Conscription and Prison Reform

[FrancesH]

This is a link to a short article on this topic I've written for the Imperial War Museum blog, which some members might find of interest. Please contact me directly if you'd like to know the source of any quotations as the blog format doesn't allow for footnotes.

 

https://www.iwm.org.uk/blog/partnerships/2024/01/conscription-and-reform-of-the-british-penal-system

[ilkley remembers]

An interesting article and thank you for sharing it.

I think that you are quite right to highlight the use of the criminal and indeed military law against people whose everyday behavior would have be seen as exemplary and certainly posed no threat to society. I suppose that the fact that the English legal system did not recognize the existence of a ‘political offence’ meant that COs were simply treated as common felons and subject to the savagery of the penal system and its reliance on punitive punishment.

As you allude in your article the target of the  penal system was the politically voiceless working classes.  Placing educated and articulate people into this ‘system’, as many COs where, meant that they were more likely to challenge the prevailing doctrine and had the moral fortitude to persist with accusations that prison simply served as an exercise in repression.

It is a surprises that any government should not have foreseen the likely consequences of legislating against conscience in 1916, particularly in the light of the reaction created by the imprisonment and treatment of Suffragists less than 10 years previously.

Edited 17 January by ilkley remembers

[FrancesH]

Thank you for commenting!

[Scalyback]

Reference for prosthetics and uniform with big arrows please. 

 

[FrancesH]

Hi there

You will see the arrows illustrated in the drawings accompanying my blog. Before I started researching this topic I thought the arrows were simply an amusing feature invented by Beano cartoonists, but no! The arrows are referred to in many first-hand accounts written by conscientious objectors, and also the removal of one's personal possessions except for glasses and surgical appliances (prosthetics). However, the simplest reference for you might be pp 94-5 in the Arrival section of English Prisons Today by Stephen Hobhouse and Fenner Brockway, available online at https://archive.org/details/englishprisonsto00prisuoft/mode/2up?q=89.

[Scalyback]

Cheers but getting unsecured connection with that link. 

[FrancesH]

I am surprised: it is secure for me (see photograph). Alternatively you could try and lay your hands on an original copy (Longmans & Co, 1922).

[Michelle Young]

I was given the DVD of the 1974 series Shoulder to Shoulder for Christmas. The suffragette prisoners are depicted wearing a green dress with white arrows, plus the cell number badge, and a small cap tied under the chin. 

[FrancesH]

Thank you for that, Michelle. I haven't done any research on women in prison at this period, but it seems likely that their uniform would be of a matching type.

[ilkley remembers]

Certainly for male prisoners there was a common uniform which consisted of the tunic and trousers with each item liberally exhibiting the heraldic ‘broad arrow’ which indicated that the clothing was crown property.

The standard colour was a shade of yellow which over time and frequent use became a rather dirty grey colour. However, some categories of prisoners would wear this uniform in an entirely different shade  so for example men who were deemed, despite conviction, to be of good character would wear dark blue.

COs, I think came into the latter category so the Micklewright cartoon may well indicate the blue uniform which would suggest that the prison system regarded their crime as not being wholly anti-social.

Edited 17 January by ilkley remembers

[FrancesH]

Thank you for this, although my own findings indicated that as I said in the blog, regular prisoners wore a white (or possibly cream) with black arrows, and court martial prisoners wore black with white arrows. Different categories of prisoner (who had moved on in the system) were distinguished by stripes sewn on their left sleeve.

[Scalyback]

20 hours ago, FrancesH said:

I am surprised: it is secure for me (see photograph). Alternatively you could try and lay your hands on an original copy (Longmans & Co, 1922).

Windows having a funny five. Linux fine. I hate Windows. Will look now. 

 

19 hours ago, Michelle Young said:

I was given the DVD of the 1974 series Shoulder to Shoulder for Christmas. The suffragette prisoners are depicted wearing a green dress with white arrows, plus the cell number badge, and a small cap tied under the chin. 

Thank you. Useful information. Now for a very odd question. Did the suffragettes and the COs use the "arrow uniform" in any point of protest? Actual garments shown at meetings etc? 

[FrancesH]

Hi Michelle, I have no information about the suffragettes. When the COs left prison they were given their own clothes back (or occasionally, if these couldn't be found, civilian clothes from a general stock!) However no-one left prison wearing the 'arrow uniform'. These outfits remained within prisons and would be washed and reused for other prisoners, so no, they would not therefore have been available for use in protest meetings.