• Date: 27 July 1916
• Artist: William Thomas Angrave

Drawn by William Thomas Angrave, this intricate floral design is probably a pattern for lace. Before the war Angrave was a draughtsman designing lace in Long Eaton, Derbyshire. This was a town booming on the profits of the lace trade.

William was transferred from the Sherwood Foresters, Derby, to the 3rd Northern Non-Combatant Corps (NCC) at Richmond on 13 July 1916. The NCC had been set up in March that year, and its members were subject to army discipline, but didn’t take part in battle or carry weapons. Soon after arriving he was court martialled and given six months’ detention with hard labour.

• Date: About 1916
• Artist: Unknown

‘Is England a free country?’ asks the author of this inscription, ‘Well let us go’, he continues, ‘Let the MPs fight it out. Lets be free and look after our wives and children.’

Many socialist conscientious objectors believed that the First World War had nothing to do with the working classes. It was a war started by politicians and capitalists. It was they, this author argues, who should ‘fight it out’.

• Creator: Unknown
• Date: 20th century

HMS Badger is part of a larger battle scene on the walls of the cell block. The vessel was a Royal Navy Destroyer built in 1911.

On 24 October 1914 HMS Badger was the first naval vessel to attack and ram a German U-boat off the coast of Holland. HMS Badger also rescued 570 survivors from 'SS Lanfranc' which was torpedoed in 1917. After suffering some U-boat damage towards the end of the war, it was eventually sold for scrap in May 1921. Unlike the HMS Badger itself, this sketch only shows three funnels rather than two.

Researched by Colin Grant

• Date: About 1916
• Artist: Richard Lewis Barry

In this playful inscription Richard Lewis Barry, a socialist conscientious objector from Long Eaton, Derbyshire, describes the futility of fighting. We do not know whether this was a quote recalled from memory, or written in Barry’s own words.

This was one of many graffiti Barry inscribed on his cell wall. He was determined to make his mark and express his political opinions, both within and beyond the cells.

• Date: About 1916
• Artist: Richard Lewis Barry

A bull’s head was the only thing Richard Lewis Barry believed he could draw. Even this, he thought, required a label to ensure that no one would misidentify the illustration.

Next to his drawing Barry notes his name, address and membership of the Independent Labour Party and No Conscription Fellowship.

For the inscription to the left, also by Barry, see ‘Ending the War’

• Date: August 1916
• Artist: Percy Fawcett Goldsbrough

Hidden behind the door of one of the upstairs cells is an inscription written by Percy Fawcett Goldsbrough, a socialist conscientious objector from Mirfield in West Yorkshire.

Goldsbrough was put into the cells for disobeying orders – or as his graffiti describes it, for ‘refusing to be made into a soldier’. Soon after making his mark on the cell wall he was court martialled, sentenced to 112 days’ imprisonment and transferred to Durham civil prison.

The date and creator of this musical score remain unknown. However, the song ‘Home Sweet Home’ would have struck a chord with those held in the cells.

Isolated from their families and drawn from across the country, it is unsurprising that those held here would have turned their thoughts to the comforts of domestic life. ‘Home Sweet Home’ was one of the most popular songs of the 19th century. Perhaps this reassuring and familiar tune was transcribed from memory by a homesick conscientious objector.

• Date: 1915
• Artist: Unknown

In his inscription, this socialist conscientious objector asserts his belief that ‘The only War which is worth fighting is the Class War.’ Like many socialists he argues for solidarity among the working classes of all nations.

After all, he writes, the working-class men of England had no quarrel with working-class men of Germany. If only they stood together and refused to fight, ‘there would be no war’.

• Date: May 1916
• Artist: John Hubert Brocklesby

Norman Gaudie was a conscientious objector held at Richmond Castle in May 1916. This portrait of his mother was drawn by his friend and fellow conscientious objector, Bert Brocklesby. Her likeness was taken from a photograph smuggled into the cells in a secret pocket.

After seeing the image Gaudie wrote to his mother, ‘I close my eyes partly and imagine it is really you.’ The drawing perhaps provided some solace.

For other graffiti by Brocklesby see ‘Timeline and Calendar’, ‘Annie Wainwright’ and ‘Every Cross Grows Light’.

• Creator: George Davidson
• Date: 1939

This illustration of Newcastle-upon-Tyne by George Davison shows the view from the High Level Bridge on the River Tyne.

The level of detail suggests it could have been drawn from a picture or a postcard, most likely by a local resident. George, whose identity remains inconclusive, did not limit the sketch to the iconic Tyne Bridge, but also shows the Swing Bridge, Grey's Monument, the castle, and a church.

