:
   ... on the single count of my deep conscientious conviction, entertained for years, that as a follower of the teachings of Jesus Christ I cannot take part in any military operations. This is purely an individual position, &I cannot accept the jurisdiction of the Tribunal with regard to it, - though I accept the consequences of their decision (i.e. in any punishment that might follow). This I think should be a sufficient evidence of my sincerity. In short, I ask for exemption, & quietly state that if it cannot be granted I would rather accept the alternative of punishment than service.


The LT based its decision on the unusual argument that his work had included paid research for the Admiralty which intended "to use the invention against the enemy", which would seem to be actually playing up his work's importance and using this to undermine his credibility as a CO. 

His original claim (17-2-16) was on dual grounds: "For TOTAL EXEMPTION as CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR DOING WORK OF NATIONAL IMPORTANCE." On the form, neatly typed, he gave his occupation as "Scientific Research (Physics) working as Beit Research Fellow  of the Imperial College of Science & Technology, Kensington." He stated " My main reason is that, as a Christian, I cannot take part in any military operations" before going on to explain the importance of his work. 

The claim was supported in a letter dated Feb. 15th by Professor R J Strutt (pp.6-7), who described Haines as being one of "that comparatively small number of persons who can plan and carry out scientific investigations, and whose services the country cannot afford to do without." 
The LT Notes on the case add little. "With regard to his conscientious objection, the only statement he could make was that he believed in the Sermon on the Mount, and as far as he understood it, he was not able to take part in the War." 

The Military Representative brought out the matter of being useful for the Admiralty, Haines acknowledging that results of the work - electrical and "nearly always theoretical" - "might have good or evil uses". This is summed up in a careless final sentence (p.9, right).

The "W B Haines" record shows some of what happened after the appeal was rejected and he was "deemed to be enlisted":

• Court Martial, Aldershot 16.5.16 sentenced to 84 days detention, Wandsworth Military Prison. (Court Martial and imprisonment were routine for COs who refused to obey an order). 
• Case considered by Central Tribunal 22.7.16; Central Tribunal at Wormwood Scrubs 21.8.16 
• Judged to be a CO class A, i.e. genuine, and referred to the Brace Committee for alternative service
• Work Centre (The Home Office Scheme, administered by the Brace Committee) 28.8.17 at Dartmoor

It is not clear how long it was before he could resume his scientific career, although it was back on track by 1921 and when he did so his claim about its importance was justified by results. When he died in 1963 he rated an obituary in the leading science journal, Nature. 

An obituary in Nature, 4th May 196.3, doesn't mention the First World War

DR. WILLIAM BURGESS HAINES, who died suddenly last March, joined the Soil Physics Department, Rothamsted Experimental Station*, as one of its earliest members, in 1921. He was the first to show, by simple, but elegant, experiments that the moisture content in porous bodies like soil displays hysteresis... #This work… led to a clear understanding of water distribution and movement in soil, as affected by weather, cultivations, and vegetation. Nature 198, 434

*Rothamsted Research, previously known as the Rothamsted Experimental Station and then the Institute of Arable Crops Research, is one of the oldest agricultural research institutions in the world, having been founded in 1843. 

#Hysteresis is the dependence of the state of a system on its history. For example, a magnet may have more than one possible magnetic moment in a given magnetic field, depending on how the field changed in the past.
Hysteresis: the phenomenon in which the value of a physical property lags behind changes in the effect causing it, as for instance when magnetic induction lags behind the magnetizing force.

The Nature obituary is reticent about Haines experiences in the Second World War - when the question of being a CO did not arise for him - as well as silent about the First. It is not perfectly accurate in stating that he was in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp throughout the Second. He was indeed interned, but only after another ordeal, having been a passenger on the HMS Giang Bee, which was sunk by a Japanese destroyer on 13th February 1942. There were 300 or more on board, mostly refugees escaping from Singapore towards Batavia; 104 people were listed as survivors in 1943 by the Netherlands-Indies Red Cross from information supplied by witnesses at Palembang internment camp. Almost all survivors had ended up in this "migratory" camp. Haines was among the minority who survived once again; the camp had a death rate of 55% for men.

Addison Road, just north of Bath Road (where fellow-CO Howard Travers lived),
is shown on a 1938 map at Turnham Green. It is now called Addison Grove.

First World War COs: Another from Chiswick

COs who appealed on explicitly non-religious grounds against conscription are comparatively rare, especially when they do not make reference to another, political ideology. The case of one such from Ealing has already been considered here, and James Churchman may be counted too; the list of 29 "Chiswick" records from the Pearce Register supplies another.

