GRANT, Malcolm A

Family Name: Grant

Given Names: Malcolm A

Gender: Male

Birth-date: Unknown

Death-date: Unknown

Marital Status: Single

Age/ Age Range: 21-35

Location: Hawthorn, VIC

Occupation: Unknown

Primary Motivation: Conscientious Non-complier – Opposition to military conscription

Reason for Court Appearance: Failure to enlist.

Court Name and Location:

Hawthorn Police Court, Vic

Court Hearing Date:

21 November 1916

Court Outcome:

Sentenced to 6 months in prison.

Military Event:

World War 1 1914-1918

Further Information: Malcolm Grant was the brother of Norman Grant. Both were anti-war activists who spoke frequently on Melbourne’s Yarra Bank. In court, witness Detective John Howard said that on 3 November, while addressing a meeting at 3 Lennox Street, Richmond, Malcolm Grant had declared: “I do not intend to enlist, and if conscription does come in I would sooner than enlist, be stood against a brick wall and shot”. He had heard Norman Grant speak in a similar strain at meetings on the Yarra Bank. Mr Notley Moore, PM, imposed a sentence of three months imprisonment on each of the brothers but when Captain Wollaston stated that the maximum sentence for failure to enroll was six months’ imprisonment, the magistrate increased the sentences to six months each.

Confirmatory Sources: Argus (Melbourne), 22 November 1916, p. 10.