Dennis Puckett: like father like son

In a letter to his parents in April 1942, Dennis Puckett wrote:

‘We sold 14 [copies of] Peace News… I went to tea with local Peace News distributor… Had useful discussion with Auntie May… she does not seem to believe altogether in Pacifism, I believe Radio has some effect on her, the way the news is read out is terrible.’

Dennis was a conscientious objector working for the Gloucester Land Scheme when this letter was written. As he could discuss his pacifist principles and activities so openly, it shows that Dennis came from an accepting family, who were sympathetic to his beliefs. This was certainly not the case for every conscientious objector, with some being rejected by their families for refusing to fight in the Second World War. 

Dennis was, in fact, following in his father Richard’s footsteps by resisting conscription into the armed forces. Richard Puckett was a lifelong pacifist who did not respond to his army call up during the First World War. Consequently, he was arrested and taken to military barracks, where he was court martialled as an army deserter. He was sent to Winchester Prison, spending the next two years in appalling conditions, much of the time in solitary confinement.

Both Richard and Dennis had a mixture of influences behind their pacifist beliefs. The family were Methodists, so had a religious backing to their anti-war convictions, but just as importantly, they were trade unionists and socialists, viewing peace and social justice as inextricably linked. Richard was a carpenter (and followed into this trade by Dennis) and felt that he personally had no quarrel with the ordinary German civilian, and was not prepared to shoot his fellow workers.

Dennis himself was also motivated by the haunting legacy of the First World War, which during his teenage years in the 1930s had come to be recognised as an appalling tragedy that must not be repeated, as well as the relatively widespread condemnation of the treatment of Germany after the war. The interwar period saw the development of the largest peace movement in British history, in which many young people such as Dennis became involved.

It was quite normal for conscientious objectors like Dennis to have a mixture of motives for refusing to fight, including religious, political, and humanitarian reasons. Britain was unique amongst the belligerent nations for not requiring a formal religious affiliation for recognition of conscience. Dennis would have had to attend a tribunal hearing to explain why he was refusing military service, and the tribunal decided whether an individual held a “genuine” conscientious objection based on this evidence. He was accepted by the tribunal, and went to do land work, the most common form of alternative service taken up by conscientious objectors during the Second World War.

Dennis seemed to have a relatively positive experience, writing home about the various vegetables he was cultivating:

‘Everything shows signs of growing now – parsnip, carrot, onion and leek seed coming up. Things have become more interesting now.’

He also described his leisure activities:

‘Went out with the Cotswold Ramblers last Sunday, had lovely walk over Cotswolds’ Cheltenham district, very picturesque’.

However, many conscientious objectors found land work to be backbreaking and monotonous, especially if they had had very different jobs before the war.

Dennis also met his wife, Nancy Hall, during the conflict. She also came from a left-wing background and was supportive of his pacifism. Nancy was a significant figure in her own right, as she was a diarist for the social research organisation Mass Observation under the pen name Muriel Green during the war, recording her day-to-day life. Her diary is an important source of knowledge about ordinary people’s experiences during the Second World and has been included in many books.

Although Dennis may have had a positive wartime experience in some ways, he also faced some challenges. Dennis had had a friend, Bernard, before the war and the two had gone cycling together. Bernard did not become a conscientious objector when the Second World War arrived, instead joining the RAF. Bernard was killed during the war, something Dennis would have felt very keenly, and he went to visit Bernard’s parents. However, as he was a conscientious objector, they scorned him, probably believing it was unjust that Dennis should be able to escape the fighting while their own son had died. When Dennis himself had a son, however, he named him Bernard in remembrance.

Dennis also experiencing troubling feelings of guilt when the news about the Nazi atrocities became public knowledge at the end of the war, wondering if it had been the wrong decision to become a conscientious objector. This was actually a common occurrence; many objectors experienced doubts and uncertainty during or after the Second World War, as event developed and the original context in which they had made their decision altered completely. Indeed, while conscientious objectors of the Second World War enjoyed more tolerant treatment by both the government and the public than their predecessors in the First World War, their experience could in fact be more psychologically challenging.[1]  

 After the war, Dennis married Nancy and returned to his job as a carpenter. He rarely talked about his experience in the subsequent years, but now his story has been shared by his descendants who are proud of the stand he took. Dennis and others like him believed a world without war was possible and, in the face of significant pressure, they stood by these beliefs, in the hope of creating a better future.

[1] Rosemary Rich, ‘The Motivations and Moral Quandaries of Conscientious Objection in Second World War Britain’, Unpublished PhD thesis, (2023)