White Feathers and Black Looks: Cowardice, Conscientious Objection and Shame in the Great War

Abstract

The needs of the British armed forces at the outbreak of the Great War, were supposedly to be met by an endless supply of men craving the chance to do their patriotic duty. After the initial flurry of recruitment and rush to the colours an inevitable lull set in, which produced manpower shortages, as the needs of total war became apparent. Women were thereafter encouraged to give white feathers to alleged slackers and those out of uniform, as a form of visible shame punishment which compromised their masculinity. As the war progressed this practice increasingly fell out of favour as the competing demands of more civilised approaches rendered this shame punishment unedifying. Conscientious objectors fought as bravely for their principles as those at the front and their experience, alongside decorated servicemen upbraided for apparently not being willing to serve, made a mockery of the white feather practice and the women who perpetrated it.: