Dyce Work Camp
Dyce Work Camp was set up in August 1916 at quarries north-west of Aberdeen, Scotland, to accommodate conscientious objectors who had been in prison for refusing military service in World War I.
These men, mostly from England, had been released on the condition that they performed "work of national importance" – breaking up granite rock to produce stone for road building.
The conditions in the tented camp near the village of Dyce were poor, exacerbated by the very wet weather, and one man died of pneumonia without receiving medical treatment.
However, by autumn 1915 there was a shortage of recruits to replace those killed or injured in the fighting, so a voluntary system, the Derby Scheme, was instituted, by which men could "attest" that they were willing to serve when the time came.
On 27 January 1916 the Military Service Act enlisted all men aged between 18 and 41 who lived in Great Britain (Ireland was excluded) and who were unmarried or widowed on 2 November 1915.
[3] Those whose applications for exemption as conscientious objectors were refused were called up for military service and, if they did not co-operate, they were arrested and taken before a magistrates' court, where they were handed over to the Army.
Because quarrying was not a protected occupation many workmen there had been called up, and it had been possible to persuade the employer to take on the conscientious objectors; he would not be responsible for paying their wages.
[9] Thirty-one had previously been sentenced to death before being reprieved, including fifteen of the Richmond Sixteen[10][11] The first job for the men was to erect 27 bell tents and three marquees because there was no living accommodation on site.
[13] The Scottish Local Government Board sent a medical doctor, Dr Dittmar, to inspect the camp – he visited on 4–5 September and reported in detail on his overall findings.
[18] The workers were allowed to come and go in their free time and so this enabled the men, many of whom were well-educated and articulate, to take the opportunity to publicise their situation, including by publishing a camp newspaper The Granite Echo.
Complaint is also made because of the strain of "ten hours' work in a quarry every day", of leaking tents, and of the hardship of sleeping in "barns and cottages".
Some will fall by the way under any state differing from their normal routine, but when we think of the conditions which the men in the trenches have had to bear during the past two years in fighting and dying for the safety and the liberty of these conscientious objectors, the complaints fall extremely flat, especially as the conditions complained of only apply to a comparatively small number who have for the most part refused to work or committed other offences.
brood about their business, and the Lossiemouth golf course having been banned to him, the ex-Labour Chairman will no doubt find very congenial reception for his pro-German martyrdom trophies among the conscientious shirkers at Dyce.
[33]On the same day, 12 September, the Aberdeen newspaper was able to report something of a lull in the Battle of the Somme, but it carried its usual daily account of the numbers of British casualties – 4936 including 1018 killed and 636 missing.
Brief articles were published about seven local men who had been killed and, amongst the few mentions of the injured, there was a report about a Dyce man, George Riddoch of the Gordon Highlanders, who was wounded but had been returned to hospital in England.
[34] During the 19 October House of Commons debate on military service, and following the death of Roberts and the Home Office inquiry, Brace and MacDonald both spoke.
[35][36][29] Most significantly, Brace claimed that the camp had only been intended to be temporary, it would cost too much to improve it to the recommended standards, and that it would be closed by the end of the month.
