CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR FINED AT EVESHAM
AN OFFENCE AGAINST “DORA”
At the Evesham County Petty Sessions on Monday, Arthur Edwin Thorne, market gardener, Pitcher’s Hill, Wickhamford, Evesham, was summoned under the Defence of the Realm Regulations for failing to post up in a conspicuous place on his premises a statement giving the names of his male employees between the ages of 18 and 41 on December 11, and also with failing to forward a copy of the form to the military authorities.
Defendant told the Bench that he could not conscientiously serve as a soldier in the Army, and he considered it his duty not to assist in putting others under the authority of the military. His defence was based on religious grounds. He felt that he was under higher compulsion than the law of the land.
Defendant was fined £5 in each case, in refault of distress a month’s imprisonment in each case.