Archibald Baxter
Archibald Baxter is
one of New Zealand's better-known pacifists from the First World War because his
book ‘We will not cease’ which records his opposition to the war. In his words, the
book is 'the record of my fight to the utmost against the military machine
during the First World War. At that time to be a pacifist was to be in a
distinct minority.'
As a pacifists and as a Christian socialist Baxter rejected the war. He was balloted for service and arrested soon after conscription was introduced in November 1916. He persuaded his family that the war was wrong, and six of the seven Baxter brothers would eventually go to prison for their beliefs.
Baxter was denied exemption because he was not a member of the select churches that had been declared by the military service as 'contrary to divine revelation'. By the end of 1917 Baxter was in the prison attached to Trentham Military Camp near Wellington, and he was one of over 100 objectors being held in prison and prison camps throughout the country. He was also one of the fourteen men sent to Europe, and suffered some cruel punishments for refusing to fight
As a pacifists and as a Christian socialist Baxter rejected the war. He was balloted for service and arrested soon after conscription was introduced in November 1916. He persuaded his family that the war was wrong, and six of the seven Baxter brothers would eventually go to prison for their beliefs.
Baxter was denied exemption because he was not a member of the select churches that had been declared by the military service as 'contrary to divine revelation'. By the end of 1917 Baxter was in the prison attached to Trentham Military Camp near Wellington, and he was one of over 100 objectors being held in prison and prison camps throughout the country. He was also one of the fourteen men sent to Europe, and suffered some cruel punishments for refusing to fight
The book that Archibald Baxter wrote, and shows the detailed account of how he was treated as a result of being a conscientious objector. We will not cease is available online from the New Zealand Electronic Text collection http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz//tm/scholarly/tei-BaxWeWi.html.