Howard Martin Otho Travers

Marital status    Single

Occupation         Architect, designer, craftsman - stained glass and illustrations

Age        30

Birth year            1886

Year       1916

Death year          1948

Soldier Number                -

Address                 1, Bath Road

Address 2            Bedford Park

Local authority  Chiswick UD

County Middlesex

Country                England

Latitude               51.49

Longitude            -0.25

Ordnance Survey reference        TQ210790

Motivation          Moral objections NOT religious

Military Service Tribunal                MST (Military Service Tribunal) Chiswick 2.3.16 appeal as a CO (F) - ECS (Exemption from Combatant Service) only; Middlesex County Appeal 10.4.16 - dismissed

War Service        FAU (Friends' Ambulance Unit) May 1916 to Jan.1919. Jordans. King George Hospital; London Office; Uffculme Hospital, Birmingham. Demob. 4.1.19

WO363 false

Sources                List of Members of the Friends Ambulance Unit 1914-1919 (London, 1919); Letter 13.4.16 in T.E.Harvey MP ([Military Prison]) Correspondence Friends House Temp.Mss.835 Box.6; NA/MH47/10/67 - on line; FH/FAU (Friends' Ambulance Unit) 1914-1919 Personnel Record Cards Series 1 and 2.

Record set          Conscientious Objectors' Register 1914-1918

Howard Travers, like his fellow citizen James Churchman, appealed at County level against the decision of the Local Chiswick Tribunal, so that some of his own words are available on file:

MH 47/10/67 (Reference)
Description:	Case Number: M446. Howard Martin Otho Travers of 1 Bath Road, Bedford Park. Occupation: Architect, Designer and Craftsman. Grounds of Appeal: F: On the ground of a conscientious objection to the undertaking of combatant service.

He made his appeal for total exemption, against the Chiswick Tribunal decision, on 4th March 1916 (p.6 in the file), stating:

"I believe warfare between nations to be a barbarous & discredited method of setteling [sic] international differences, and I look to the future common unity of the peoples of all nations. In my firm opinion war will not be ended by the use of armed force, which inevitably fosters and encourages a spirit of hatred and revenge, - but by an increasing number of citizens remaining true to their convictions & therefore refusing to take part in war, whatever the pretext for which it is waged." He had used the same form of words on his original application, dated 25-2-1916 (p.9).

The Local Tribunal (LT) justified its decision to grant exemption from combatant service only (ECS) by arguing that he had not shown sufficient reason for total exemption:
"Applicant objected to the military oath but was otherwise prepared to help wounded persons whether or not they were soldiers.
"Applicant was not of any particular religious body - his religion was his own ideal and there was no sanctionary ratification thereof except his self respect or his mind..."

Notes on his case indicate how far he and the LT Chairman were from a meeting of minds, the latter being fixated on the idea of "sanction" and denying any validity to the concept of an autonomous individual conscience uncoerced by an external "Power" and  unconstrained by fear of "peril" (hell-fire). The Military Representative and a Mr. Ward chipped in too, the former asserting: “If I had a conscience like yours, I should refuse to pay taxes” (thus implying that the CO was genuine). Travers defended himself articulately, making some telling points and exposing the prejudices and woolly thinking of his inquisitors, but his arguments were predictably unsuccessful.

Howard Travers did not take the Middlesex Appeal Tribunal decision as final, and made a further application, for leave to appeal to the Central Tribunal. The Appeal Tribunal refused to grant this, as usual in their dealings with COs who rejected ECS.

The file contains a handwritten page about his work, in which he argues that it is "useful in an economic and commercial sense" and refers to some of it being exhibited, at the invitation of the Board of Trade, at the Ghent and Paris Exhibitions. He also claims to have made a special study of modern German work, and asserts his knowledge is of practical use. A typed letter from the Director of Art at the Board of Trade (Exhibition Branch) dated 4th April 1916 reports what has been heard from the Musée des Arts Décoratifs regarding the safety of the (unspecified) exhibits, which he is assured are in safe keeping, not in any danger, until the situation permits their transport. The Government, however, "in accordance with their usual practice will not insure themselves against their liability in case of loss."

On 13th April Travers wrote to Quaker MP and CO supporter T E Harvey, frankly emphasising his appeal had been on "moral - not religious grounds" and saying he had called at the office of the Friends Ambulance Unit  (FAU, Quaker) and found that their work was such that he felt he could very gladly contribute. The Secretary indicated willingness to accept his services, subject to the Authorities' agreement. This had apparently been withheld, and he asked for advice as to whether the decision could be reconsidered. That he was successful is confirmed by his record as above,  "FAU (Friends' Ambulance Unit) May 1916 to Jan.1919... Demob. 4.1.19." (Sources in Friends House Library, Euston).

1 Bath Road, Bedford Park: Travers' address in 1916

"That enchanted suburb" pre-1914
was the setting for a 2013 novel...

... featuring some of its more notable residents.
As an artist, Travers would have fitted in well.