However, the sketch has some discrepancies. For example, the castle (with flag) has been drawn close to the northern entrance of the Tyne Bridge, but would not have been visible from this angle.

Researched by Emma Hogarth

• Creator: Harry Vasey (1895–1954)
• Date: July–August 1916

Harry Vasey, a 19-year-old grocer’s assistant from Ripley and conscientious objector to the First World War, drew four inscriptions on the cell block walls.

Harry was granted exemption from combatant service on conscientious grounds in March 1916. When called up for non-combatant service in May, he refused a medical examination and was confined to the Police Guard Room. In spite of his resistance he was still described as ‘quite polite in his manner’.

After many tribulations, he returned to duty as part of the Non-Combatant Corps at Richmond Castle. Here he committed another offence, ‘refusing to obey a lawful command’, and was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment with hard labour.

Researched by Laura Hodgson

• Date: May 1916
• Artist: John Hubert (Bert) Brocklesby

This makeshift calendar and timeline record the journey of Bert Brocklesby from his home in Conisbrough, South Yorkshire, to the cells at Richmond Castle.

After refusing to join the Non-Combatant Corps (NCC), Brocklesby was remanded in custody. He was held at Pontefract Barracks before being ordered to make his way to the northern base of the NCC, Richmond Castle. The timeline records several periods of detention at Richmond for refusing orders, including 48 hours on a punishment diet of bread and water (‘B+W’).

For other graffiti by Brocklesby see ‘Annie Wainwright’, ‘Norman Gaudie’s Mother’ and ‘Every Cross Grows Light’

• Date: May 1916
• Artist: John Hubert Brocklesby

This delicate sketch is of John Hubert (Bert) Brocklesby’s fiancée, Annie Wainwright. She was evidently at the fore of his thoughts while he was imprisoned at Richmond, and her portrait may have given him strength and comfort. Perhaps it was similar reassuring memories of a loved one that prompted a later prisoner to relabel the drawing ‘My Kathleen’.

Although their engagement endured the war, Bert and Annie never married. Struggling to find work after the war, Brocklesby decided to travel to Vienna with the Friends War Victims Relief Committee. Annie, whose brother had been killed in action, could not support this decision. He would be helping the very people who had killed her sibling. Soon after Brocklesby left, the engagement was broken off.

For other graffiti by Brocklesby see ‘Timeline and Calendar’, ‘Norman Gaudie’s Mother’ and ‘Every Cross Grows Light’

• Date: 5 July 1916
• Artist: Attributed to James Towler

This inscription records the names of four brothers from Bentham, North Yorkshire: William (24), James (27), John (21) and Stephen (18). All were members of the Bentham Branch of the No Conscription Fellowship. John and James were Quakers and their movements between prisons and work camps are recorded in the Quaker journal The Friend.

Four of James and Elizabeth Towler’s five sons were known to be conscientious objectors, but only William and James are recorded as being held at Richmond Castle. Both were farm labourers, and both had their applications for total exemption from service refused before being arrested and sent to the castle.

• Creator: George Suggett
• Date: 19 November 1939

Written on the right-hand wall of the ground-floor corridor are three small pencil inscriptions including the name G. Suggett. One is accompanied by the intriguing label ‘Boro Glamour Girls’.

Although we do not know why Suggett was known as one of the ‘Glamour Girls’, new research has revealed his wartime story. Originally from Middlesbrough, George Suggett served eight years in India and Shanghai before the Second World War. In June 1940, after having been recalled due to the outbreak of war, George was captured in France while serving with the Northumberland Fusiliers. He was taken as a prisoner of war and held in Stalag XXI-D and Stalag 334 Lamsdorf (now called Lambinowice, in Poland) and was not released until 1945.

Researched by Dawn Price

• Date: 22 May 1916
• Artist: John Hubert Brocklesby

On 22 May 1916 Norman Gaudie, one of the conscientious objectors held at Richmond Castle, laughed while out of his cell on exercise. However, it was his fellow objector Bert Brocklesby who was mistakenly identified as the culprit and confined to his cell.

In his diary Gaudie wrote how ‘old Brock’ ‘did not waste the time for he drew on his cell wall a man lying on the ground struggling under the load of a heavy cross’.

The lines below the drawing are from a 19th-century poem which was sung as a hymn in Methodist churches.

• Date: June 1916
• Artist: William Henry Fisher

William Henry Fisher, a grocer’s assistant from Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, was placed in the cells at Richmond Castle for refusing orders. As his inscription describes, he had already served five weeks in detention elsewhere.

The prospect of further imprisonment did not lessen his resolve to resist participation in the war effort. Like many conscientious objectors, he found strength in his faith and religious convictions. Although shut off from the world, he was shut in ‘with my Lord’.

