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FAQ

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Just how many JW WW2 COs in Britain were there? A definitive number does not exist.  However, an inference may be deduced from the Foreword written by Jack Felix in the 1956 British edition of Marley Cole’s Jehovah’s Witnesses – The New World Society . On page 16, Felix referred to the frequent appearances of the Witnesses before tribunals and courts as conscientious objectors and commented that they “represented less than three percent, but the newspaper reports, often long and mostly unfriendly, created the impression that there were very few conscientious objectors besides Jehovah’s witnesses.”  About 60,000 men and 1,000 women are known to have applied for exemption from the armed services in World War Two.  Using Felix’s figure of 3% we can reason that there would have been  1,830, or 1800 allowing for the suggestion that they represented “less than” 3%, JW COs during the period.  Such an estimate appears to be broadly supported by a memorandum wr...
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Wesley and the God of Love

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The front page of the Thanet Advertiser for Tuesday 28 November 1939  contains the brief account entitled 'Complete Exemption for Solicitors Pacific Clerk'. It explains that "John Basil Wesley, a solicitor’s clerk, aged 21, of Rancorn-road Margate, was registered a conscientious objector without restrictions at the South East Local Tribunal on Friday. Questioned by members of the Tribunal Wesley said he had been a Jehovah's Witness for five years and had devoted all his spare time to work of the Society. All armies were the devil's organisation, so he could not belong to any army that was contrary to the Gospel. God was the God of Love, so did not need armies. Wesley is the first Thanet conscientious objector who has not been ordered to take up agricultural or forestry work in lieu of military service." Wesley appears to have benefitted from two factors that were in his favour: 1. Being an early applicant claiming conscientious objection it was before ...
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