ABSTRACT
The importance of the Military Service Act was that it introduced conscription – i.e. compulsory military service: previously the army relied on volunteers. The Act, however, also conferred the right on conscientious objectors to apply for exemption from combatant service to tribunals empowered to grant such exemptions, which could be absolute or conditional. Some cases of civil servants who were conscientious objectors came to the notice of the Treasury in 1916, only a few months after the Military Service Act was passed. The Chief Recruiting Officer replied the same day: ‘the action to be taken in the case of Mr Arthur Creech Jones has the attention of the Military authorities. The necessary steps to enforce his compliance with their requirements are now in course’. The Treasury was the key department for advising departments in all aspects of policy concerning conscientious objectors as, indeed, it was in all aspects of conditions of service.
