Celebrating the life of Leslie Steed, Bournville Meeting

Leslie Steed died recently at the age of 101. Born and raised in Stafford in a Quaker family, he was encouraged by his father to look for a job with a pension – so he started to work with the Corporation of Stafford Gas Works. But as the war broke, his early career was interrupted.

Under the terms of the National Service (Armed Forces) Act of 1939 conscientious objectors had to face a tribunal to claim exemption from fighting. When Leslie’s turn came, the judge told him and two colleagues that they would be exempt from military service as long as they joined the Friends Ambulance Unit (FAU) which allowed them to serve close to the front line without engaging in fighting, but sharing the dangers.

Leslie joined the FAU in 1939 at the age of 20. Visiting his cousin, an FAU member in Birmingham, he realised that what they were doing was “really up [his] street.” He said ”We called ourselves the chocolate soldiers of Paul Cadbury.”

After working in a hospital in London, he worked with the Eighth Army in North Africa as an ambulance driver and mechanic and then the Allied Troops in a blood-transfusion unit in Italy, returning to work in the gas industry after the war.

After retirement he served on the Oak Tree House management board and after some years he and his wife became residents. He took on several tasks, the most time-consuming one being locking various external doors and closing windows in the two-storey building every night.

It is good to hear that he was with his daughter and son-in-law in Newcastle under Lyme during his last days, having moved to stay with them a few days before the Covid lockdown.

After the funeral in Newcastle, a memorial service was held on the 29^th May in the sitting room at Oak Tree House, with restricted attendance as Bournville Meeting House had been closed due to the virus. Claire Bowman adds that when meetings resume a memorial service will be held, accommodating all the people who would wish to attend.

A life well-lived. We salute him.

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One hundred years of service: Leslie Steed

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Staffordshire’s National Memorial Arboretum is home to the first monument in Europe remembering Quaker service during World War II. It was inaugurated on 20th April 2013. The monument will commemorate the humanitarian work conducted by Friends in times of conflict.

At the outbreak of WWII the Quaker community was faced with a dilemma: should they accept or refuse to fight? Was there a way to honour their country while safeguarding a fundamental part of their faith?

Pacifism is intrinsic to the Quaker philosophy: the members of the Society of Friends, also known as Quakers or Friends, believe that God is in everyone and each person has a ‘divine spark’ in them – hence their opposition to all forms of violence.

In 1939, when conscription was introduced in Britain, individual Quakers took personal decisions whether to join up or take alternative routes. Many found a compromise in the Friends Relief Service (FRS) which provided support on the home front for civilians in distress as a result of the war.

Others joined the Friends Ambulance Unit (FAU) which allowed them to serve close to the front line without engaging in fighting. Seventeen members lost their lives during WWII.

A living witness

Leslie Steed of Bournville Meeting was one of them. Born and raised in Stafford in a Quaker family, he was encouraged by his father to look for a job with a pension – so he started to work with the Corporation of Stafford Gas Works. But as the war broke, his early career was interrupted.

Under the terms of the National Service (Armed Forces) Act of 1939 conscientious objectors, including Quakers, had to face a tribunal to claim exemption from fighting. When Leslie’s turn came, the judge told him and two colleagues that they would be exempt from military service as long as they stayed in the FAU.

The FAU had been originally set up in WWI. At the outbreak of WWII, a committee, chaired by FAU veteran Paul Cadbury, was created to re-establish the Unit.

Leslie joined the FAU in 1939 at the age of 20 and did not see being part of the FAU as a compromise with his pacifist beliefs: visiting his cousin, an FAU member in Birmingham, he realised that what they were doing was “really up [his] street.” He recalls: “I went and called Paul Cadbury and asked if I could join, and I was in the next camp – it was as simple as that . . . We called ourselves the chocolate soldiers of Paul Cadbury.”

After working in a hospital in London, he supported first the Eighth Army in North Africa as an ambulance driver and mechanic and then the Allied Troops in a blood-transfusion unit in Italy, returning to work in the gas industry after the war.

Unlike many other conscientious objectors, Leslie had encountered no hostility from the population or the army: “There was a rather mock incredulity, people saying: ‘Look, we couldn’t have any choice, we were forced to, but you lot volunteered – you must be mad!'”

Leslie Steed continues to serve: his advice, example and practical assistance is valued by his Bournville neighbours.

