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Story: Conscription, conscientious objection and pacifism

A religious 'shirker', 1916

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A religious 'shirker', 1916

This cartoon, published in the New Zealand Observer in July 1916, satirises the 'newborn conscientious objector', who adopted a religious belief allegedly to escape conscription. It shows a 'shirker' evading the recruitment officer by escaping into a Quaker meeting house. The Quakers had a centuries-old tradition of pacifism.

Using this item

National Library of New Zealand, Papers Past

Reference: Observer, 1 July 1916, p. 16

by William Blomfield

Permission of the National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Mark Derby, Conscription, conscientious objection and pacifism – Conscientious objection, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/cartoon/35689/a-religious-shirker-1916 (accessed 10 June 2026).

Story by Mark Derby, published 18 May 2012.