Edith Maud Ellis was a

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

and was actively involved in supporting

conscientious objector A conscientious objector (often shortened to conchie) is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. The term has also been extended to obje ...

s during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

Early life

Edith Ellis and her identical twin sister

Marian Marian may refer to: People * Mari people, a Finno-Ugric ethnic group in Russia * Marian (given name), a list of people with the given name * Marian (surname), a list of people so named Places *Marian, Iran (disambiguation) * Marian, Queensla ...

were born on 6 January 1878, the daughters of John Edward Ellis, MP and Maria Rowntree.

World War I

In 1916, Edith became Treasurer of the Friends Service Committee, set up to support Quakers who became conscientious objectors. This committee had been set up by

Yearly Meeting Yearly Meeting is a term used by members of the Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers, to refer to an organization composed of constituent meetings or churches within a geographical area. The constituent meetings are called Monthly Meetings in ...

in 1915, to advise men of enlistment age. In May 1918, the three officers of the Friends Service Committee were prosecuted under the

Defence of the Realm Act The Defence of the Realm Act (DORA) was passed in the United Kingdom on 8 August 1914, four days after it entered the First World War and was added to as the war progressed. It gave the government wide-ranging powers during the war, such as the p ...

, charged with publishing a pamphlet titled ''A Challenge to Militarism'' without submitting it to the Censor. In their defence the Friends stated that: :''We feel that the declaration of Peace and goodwill is the duty of all Christians and ought not to be dependent upon the permission of any Government Official.'' :''We therefore intend to continue the publication of such leaflets as we feel it our duty to put forth, without submitting them to the Censor ...'' Edith Ellis was fined £100 plus 50 guineas costs or three months imprisonment. Harrison Barrow and Arthur Watts received six months imprisonment. An appeal was held in July 1918 but was dismissed. Edith refused to pay her fine and was imprisoned for three months in Holloway.

Later life

In 1919, Edith turned her family home, Wrea Head Hall in Scalby, into a convalescent centre for released conscientious objectors. In 1948, Edith gave Wrea Head and its contents to the North Riding County Council for the purposes of education. Edith established the ''Edith Ellis Charitable Trust'' for general charitable purposes. The Trust, now named ''The Edith M Ellis 1985 Charitable Trust'', "... aims to give small grants to a broad range of Quaker and other UK registered charities or Non Governmental Organisations." Edith Ellis died on 27 March 1963.

References

External links

South London Quakers, Edith Maud Ellis (1878 – 1963)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ellis, Edith Maud British anti–World War I activists 1878 births 1963 deaths British identical twins English Quakers English twins People from Nottingham People from the Borough of Scarborough