 

 

 

 

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MP Ruth Cadbury introduces Taxes for Peace Bill

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A hundred years after the British Government legalised the right of conscientious objection to military service – the first country in the world to do so – a Bill to extend this right into the tax system is being introduced to Parliament by Ruth Cadbury MP, a descendent of WW1 conscientious objectors affected by the 1916 clause.

The Bill would increase funding for, and lay more emphasis on peacebuilding, development and diplomacy work, more economical, ethical and efficient forms of security.

The 10-minute rule Bill will be read on 19 July 19 2016 by the MP for Brentford and Isleworth, who has been working closely with a campaigning organisation, Conscience: Taxes for Peace Not War, to secure the right to pay for peace, not war. This Quaker inspired NGO has been campaigning for the recognition of the rights of conscientious objectors to military tax since 1979.

Friends will remember Peace Tax stalwarts who had possessions seized and auctioned in lieu of taxes, including Birmingham’s Else and Joseph Pickvance, Stroud’s John Marjoram and Gloucester’s Ursula and Arthur Windsor. Arthur was actually imprisoned for 28 days, only to receive a parliamentary welcome on his release, conveyed to the House by MP Dennis Canavan. Others on PAYE made sure of withdrawing their war tax equivalent by making gift-aided charitable donations.

The Bill aims to create a legal structure that would allow citizens who object to paying for others to kill to redirect the military portion of their taxes into a fund dedicated to non-military security, conflict resolution and prevention work – enabling them to contribute to national security with a clear conscience.

At present, people with profound moral and religious beliefs that stop them taking part in any violent activity are forced by the taxation system to directly fund armed conflict and deadly and destructive weaponry.

Since 1916, the right to “… freedom of thought, conscience and religion.” has been recognised in every significant international treaty. Conscientious objection to military tax is a manifestation of this right. This Bill has a legal precedent in the 1916 Military Service Act. This right should be updated in line with changes in warfare which is now fought more and more with money, not manpower.

It is taken for granted that we contribute taxes for military preparations; this is conscription by proxy because we live in a country where civilian men are no longer required for military service. Military tax is an issue of conscience, not a political preference – this type of hypothecation could not therefore set a precedent for selective taxation.

The Bill would increase funding for, and lay more emphasis on peacebuilding, development and diplomacy work. These are more economical, ethical and efficient forms of security.  

At its Parliamentary launch, Ruth Cadbury endorsed the Bill by stating “I want to pay for our national security, in fact I want to strengthen it. The Taxes for Peace Bill does this by investing in the most effective form of defence: conflict prevention.” She continued: “In an age where more and more people are concerned about spending their money ethically, this is an idea whose time has come.”

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Archive 2013: Pat Knowles (Northfield and later Selly Oak meeting)

Pat died in 2013 aged 90. Her working years were spent in the social work and teaching sectors, in Britain, Madagascar and Germany and she had many voluntary commitments.

She was a founder member and, for some time, European Coordinator of the international organisation SERVAS, writing a book ‘Servas – an experiment in Peace Building’. She opposed the pressure exerted on the organisation by Senator Joseph McCarthy who firmly encouraged SERVAS to focus on travel and friendship and lose the peacebuilding emphasis.

As an effective media officer for Birmingham Green Party for some years, Pat wrote letters to newspapers and spoke on local radio – taking broadcaster Ed Doolan to task more than once!

An extract from a post Pat wrote for The Stirrer displays her concern for the environment: “There is now little question that human activity is a major factor in causing climate change, but in spite of the report of the International Panel on Climate Change [IPCC] there are still writers who object to its conclusions and question its motivation”.

She inspired Terry Grimley to write a Birmingham Post feature about the valued work of Laurie Baker, a fellow member of Northfield Quaker meeting. After serving in the Friends Ambulance Unit during the war Laurie settled in India and pioneered sustainable architecture using local clay (above) – designing high profile buildings and also low cost housing.

Pat was a farmer’s daughter and advocated producing high-quality food grown and distributed locally. The increasingly frequent decisions of councils to sell their county farms were vigorously opposed by her and for several years she produced ‘Growing Concerns’, the Green Party agricultural newsletter.

Though her letter to the Guardian was written in 1999, it is directly relevant to current concerns about the food supply chain.

She said: “We should move away from the concept of farming as a competitive industry to that of a service to the community, producing high-quality food grown and distributed locally, instead of a complicated system of imports from all over the world, brought here with great demands on transport and creating pollution, especially from air delivery”.

Pat was a confirmed pacifist.

As long as her health would permit, she attended and spoke at the day of remembrance for conscientious objectors, held annually in the Bath Row Peace Garden (right).

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