FAQ
Just how many JW WW2 COs in Britain were there?
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 written in 1942 by Judge Wethered of the South-Western Tribunal, which showed that up to 7 March 1942 he had chaired cases involving 4,056 conscientious objectors, of which only 155 (some 3.82%) were Jehovah's Witnesses.
Weren’t JW COs just as unpopular as other COs of the period?
Of course, all COs suffered unpopularity. Of the 61,000, by the end of the war about 5,500 men and women had been charged with offences to do with conscientious objection, and most of them were sent to prison. Yet JW COs in particular were profoundly unpopular. Working on the basis of JWs representing just 3% of these, as an average we might have expected there to have been 165 JW COs who had been imprisoned. However, evidence shows that as many as 1,593 JWs were imprisoned i.e. JWs represented 28.96% of those imprisoned!
Denis Hayes, a pacifist, advisor and publications officer with the Central Board for Conscientious Objectors, was asked 'Which group (of conscientious objectors) were treated most harshly?' He replied: "The JW undoubtedly."
Do any particular male JW COs stand out in terms of their stand?
Denis Hayes’s Challenge of Conscience (p.388) lists details of various COs who were repeatedly forced into army service and resisted to the point of receiving Courts-martial, including two COs who faced this on as many as five occasions and one who even faced this on six occasions. All three of these men were JW COs. The only CO known to have had his sentence doubled on appeal was also a JW. The only case so far known of a between-the-wars armed forces volunteer member declaring a conscientious objection has recently come to light and involves a JW.
How significant was the stand of female JW COs?
To a major extent, it may be said that the stand of female conscientious objectors in Britain during this period is the stand of Jehovah’s Witnesses. By the end of the war about 500 women COs had been given sentences to do with conscientious objection, and most of them were sent to prison. Some 344 of these (i.e. 68.80%) were Jehovah’s Witnesses. These female JWs saw the issues they faced clearly and rarely flinched responsibilities for their actions.
How did the approach of JW COs in WW2 differ from that of IBSA COs in WW1?
Whereas IBSA COs from the WW1 period were, for the most part, remarkably restrained before their Military Service Tribunals, their JW counterparts from WW2 were noticeably more direct before secular authorities. A full study of the subject is necessary before the reasons for this can determined, but it seems likely that this approach contributed to the Witnesses unpopularity.
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 written in 1942 by Judge Wethered of the South-Western Tribunal, which showed that up to 7 March 1942 he had chaired cases involving 4,056 conscientious objectors, of which only 155 (some 3.82%) were Jehovah's Witnesses.
Weren’t JW COs just as unpopular as other COs of the period?
Of course, all COs suffered unpopularity. Of the 61,000, by the end of the war about 5,500 men and women had been charged with offences to do with conscientious objection, and most of them were sent to prison. Yet JW COs in particular were profoundly unpopular. Working on the basis of JWs representing just 3% of these, as an average we might have expected there to have been 165 JW COs who had been imprisoned. However, evidence shows that as many as 1,593 JWs were imprisoned i.e. JWs represented 28.96% of those imprisoned!
Denis Hayes, a pacifist, advisor and publications officer with the Central Board for Conscientious Objectors, was asked 'Which group (of conscientious objectors) were treated most harshly?' He replied: "The JW undoubtedly."
Do any particular male JW COs stand out in terms of their stand?
Denis Hayes’s Challenge of Conscience (p.388) lists details of various COs who were repeatedly forced into army service and resisted to the point of receiving Courts-martial, including two COs who faced this on as many as five occasions and one who even faced this on six occasions. All three of these men were JW COs. The only CO known to have had his sentence doubled on appeal was also a JW. The only case so far known of a between-the-wars armed forces volunteer member declaring a conscientious objection has recently come to light and involves a JW.
How significant was the stand of female JW COs?
To a major extent, it may be said that the stand of female conscientious objectors in Britain during this period is the stand of Jehovah’s Witnesses. By the end of the war about 500 women COs had been given sentences to do with conscientious objection, and most of them were sent to prison. Some 344 of these (i.e. 68.80%) were Jehovah’s Witnesses. These female JWs saw the issues they faced clearly and rarely flinched responsibilities for their actions.
How did the approach of JW COs in WW2 differ from that of IBSA COs in WW1?
Whereas IBSA COs from the WW1 period were, for the most part, remarkably restrained before their Military Service Tribunals, their JW counterparts from WW2 were noticeably more direct before secular authorities. A full study of the subject is necessary before the reasons for this can determined, but it seems likely that this approach contributed to the Witnesses unpopularity.
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