"Hitherto, the stand taken by Britain's International Bible Students in opposition to war has been ignored, misunderstood and even dismissed. Gary Perkins' thorough and scholarly work is an essential corrective to all of that. This pioneering work is a necessary contribution to our growing understanding of the diverse character of Britain's anti-war community during the First World War." Cyril Pearce, University of Leeds, author of 'Comrades in Conscience'."It is most definitely my kind of study, being based on thorough research, lucidly written, and argued with subtlety, nuance, and courtesy. It makes clear that I, Rae, and others have got a lot wrong in our references to the IBSA. Your detailed biographical treatment of IBSA objectors establishes what a dutiful and disciplined group they were - model citizens, from the state's and civil society's points of view, in everything other than their willingness to do army service. Even to a secular non-pacifist like me, they come across as admirable and likeable."Martin Ceadel, Emeritus Fellow of New College Oxford and Professor of Politics, University of Oxford.Peace studies following the Great War tended to concentrate attentions on Quaker pacifists and Socialists who were among the more outspoken conscientious objectors. As a result the stand of quieter religious minorities tended to be marginalised, forgotten and even lost, although they were no less remarkable and, in some instances, major players in key events of the time. This book encapsulates the painstaking results of fifteen years research into the stand of early Bible Students as conscientious objectors in World War One Britain. Scouring surviving military records, local and national library archives, newspaper reports, Hansard Parliamentary statements, contemporary Watch Tower references, contributed family scrap books and CO memoirs, researcher Gary Perkins sort to recover the history of one such 'lost' group: members of the International Bible Students Association. He found that while small in number, in terms of expectation and performance the Bible Student COs "punched way above their weight and their fingerprints may be said to have been left all over the important episodes of Britain's World War One peace history." At last, their true story of courage, faith, tragedy and triumph has been identified and the history of the early Bible Students, some one hundred years later, is given the recognition it deserves. In so doing the account related illuminates the journey taken by the antecedents of today's Jehovah's Witnesses, a group said to "make up the largest community in the world today that objects to wars." The book provides indispensable reading for scholars and students of the First World War, especially for those who may hold an interest in conscientious objection, religious minorities and war resistance, and who want to go beyond the standard works which have dominated the subject for the last century.
About the Author: Coming from a background in Training and Development, the author holds an ongoing interest in conflict management, holocaust remembrance and the history of the peace movement in Britain. He lives in North Lancashire with his wife. He has researched the subject of Bible Student conscientious objectors for the last 15 years in the hope that scholars would write their history. These eventually convinced him that since he was a Jehovah's Witness, he understood the subject well and was best placed to write it himself. He hopes this work justifies their confidence.