Description:Conscription was implemented in March 1916 as part of the Military Service Act of 1916. Prior to the Act, the British War effort was serviced by the Regular and Territorial Armies that was manned through voluntary enlistment. Details of the Act were published across the country. It stipulated that all unmarried men who were between the ages of 18 and 41, and without child dependents, were ‘deemed to be enlisted for the duration of the war’. The Act also stipulated that an official Tribunal could allow men who conscientiously objected to combatant service to be ‘(a) exempted from combatant service only (not non-combative service), or (b) exempted on condition that they are engaged in work of National importance’.
Laurence Cadbury volunteered to serve with the Friends Ambulance Unit on 7 September 1914. Throughout his service he expressed an interest in enlisting in the army, although he remained with the Unit until 2 March 1919. Cadbury regularly wrote to his friends and family during the war period. His letters to his parents were particularly detailed and were edited regularly by the official censor. In a letter dated 26 May 1916, shortly after the implementation of conscription, Laurence Cadbury wrote to his parents expressing his concern regarding the threat made by members of the Friends Ambulance Unit that they would return to Britain if the Government continued to imprison men not exempted from enlistment on the grounds of conscientious objection. In his letter Cadbury aired his views on conscientious objection, writing that ‘I don’t object to conscience, not even over-manured ones, so long as they only prompt people to self-regarding actions, but when they start seriously and adversely affecting other people, I consider it time to remind their owners that there are other considerations besides their own particular and peculiar individualities to be borne in mind, that there are other people in the world, and their welfare should be at least be given a thought, if only a passing one.’
Laurence Cadbury’s account of these proceedings highlighted the often strained relationship between the Friends Ambulance Unit and the British Authorities, to the extent, according to Cadbury, ‘doubtful whether our continued presence was desirable’. The FAU continued to operate throughout the duration of the First World War.