This is just one of a number of inscriptions by Fisher, who also wrote biblical quotes and hymns on the walls.

• Creator: Leonard Heaton
• Date: 1916

After an unsuccessful application for exemption from all military service, Leonard Heaton, a conscientious objector to the First World War, attempted to appeal the decision.

Leonard eloquently described his grounds for objection: 'I feel committed by moral and religious convictions to strive after a way of life which is exactly opposite to the way of war'. However, the decision was upheld and in July 1916 Leonard was arrested for refusing to serve in the Non-Combatant Corps.

A subsequent Court Martial brought him to Richmond Castle on 4 August 1916 where he was sentenced to 112 days imprisonment and hard labour.

Researched by Marcia Howard

• Date: 31 July 1916
• Artist: Harry Vasey

These lines from the chorus of the socialist anthem ‘The Red Flag’ have been modified. Instead of ‘We’ll keep the red flag flying here’, Harry Vasey – a 19-year-old grocer’s assistant from Ripley, Derbyshire – has written ‘We’ll keep Christ’s banner flying here for God is Love’. This suggests that his objection to the war may have been based on both religious and political grounds.

Other graffiti attributable to Vasey include an illustration of a house in a rural setting, a mother and baby, and a list of the days he spent in the cell, 31 July to 4 August.

• Date: About 1916
• Artist: Unknown

This is the first of three verses of the hymn ‘Midst the darkness, storm and sorrow’. It is one of many hymns written from memory on the walls of the cell block.

• Date: About 1916
• Artist: Unknown

IBSA is the acronym of the International Bible Students Association, renamed Jehovah’s Witnesses in 1931. Many men held at Richmond recorded their religious or political affiliations on the cell walls. Among them were International Bible Students, and members of the Independent Labour Party and the No Conscription Fellowship.

Although we do not know who wrote this inscription, five of the Richmond Sixteen were International Bible Students, including Charles Herbert Senior.

• Date: About 1916
• Artist: Unknown

This depiction of Jesus and three bowing men is captioned with an extract from the Gospel of John, 14:19: ‘Because I live, thou shalt live also.’

Elements of this scene may have been drawn at different times and by different people. One possible illustrator is Charles Gavillet, whose name appears twice alongside the image.

• Date: About 1916
• Artist: Unknown

Written on a crudely drawn scroll is the mandate: ‘If ye love me keep my commandments’. A number of conscientious objectors based their opposition to war on a strict and unconditional reading of the biblical commandment ‘Thou shalt not kill’.

• Date: About 1916
• Artist: Attributed to William Henry Fisher

Many men held in the cells wrote poetry, hymns or biblical verses they felt poignant to their situation. Here, this conscientious objector has quoted I Peter 4:16, Hebrews 13:5, John 14:15 and Mark 15:34.

• Creator: James John Burchell (1878–1952)
• Date: 30 May – 10 July 1916

James John Burchell objected to the First World War on religious grounds. In 1916 he was detained in the cell block for his beliefs. There he wrote some of his story on the wall.

In February 1916 Burchell applied for absolute exemption from all military service because, he argued, ‘all life is sacred’. He was exempt from combatant roles only and sent to serve in the Non-Combatant Corps based at Richmond Castle.

Once there, he was sent to the cells. However, during his time in the cells he managed to send letters giving information about his captivity to supporters back home and seems to have stayed optimistic, writing on the walls that he was 'determined to stand firm'.

Researched by Carol Chappell

• Creator: Ena Stewart
• Date: about September 1937

This inscription by a nurse (Gabrielle) Ena Stewart was probably written when visiting the cells in September 1937, at the same time as the accompanying graffiti by Robert Colls.

Ena trained at the Manchester Infirmary and Newcastle Infectious Disease Hospital before becoming a nursing sister in the Queen Alexandra’s Military Nursing Service. In February 1939 she departed alone for Burma on board the merchant ship Sagain, most likely to join forces stationed in the Middle East as an army nurse.

While serving abroad Ena met her husband, Ian Reginald Johnson, whom she married in Calcutta in 1942.

Researched by Christine Ormerod

• Creator: Charles Gavillet
• Date: probably 1930s–1950s

We do not know exactly why Charles Gavillet was in the cell block. However, he was certainly keen to leave his mark. He wrote his name six times on one of the cell walls.

Charles served with the Green Howards during the Second World War and in May 1940 was wounded and captured at Dunkirk. On returning home, he continued to serve in the army, married, and started a family. However, war soon called again. On 30 November 1950 Charles became one of the first British soldiers to be killed in action during the Korean War.

Researched by Ed Maxwell