VICTOR JOHN BROWN

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VICTOR JOHN BROWN

Victor, of 6 Palace Road, Crouch End, Hornsey, was a Clerk in the Inland Revenue in 1916.  He was 22 when he applied on conscientious grounds for an exemption from military service to Hornsey Tribunal in February 1916.  In his application he stressed his belief in the sacredness of human life, although he did not subscribe to any particular religious creed.  His belief was in the universal Brotherhood of Man.

His case was heard by the Hornsey Tribunal on 28 March 1916, but was dismissed.  Victor appealed to Middlesex Appeal Tribunal in April, but was again refused.

Victor appears to have been drafted into the 9/2^nd West Surrey Regiment and was court martialled at Shoreham on 26^th June 1916 (presumably for disobeying orders).  The Court Martial sentenced him to 2 years Hard Labour (later commuted to 20 months) which he served in Wormwood Scrubss.

In July 1916 the Central Tribunal heard his case in Wormwood Scrubs, found him CO Class A and referred him to the Brace Committee, who put him on the Home Office Scheme – in Wakefield, Denton and Newhaven.   The Pearce Register has an account of him on a road-mending scheme in Clare, W. Suffolk in August 1916  On 15^th September 1916 he was arrested for absenteeism.  We do not know where and how he spent the next 10 months – maybe he was returned to the Home Office Scheme, but at some point rejected and was rejected by the Home Office Scheme.

He was again court martialled in Sittingbourne on 28^th June 1917.  His resulting 2 year sentence with Hard Labour was served in Maidstone Civilian Prison between July 1917 and February 1918 (his sentence was commuted to 15 months, but he seems to have served 17 months!)

Pearce/IWM            National Archives/MH47