Opposition to the Great War in north-east Wales

Abstract

This study assesses the extent to which there was opposition to the Great War in north-east Wales, and how it was expressed through political movements such as the Independent Labour Party (ILP) and pacifist movements such as the Fellowship of Reconcilation (FoR).It analyses the most obvious manifestation of the anti-war movement, namely the conscientious objectors (COs) from the region, whose stance provoked bitter criticism and condemnation, but also admiration and respect.In common with the rest of Britain during the Great War, north-east Wales was converted to the requirements of total war.Large numbers of women were employed for the first time, and thousands of men volunteered to join the armed forces, including approximately twenty thousand from the six counties of north Wales. 1 Many of those men who chose not to serve in the armed forces worked in factories producing armaments, or remained on the land to sustain agricultural production.However, a small minority of men resisted all attempts to be coerced into supporting the war effort and became conscientious objectors.One of their number, Walter Leslie Roberts, a young architect brought up in Hawarden in Flintshire, and living in Bredbury near Stockport in Lancashire, became the first conscientious objector to die as a result of his treatment in captivity by the prison authorities.The militarisation of Denbighshire and Flintshire during the Great War happened quickly and dramatically.The area's main recruiting centre was Wrexham, and before 1 Clive Hughes, I'r Fyddin Fechgyn Gwalia!: Recriwtio I'r Fyddin yng Ngogledd-Orllewin Cymru 1914-1916 ( Llanrwst, Gwasg Carreg Gwalch, 2014), 42. the war, it had already included strong companies of the Royal Welch Fusiliers in Mold, Flint, Connah's Quay, Holywell and Rhyl. 2 A campaign for a County Territorial battalion was inaugurated in 1914, 3 and the largest Army camp in Wales was established in Kinmel Park, near Rhyl, in February 1915 which initially held between fifteen and eighteen thousand soldiers. 4Another large camp was built in Park Hall near Oswestry, and a military prison was brought into use in Mold.North-east Wales became a centre for munitions production, and Government run Shell factories were initially set up in seven centres throughout Wales, including Wrexham, and an explosives works in Queensferry, where 2,500 women were employed. 5 Eighty per cent of their operatives were women, and as the war increased in intensity, more munitions factories were opened in Wrexham, Trevor, Wynnstay and Acrefair. 6 Due to the numbers of miners who were recruited to the Army in the early stages of the war, coal production decreased markedly.At the height of voluntary recruiting, between August 1914 and March 1915, approximately 14.4% of Denbighshire coalminers, or 2,676 joined the Army.This compares with the 19.5 per cent of miners who joined from the south Wales coalfield. 7 This suggests a substantial degree of support for the war, but the initial recruiting enlistments in the Wrexham area peaked at 2,768 as early as September 1914, and declined to 1,332 and 1,150 in January and February 1915 respectively.