§ 26. Colonel WEDGWOODasked the Secretary of State for War whether he is aware that the thirteen men who were imprisoned in Egypt for refusing to accept 187 transference from the Royal Army Medical Corps to combatant units joined the Royal Army Medical Corps voluntarily, and for several years performed useful and dangerous work, whether he is aware that, in spite of the War Office pledge, these men were taken away from this work and imprisoned in Egypt under the harshest conditions for nearly twelve months; and whether it is now proposed to make them finish their sentences in England?
Captain GUESTThe urgent demand for men of Category A for service in fighting" units at the period in question necessitated the transfer to the Infantry under the Army Transfers Act, 1915, of a considerable number of men who originally enlisted in the Royal Army Medical Corps. The men could claim exemption from the transfer if they held conscientious objection to combatant service, all such claims being carefully investigated before the transfer took place by the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Force with which they were serving, and no man who could show sufficient proof of conscientious objections was transferred. As regards the thirteen men referred to, as I informed my hon. and gallant Friend on the 12th May, they have now been ordered home to complete their terms of imprisonment in English prisons. The general lines on which it is intended to deal with such cases were indicated in a reply given to the hon. and gallant Member for Plaistow on the 3rd April.
§ Colonel WEDGWOODSeeing that these men preferred to go to prison rather than be transferred to combatant units, is not that alone a proof of their conscientious principles?
§ Earl WINTERTONIs there any foundation for the statement that these men were treated in any harsh way? Is my hon. and gallant Friend aware that they were treated very leniently?
§ Colonel WEDGWOODSome of them were dying in prison.