Joe Brayshaw

My father-in-law was sent to prison for a short while, and was also the spokesperson for COs for a while.

Cahal Milmo writes of Joe Brayshaw in iNews:

 Joe Brayshaw, a member of Quaker family who became general secretary for the Central Board of Conscientious Objectors during the Second World War while also working as an auxiliary fireman in London throughout the Nazi bombing campaign.

His granddaughter, Helen Connelly, who spotted her grandfather in a picture of pacifist marchers which features in the exhibition, said: “My grandfather kept his fireman’s helmet which had a dent in it. It was left by a piece of shrapnel from a bomb that went off as he was working.

“He was of course in that way incredibly brave.  But I also have an extraordinary sense of pride in him because he also showed huge bravery by standing up for his values and making them heard and understood.”

In a post-war history of objection Joseph Brayshaw described the mistreatment of men in the Non-Combatant Corps, at Dingle Vale camp near Liverpool, who had refused their service and had been brought in by the military police: 

Every man’s hands seemed against them. They were half-starved, beaten, kicked. Their heads were shaved, that they might be known and recognised as legitimate targets. They were cast into dark cells, and wakened at intervals in the night to do menial tasks or drill on the parade-ground. They were cut off from the outside world, to which messages had to be smuggled secretly. The authorities seemed determined to prevent COs claiming a court-martial for disobeying orders. A court-martial might ensure them the legal right to a review Tribunal, and lead to their release from the Army. Instead they must be made to soldier. So threat and terror were employed against them.

Read more: https://researchportal.northumbria.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/14769517/FINAL_FINAL_VERSION.pdf