Over 900 men from Wales objected to fighting in WW1 as a matter of conscience. In 1916, with the introduction of military conscription, many conscientious objectors were imprisoned for their beliefs, their stories largely hidden from history.

100 years later, at Wales’ foremost peace festival – the National Eisteddfod – their bravery is to be recognised with the unveiling of a new public ‘register of conscientious objectors’, as part of the Heritage Lottery funded ‘Wales for Peace’ project, supported by the Assembly’s Wales Remembers programme.

A trial copy of the ‘Pearce Register’ database will be launched on the Eisteddfod field at Abergavenny on August 4 2016, at 1pm in the Peace Tent (‘Y Babell Heddwch’ 240). To introduce this key heritage event, Aled Eirug, academic and former BBC Wales Head of News and Current Affairs, will provide the background to the ‘Pearce Register’ and answer questions on Conscientious Objectors from Wales during WW1.

The event is the first of a Wales-wide exhibition tour exploring ‘Belief and Action’ – with a public call for people to share previously hidden histories of those who have campaigned against war in the last 100 years.

Craig Owen, Head of Wales for Peace at the Welsh Centre for International Affairs said, “Anti-war movements today are an integral part of society and democracy. But in WW1, objectors to war had to display incredible bravery and endure major hardships to stand up for their beliefs. This user-friendly register we hope will help Welsh communities, schools and students to research and unlock the hidden histories of these Conscientious Objectors from across Wales through WW1, enabling users to search names, beliefs and motivations for objecting, some COs’ family details, and to search groups of COs from specific towns or counties. As community research emerges, Wales for Peace, with our heritage partners, can offer training and a website platform to share these long-forgotten stories with the rest of Wales.”

Wales is indebted to Cyril Pearce, former Senior Lecturer at the University of Leeds, for his meticulous life’s work in collating the ‘Pearce Register’. A retired Senior Lecturer and Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Leeds, he has been working on the history of British 1914-18 war resisters for some time and will be releasing a new book, Communities of Resistance, in 2017.

Aled Eirug, an authority on the Conscientious Objectors of Wales who is currently finalising his PhD on the subject, will be providing an insight into COs during WW1, and the fascinating individual stories that can be uncovered.

He said, “A register of the conscientious objectors of Wales is all-important, in order to honour and remember the sacrifice of over nine hundred men who sacrificed their freedom and in several instances their lives, for peace. As we remember the First World War, it’s important that we not only remember the sacrifice of the soldiers who died in the War, but also the bravery and the sacrifice of those men who were persecuted because of their decision to stand against the social, religious and political pressures of the age. The Register serves as a catalyst for further in-depth research into the lives of individual objectors across Wales, and serves as a timely reminder that carrying a gun was not the only way to become a hero.”

Attendees at the launch will have an opportunity to look at the database and to trial the digital interface. Following the trial and feedback from educators in August, the completed database will be finalised and available for public access by the September 1, in time for the beginning of the new academic year. Additional resources on the subject have also been prepared by Wales for Peace and the National Library of Wales.

The Wales for Peace project’s focus on conscientious objection during WW1 will continue with the Cymru’n Cofio funded ‘Belief and Action’ exhibition to be held in different venues across Wales during 2016-17. Communities who would be interested in hosting or contributing stories to the exhibition can contact [email protected].