Port Talbot's War Resistance

1914 - 1918

by Philip Adams

LIST OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1: Introduction to Port Talbot. 

This chapter explains the districts of Port Talbot for those who are not acquainted with the area and provides background to the social, industrial and political environment in which opposition to conscription and war took place in Port Talbot.

Chapter 2: Conscription and the tribunals.

This chapter explains why the international situation at the start of the twentieth century led to conscription in Britain, how it was gradually introduced, and the mechanics that were used to administer it, namely the military tribunal system.

Chapter 3: The conscientious objector.

This chapter considers the origins of conscientious objection, the reasons for it, how its meaning was defined in World War One, and the characteristics of objectors.

Chapter 4: The Port Talbot objectors.

This chapter records the Port Talbot objectors’ backgrounds, experiences at tribunals, and the outcomes.

Chapter 5: The local support.

This chapter describes the support that the resisters received, explaining the roles of both the individuals and the organisations involved.

Chapter 6: The National support

The chapter describes how resistance was encouraged by many nationally-known speakers who visited the coal-mining valleys and the steel and tin-plate manufacturing centres. 

Chapter 7: So what? The conclusions

The questions which were posed in earlier chapters are considered. Foremost amongst these is the question ‘what was the legacy of these men?’ 

Appendices:

Timeline of key dates - Conscientious objector motivations - Tribunal members - Prisons and work centres - Significant events in Port Talbot concerning the war - Henry Davies' trial - Albert Rankin's prison notebook - Bibliography - Definitions and tribunal language - Letter from Northallerton Prison - Statistics - homes, religion, employment

Port Talbot and blast furnaces

Albert Rankin's house?

'The work is a valuable contribution to the history of the peace and socialist movements of the Twentieth Century.'

(Martin Wright, Chair-Llafur/Welsh People's History Society)