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30
from volunteering to conscription
TWO YEARS SEVEN
MONTHS BEHIND BARS
J
ohn McTaggart* was 28
when war broke out. He
was married to Rebekah and
father to Michael and Joshua.
He was a trade unionist,
President of the Dundee Labour
Representation
Committee
(LRC), long time member
of the Independent Labour
Party (ILP) and Scottish
secretary of the ILP Scouts.
After his return from the
Socialist International Congress
in Basel in 1912 he and fellow
ILP delegates pledged to make
every effort to prevent war
breaking out across Europe.
Just days after war broke
out John attended a ‘Peace
Demonstration’ organised by
the ILP, the British Socialist
Party (BSP) and Glasgow
Peace Society at Glasgow
Green,August 9 1914.Everyone
present realised ‘they could
not stop the war’ but the
demonstration might at least
act as an antidote to jingoism
and war fever sweeping over
Europe. The meeting ended
with a resolution calling on
the Government ‘to use every
endeavour to restore Peace,and
suggest the notion of a General
Armistice.’
Meanwhile John’s brother
Charlie underwent his basic
training after volunteering for
military service. From May
1915,as Charlie recovered from
his injuries at Aubers Ridge,
the anti-war movement was
growing in confidence and
reputation and in November
1915 the Dundee branch of the
No-Conscription
Fellowship
(NCF) was formed. After the
Military ServiceAct introduced
conscription in January1916,
the Dundee Joint Committee
Against
Conscription
was
formed.
War resisters in Dundee
included the Trades Council,
the ILP and BSP, Dundee
Socialist Sunday School and
ILP Scouts, a branch of the
Union of Democratic Control
(UDC)
and, ‘peculiar
to
Dundee’, two prohibitionist
parties and an ‘interesting
ecumenical religious body’
the Dundee Free Religious
Movement which opposed the
war and conscription.
John and Charlie had not
spoken to each other since war
broke out. In September 1915
Charlie fought and survived
the Battle of Loos relatively
unscathed and came through
an attack on German trenches
at La Basee in June 1916.
He was sent back to Britain
after the battle of Beaumont-
Hammel in September 1916
just as John was making his
first appearance before the
local Military Tribunal.
John claimed exemption
from military service because
as an ILP and NCF member
he was politically opposed to
a war that he believed was the
outcome of ‘Capitalism allied
with Militarism and Secret
Diplomacy’. His application
was rejected as was his appeal
and in October 1916 he was
finally arrested for refusing
military service. He was
sentenced to six months hard
labour less 49 days, which he
spent at a number of locations.
He was released on January
22 1917 but was immediately
taken into police custody
and stood before the court
once more. He again refused
military service and was given
a further prison sentence.
Charlie
returned
from
France in September 1918
and remained in Dundee after
contracting and recovering
from Spanish Flu. His war
was over. But John’s war
resistance continued. He was
now incarcerated in Wormwood
Scrubs, where he served out
the remainder of his two-year
sentence.
He was finally released
from prison in April 1919, after
serving two years and seven
months behind bars.His health
had suffered considerably. In
the meantime his wife and two
sons, like the dependents of
all the Dundee Conscientious
Objectors,had beenmaintained
by funds raised by the Dundee
NCF since 1916.
Based on factual events of a DundeeWar Resister and Conscientious Objector