1. On War Service 1914 Badge.
Issued to signify that the wearer was engaged in essential war work. The badges were initially unnumbered but that changed in 1916 so people could not use fake badges to get out of conscription.
One of the reasons for issuing the badges was to protect men eligible for military service but engaged in essential war work from being accosted by young women in the street who would hand them white feathers and accuse them of being cowards.

2. Diary of a Conscientious Objector – Fred Tait
Fred Tait was a teacher when war broke out. He refused to fight and became a conscientious objector. He was imprisoned for 21 months for his beliefs.
“Only one thing shines clearly through the mental torture, the broken hopes, the happy and sad dreams, the disappointments of the past two years. That is my ideal. I believe with all my heart and soul that all things work together for good. I believe that the sufferings of this present time are nothing to the glory that shall be. I know that this world maddened and insane by lust for slaughter, shall become again peaceful and calm. I know that we have not shed our tears of despair, not eaten out our hearts behind prison walls, nor broken our spirit against iron bars in vain. The work which God has appointed us to do, the testimony that He has put into the mouth of Quaker, atheist, socialist, anarchist, communist, agnostic, has not been utterly lost. Though we have been scoffed at, mocked, insulted, bullied, tortured, murdered, driven insane, not one word which we uttered of Love, Peace, and Brotherhood has been spoken in vain. Our influence shall be felt long after the terrible, brutal, unceasing slaughter of the Somme and the Marne has been forgotten. Our faith shall be believed long after the names of those who lived and suffered for it have been lost in the oblivion of Time. Our actions can never be forgotten. Our testimony ignored. For the first time in the History of the World a body of men of all sects, no sects, of all races, of all lands, has stood before the Peoples and proclaimed that Love, Peace and Fellowship are greater than War and Death. Centuries shall pass, England, Germany, France shall become memories and names, London, Paris and Berlin shall be names of dust covered ruins, but the message we have given to Humanity shall live and flourish and bear fruit in civilisations, more wonderful, more supreme, more God like, than any of our wildest imaginings, have painted. The time shall come when every man shall be a Christ and the Kingdom of God shall be realised, on this our Earth.”

3. National Registration Card
By 1915 it had become clear that voluntary recruitment was not going to provide the numbers of men required for war so the Government passed the National Registration Act to discover how many men between the ages of 15 and 65 were engaged in each trade.

4. Army Exemption Card
The Military Service Act of 1916 brought conscription into effect for the first time in the war. An application could be made for the issue of a certificate of exemption but there were only four grounds for exemption:
If it is in the nation’s interests that he should be engaged in other work or if he is being educated or trained for any other work that he should continue.
If serious hardship would ensue owing to his financial or business obligations or domestic position
Ill health or infirmity
Conscientious objection to the undertaking of combatant service.

5. School Logbook
This excerpt from a school logbook describes what happened when someone set off for war.
“In the name of the teachers and scholars, the master said “I wish you God-speed, good luck, good health and a safe return” Three cheers were given for the King, three for Mr. Orr, the national anthem was sung. Mr. Orr simply said “I thank you” and went off to pack his things and report himself at Durham.”