Archibald Baxter
| Archibald McColl Learmond Baxter | |
|---|---|
| Born |
13 December 1881 Saddle Hill, Otago, New Zealand |
| Died | 10 August 1970 (aged 88) Dunedin, New Zealand |
| Nationality | New Zealand |
| Education | Primary |
| Occupation | Farmer |
| Known for | pacifist, socialist and conscientious objector |
| Notable work | We Will Not Cease |
| Movement | No More War and Peace Pledge Union |
| Spouse(s) | Millicent Baxter (m. 1921, d. 1984) |
| Children | Terence and James Keir |
| Parent(s) | John Baxter and Mary McColl |
Archibald McColl Learmond Baxter (13 December 1881 – 10 August 1970) was a New Zealand socialist, pacifist and conscientious objector.
Baxter was born at Saddle Hill, Otago, on 13 December 1881, to John Baxter and Mary McColl. His father had migrated to New Zealand from Scotland in 1861. Leaving school at 12, Baxter worked on a farm and became Head Ploughman at Gladbrook Station.
During the 1899–1902 Second Boer War New Zealand sent troops to help the British. Baxter considered enlisting, but heard a Dunedin lawyer, possibly Alfred Richard Barclay, speak about pacifism before he did so and decided against enlisting. He read pacifist and anti-military literature, forming a Christian Socialist view. Baxter also heard Keir Hardie speak during his 1908 visit to New Zealand and concluded that war would not solve problems. He convinced six of his seven brothers that war was wrong.
With the introduction of conscription under the Military Service Act 1916, Baxter and his brothers refused to register on the grounds that
all war is wrong, futile, and destructive alike to victor and vanquished.
The Act did not recognise their stand, as the only grounds for a man to claim conscientious objection were:
That he was on the fourth day of August, nineteen hundred and fourteen, and has since continuously been a member of a religious body the tenets and doctrines of which religious body declare the bearing of arms and the performance of any combatant service to be contrary to Divine revelation, and also that according to his own conscientious religious belief the bearing of arms and the performance of any combatant service is unlawful by reason of being contrary to Divine revelation.
This was a considerable contraction of the exemption allowed under the Defence Amendment Act 1912, which had provided under Section 65(2)
On the application of any person a Magistrate may grant to the applicant a certificate of exemption from military training and service if the Magistrate is satisfied that the applicant objects in good faith to such training and service on the ground that it is contrary to his religious belief.
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