Doncaster Times Issue 1 - June 2016
Doncaster Times is a biannual publication of articles and pieces researched and written by members of the public, volunteers and professionals. For its first four years, the magazine will feature articles about Doncaster during the First World War, to commemorate the centenary. The most recent publication is available in hard copy only, available to purchase from Doncaster Museum and Art Gallery, Doncaster Central Library and the Tourist Information Centre.
Doncaster Times is a biannual publication of articles and pieces researched and written by members of the public, volunteers and professionals. For its first four years, the magazine will feature articles about Doncaster during the First World War, to commemorate the centenary. The most recent publication is available in hard copy only, available to purchase from Doncaster Museum and Art Gallery, Doncaster Central Library and the Tourist Information Centre.
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<strong>Doncaster</strong> Heritage Services<br />
<strong>Doncaster</strong> and<br />
Conscription<br />
‘TO THE UNATTESTED’<br />
…Come to the colours and<br />
cheat the Compulsionist<br />
Prove that it’s humour that’s<br />
kept you so long away<br />
Come in your thousands and<br />
help the expulsionist<br />
Throw out a Bill that proposes<br />
so wrong a way.<br />
<strong>Doncaster</strong> Gazette, January 7 1916, pg 7<br />
Opinion pieces, letters and even poems<br />
ran in local newspapers early in 1916,<br />
urging men to enlist so conscription<br />
could be avoided. The <strong>Doncaster</strong> tribunal<br />
system operated from the Mansion House.<br />
Throughout 1916, the ‘tales told to the tribunals’<br />
were the talk of the town and the local press.<br />
A well-known local conscientious objector,<br />
whose case was heard at the tribunal, was<br />
John Hubert Brocklesby from Conisbrough.<br />
John Hubert, known as Bert,was a Methodist<br />
preacher and a teacher. He refused to do any<br />
war work on religious and moral grounds.<br />
After his appearance at a <strong>Doncaster</strong> tribunal in<br />
February 1916, he was arrested and imprisoned in<br />
Richmond Castle. Later in 1916, he and 15 others<br />
were sent to France and sentenced to death. His<br />
sentence was reduced to 10 years imprisonment<br />
and he was moved back to the UK. Many<br />
conscientious objectors received poor treatment<br />
from the military and their community alike<br />
In <strong>Doncaster</strong>, as well as the small minority<br />
objecting to conscription on moral and religious<br />
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