26 Facts About Eric Chappelow

Eric Barry Wilfred Chappelow was an English poet and conscientious objector during the First World War.

Eric Chappelow was eventually released in the custody of Philip and Lady Ottoline Morrell to serve in a Friends' Ambulance Unit in England.

Eric Chappelow earned a literary prize for one of his poems published in 1945.

Eric Barry Wilfred Chappelow was born in St George Hanover Square, London, England, to George and Kate Chappelow.

Eric Chappelow was a brother of illustrator and fine arts expert Archibald Cecil Chappelow, and a cousin of the suffragist Grace Chappelow.

On 27 October 1913, Eric Chappelow became a clerk to the education committee of the London County Council.

Eric Chappelow is not strikingly original; there is no new note to be detected.

In March 1916, at the outset of the introduction of compulsory service in World War I, Eric Chappelow was "exempted as a conscientious objector", with a certificate of exemption formally being granted by the Barnes and Mortlake local tribunal on 5 April 1916.

Eric Chappelow's exemption was challenged by a local military authority, and he was "sent before a tribunal, who could see no reason to grant him exemption for his spiritual and political beliefs".

Eric Chappelow's exemption was rescinded on appeal, after which Chappelow was "then reclaimed for army noncombatant service, which he refused".

Eric Chappelow was "arrested only three and a half hours after the time that he should have presented himself", a point as to which he later complained, and was taken to Kingston Barracks, where he was charged with offences including cowardice and treason.

Eric Chappelow refused to undress for a medical examination, and after being undressed by force, refused to put on a military uniform.

Eric Chappelow was arrested, taken to an army barracks and told to put on a uniform; when he refused, he was held down, stripped by the guards and forced into khaki.

Eric Chappelow was reported to have "appeared at his court martial in a prison blanket, having spent many weeks without clothes", although another report stated that he appeared in at least one proceeding in khaki.

Eric Chappelow's lawyer argued that he was a civilian, and in a certified occupation as a clerk to a government committee, and that he was "willing to do work of national importance outside the provisions of the Military Service Act".

Russell noted that conscientious objectors, "including Eric Chappelow have always held that there was no objection to national service, provided it was not directly concerned with the war".

British Liberal politician Philip Morrell addressed the matter in the House of Commons, where he "argued that Eric Chappelow was being subjected to mental torture".

Eric Chappelow was sent to Wandsworth prison, and with his conviction, Chappelow lost his job with the education committee.

Eric Chappelow "wrote repeatedly to friends about his fears and his terrible sense of isolation":.

Eric Chappelow was a brave man, but he was no hero by nature.

Eric Chappelow soon became miserable and frightened, writing to Charles Sanger: 'I feel I am going mad.

Eric Chappelow spent four months in prison, and was paroled by September 1916, thereafter serving in a Friends' Ambulance Unit on a farm provided by Philip Morrell and Morrell's wife, Ottoline, as a sort of sanctuary for conscientious objectors.

Later in life, Eric Chappelow "wrote poetry on classical themes", and "contributed several Assyriological articles to the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society and the Journal of the Transactions of The Victoria Institute in the 1930s".

For one offering in this collection, Eric Chappelow won the British Annual of Literature award for the best short poem.

The British Annual of Literature wrote of the volume that "Mr Eric Chappelow can write charmingly of little things", and that "[i]t is rare to find a poet writing during the War so untouched by it as the author of this accomplished volume".

Eric Chappelow died in Stepney, London, on 28 November 1957, at the age of 67.