KRYGGER, Edgar Roy

Family Name:

Krygger

Given Names:

Edgar Roy

Gender:

Male

Birth-Date:

Probably 1895

Death-Date:

Unknown

Marital Status:

Single

Age:

17 years old

Location:

VIC, Ballarat and Northcote

Occupation:

Unknown

Primary Motivation:

Conscientious objector, opposition to military conscription, religious

Reason for Court Appearance:

[1] Failure to register for compulsory military training

[2] Adjourned court case

[3] Appeal

Court Name and Location:

[1] Ballarat Police Court, Ballarat East

[2] Ballarat Police Court, Ballarat East

[3] High Court, Victoria

Court Hearing Date:

[1] 17 July 1912

[2] 6 August 1912

[3] October 1912

Court Outcome:

[1] Initially convicted and ordered to make up the drills, but case then adjourned

[2] Convicted and ordered into 64 hours of military custody, equal to the deficient drills

[3] Appeal was dismissed

Military Event:

Boy Conscription 1911-1929

Further Information:

Edgar Krygger had a conscientious objection to compulsory military training under the Defence Act. He was 17 years old and was brother or cousin to Walter Krygger who was another conscientious objector. He refused to render military service and to drill. His father or uncle, Alexander Krygger served in the Western Australian contingent during he Boer War.

He was summonsed to the Magistrates Court at East Ballarat before Magistrate SJ Goldsmith on 17 July 1912. He was included with 116 boys charged with not attending the required drills. Edgar had not performed any drills. The magistrate asked Edgar to explain why he had not done so. Edgar told the magistrate he had a conscientious objection based on his Christian beliefs. The magistrate was unimpressed at the biblical passages in support of non-violence quoted by Edgar. He said that exemption from non-combatant military duties was not exempted. Edgar said that it did. Magistrate Goldsmith adjourned the case until 6 August 1912.

When the case was heard, Edgar was represented by EE Dillon, the lawyer for the Australian Freedom League. It was argued that the Defence Act prohibited the free exercise of the defendant’s religious beliefs, that he was ‘to fight’ the devil, not with armies and navies, but with the word of God. The magistrate did not agree and stated that mere training, perhaps in a capacity that did not involve the bearing of arms, was not an interference with Krygger’s religious beliefs. He ordered him to drill in Northcote to which he had recently moved. He was ordered 64 hours in miliary custody, it being the time it was claimed he was deficient in drills.

Edgar appealed to the High Court of Australia. He argued it guaranteed freedom of religion, under section 116 of the Constitution. Edgar conducted his own case. He told the court; I decline to render military service because it is opposed to the Wod of Gd. I spend my time reading the scriptures. The Chief Justice, Sir Samuel Grifith and Justice Barton dismissed the appeal during October 1912. Unfortunately, this set a precedent for other conscientious cases against the Defence Act. Ironically this involved Walter Krygger who also appealed to the High Court, and this was also dismissed.

It is unknown if Edgar continued with his conscientious non-compliance with the Act

Confirmatory Sources:

John Barrett, Australians and ‘Boy Conscription” 1911-1915: Fallin In, Hale & Iremonger, Sydney, 1979, pp. 178-179 and p.190.

Bobbie Oliver, Peacemongers: Conscientious objectors to military service in Australia 1911-1945, Fremantle Arts Centre Press, 1997, p. 27.

Weekly Times, 20 July 1912, p.34.

Sydney Morning Herald, 8 August 1912, p.9.

Age, 16 August 1912, p.10; 16 October 1912, p.8.