Howard Cruttenden Marten

Births Sep 1884

• Marten Howard Cruttenden St. Geo. H. Sq. 1a 412

Howard Marten was the son of a North London shopkeeper, a Quaker. He was a pacifist from an early age, campaigning against the Boer War in his teens. His mother was a Congregationalist. Howard became an active Quaker and worked as a bank clerk in Piccadilly after leaving school.

His faith led him to be a conscientious objector. When he was conscripted in 1916 he refused to join up. He became ‘an absolutist’. He refused to do any war-related work, such as working on farms, or even digging ditches.

His story is told in Cowards: The True Story of the Men Who Refused to Fight by Marcus Sedgwick.

The following are extracts from the Imperial War Museums web pages

Magistrates Court, Arrested in Pinner, charged 18.4.16 and handed over. - Absentee

War Service, NCC(CM) (Disobeyed orders in the Non-Combatant Corps) Friends War Victims Relief Details of Court Martial: NCC (Non-Combatant Corps) (Eastern) Mill Hill; Harwich Redoubt; Felixstowe; June 1916 in France awaiting sentence;CM (Court Martial) Abbeville 2.6.16 - death, not confirmed; CM (Court Martial) Abbeville 7.6.16 - death com. to 10 yrs.PS Winchester CP (Civil Prison) - Refused to sign army papers; post-war work with Friends' War Victims Relief Service, France 1918 - 1919

Military Service Tribunal, MST Hendon - granted ECS (Exemption from Combatant Service); Central Tribunal 7.8.16; Central Tribunal at Wormwood S. 14.8.16 - CO class A, to Brace Committee

Work Centre, HOS (The Home Office Scheme, administered by the Brace Committee) Dyce Quarry, Aberdeen 8.9.16, Oct.'16; Wakefield Work Centre Nov.'16, 5.1.17, 2.2.17, 16.3.17 (Letter in Wakefield Express 3.2.17); Dartmoor 23.3.17, 27.4.17, 18.5.17, 3.8.17, 4.11.17, 25.1.18; 24.5.17 Secretary of Men's Committee; 25.10.18 Exceptionally employed under HOS (The Home Office Scheme, administered by the Brace Committee)

Central Tribunal, Central Tribunal Nos. W.440 M.123 Class: A - genuine

During the course of the war he was held in Rouen, Le Havre, Winchester, Wormwood Scrubs, Wakefield, Aberdeen and finally Dartmoor.

At one stage he was handcuffed with five others and made to face a wall. He was also held in solitary confinement for three days with just bread and water.

Once in France, he was warned that any act of disobedience would result in his death.

Howard Cruttenden Marten was finally released in April 1919, after the end of the war. He went on to be a successful businessman and helped to lead the Conscientious Objection movement of the 1930s and 40s.

He died in 1981 aged of 96.