Monday, September 04, 2006

The Conscientious Objectors at Richmond Castle

Those who refused to fight for England in WWI were garrisoned at Richmond Castle. Their thoughts and prayers are written on the castle walls. Here is a sampling of their graffiti, which we found very sad, interesting, and moving.

"I, Percy F. Goldsbrough of Mirfield, was brought up from Pentefrect on Friday, August 11th, 1916, and put into this Cell for refusing to be made into a soldier."
"The only War which is worth fighting is the Class War. The Working Class of this Country have no quarrel with the Working Class of Germany or any other Country. Socialism stands for Internationalism. If the workers of all countries united and refused to fight, there would be no war."
"Stand for the right,
Tho' falsehood reign,
And proud lips boldly sneer,
A poisoned arrow cannot wound
A conscience pure and clear."

2 comments:

Michael Preston said...

Hi there.

I’m currently creating an educational schools booklet for the charity that I work for based on the first world war. Part of it will cover conscientious objectors.

We’d really like to use your image (http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/933/3468/1600/IMG_0607.jpg) of the graffitti in the document and I’m writing to you to see if that will be possible at all.

As a charity I don’t really have a budget as such but previously what we’ve done is ensured that they are fully credited and sent the contributor a couple of copies of the final document as thank you. How does that sound?

Best...

Michael Preston
Design Officer

T: 020 7663 1005

The Religious Society of Friends
Friends House, 173 Euston Road
London, NW1 2BJ

janjan said...

Hello Michael - You're welcome to use the image! Please simply credit JanJan Lin as the photographer (me) and I'd love to see the booklet if possible! My email address is janjanclATgmailDOTcom