"Crowsley Defence in Court speech" [Temp.2024.3.1]

Catalogue Number
Temp.2024.3.1

Object Name
Speech

Title
Crowsley Defence in Court when charged with distributing leaflets asking soldiers not to shoot their un-armed fellow-countrymen

Place
Aldershot

People
Crowsley, Frederick; Lansbury, George

Events
First World War

Description
Printed page with text reading "Crowsley Defence in Court when charged with distributing leaflets asking soldiers not to shoot their un-armed fellow-countrymen".


Frederick Crowsley was arrested in Aldershot in early 1912 for distributing leaflets and speaking to soldiers about his pacifist beliefs. The leaflet in question was reprinted from The Syndicalist, originally published in The Irish Worker, a letter called ‘Don’t Shoot’. He was tried and sentenced to four months in prison. The case received attention from the public and MPs including Josiah Wedgwood and George Lansbury who advocated for Crowsley in Parliament.


This speech is reprinted by the "Free Speech Defence Committee" and handwritten at the bottom right is "1914-1918". In the speech, Crowsley says "You may send me to prison, I shall not be the first or last to go there unjustly."

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