Premium
Six Weeks at Hawkspur Green: A Pacifist Episode during the Battle of Britain
Author(s) -
Brock Peter
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
peace and change
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1468-0130
pISSN - 0149-0508
DOI - 10.1111/1468-0130.00262
Subject(s) - battle , unit (ring theory) , innocence , service (business) , law , military service , work (physics) , history , george (robot) , sociology , psychology , political science , ancient history , art history , engineering , mechanical engineering , mathematics education , economy , economics
In early summer 1940 a small group of pacifist undergraduates from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge had formed a Universities Ambulance Unit. They started training for medical work in June as the Battle of Britain got under way; their training camp, situated at Hawkspur Green near London, lasted for about six weeks. The intellectual caliber of the group was indeed extremely high, though this did not entail necessarily medical efficiency! The unit aimed at providing a service alternative for “unchurched” pacifists liable for military service. Among the campers was Canadian George Grant, later a prominent philosopher, and his letters home provide insight into life at Hawkspur Camp. No camp records exist, but in their old age several ex‐campers have reflected on this “remarkable episode” in their careers. In fact, however, the unit never became a reality. Some ex‐campers eventually joined the armed forces; others engaged in relief work in the London Blitz or some other form of alternative service. The author perceives three significant aspects in the Hawkspur experience: youthful rebellion against war, vanished fellowship, and lost innocence.