HOLLAND, Henry Edmund (Harry)

Family Name:

Holland

Given Names:

Henry Edmund (Harry)

Gender:

Male

Birth-Date:

1868

Death-Date:

8 October 1933

Marital Status:

Married

Age:

Circa 45 years old

Location:

NSW, Glebe

Occupation:

Compositor

Primary Motivation:

Conscientious objector, opposition to conscription

Reason for Court Appearance:

[1] Failure to ensure his son’s (Roy) registration for military training

[2] Appeal against the fine of £100 in lieu 3 months jail with hard labour

Court Name and Location:

[1] Magistrates Court, Glebe

[2] Supreme Court, New South Wales

Court Hearing Date:

[1] 1 April 1912

[2] post April 1912

Court Outcome:

[1] Convicted and fined £100 plus £1 7s costs, in lieu 3 months jail with hard labour

[2] Appeal upheld (fine reduced to £10)

Military Event:

Boy Conscription 1911-1929

Further Information:

Harry Holland was one of the first two first prosecutions of parents who failed to ensure that their son registered for compulsory military training under the Defence Act (DA). .He was born in 1868 and was the son of a farm worker. He became a compositor. He was also a member of the Salvation Army at Queanbeyan in New South Wales. He became disillusioned with the Salvationists. He moved to Sydney and joined the Australian Socialist League in 1892. He was a strong socialist that feared and hated the military arm of the capitalist state. The military suppressed workers and workers’ movements in the interests of their imperialist overloads. Life for the Hollands was difficult in Sydney as Harry was busy producing Socialist papers, standing for parliament, unsuccessfully and spending time in jail for both libel and sedition. Harry was no pacifist. He published a paper titled, The Crime of Conscription, which condemned soldiers, militarism and murder but a working-class militia was justified to shoot capitalists on the day the workers decided to take over the means of production.

He was summoned to the Glebe Magistrates Court on 1 April 1912 on the charge of not ensuring his son, Roy, was registered for compulsory military training. He had sent letters to the area officer informing them that his son would not drill. Roy did present to the military but only to return the issued uniform and the drill record book. Harry declined to plead in court and objected to Magistrate Barnett hearing the case. The grounds of objection were that Harry had previously publicly denounced him. The objection was overruled. The reporter from the International Socialist, commented that the prosecution was woefully unprepared, and that Harry insisted on ever legal technicality being observed. The prosecution broke down after a quarter of an hour. The magistrate did not dismiss the case but adjourned it so the prosecution could rectify their mistakes. Finally, the case was adjourned until the following Monday. Harry was convicted and fined £100 plus £1 7s in lieu 3 months imprisonment of hard labour under the DA.

The Australian Socialist Party met in Adelaide later in 1912. It drew the government’s attention to the vicious and vindictive prosecutions of those who conscientiously refused to serve. The conference called on all working class parents to refuse to take part in any drill or parade. It also indignantly protested against the iniquitous fine of £100 imposed on Harry.

The magistrate originally fined Harry £10 but the prosecutor erroneously informed the magistrate he had made an error as a fine of £100, in lieu 3 months imprisonment, was prescribed for someone who was guilty of this offence. Harry appealed to the Supreme Court and the fine was reduced to £10. The original fine was the maximum and should not have been imposed. .Harry took himself and his family to New Zealand without paying the fine or serving any jail sentence. His son Roy was imprisoned for possibly two weeks, because of his conscientious objection to compulsory military training. Presumably this was served before the family left for New Zealand.

Harry had previously castigated the Labour Government that introduced the Boy Conscription scheme, He stated, The Hughes and Pearces and Fshers of the Labor Party refused to tolerate this; and in 1911 they enacted that boys from 12 to 18 years should be legally and criminally responsible; and in the case of both the writer at Sydney and Alf Giles at Broken Hill, the boys were prosecuted as well as the parents, although the Labor Government had previously been notified that the parents would not permit the boys to drill. Which demonstrates that part of the policy of the so-called Labor Government is to jail young boys for acts done by their parents!

Whilst in New Zealand 17 April 1914 Harry was convicted and sentenced to 12 months imprisonment in Wellington for sedition. He had urged on a mob during a strike in October/ November 1914. He had previously been convicted and sentenced to 2 years imprisonment for the same offence at Broken Hill during 1909.He was released after serving 5 months of the sentence. He was leader of the New Zealand Labour Party for 25 years.

On 8 October 1933, Harry was attending the funeral of the Maori King. He became ill after an arduous climb up the mountain and died

A new regulation was passed by Parliament on 21 June 1913. It allowed an Area Officer to register a boy for military training without parental approval.

Confirmatory Sources:

John Barrett, Falling In: Australians and ‘Boy Conscription’ 1911-1915, Hale & Iremonger, Sydney 1979, pp. 90, 92-93, 170-171, 191 and 264-265.

Bobbie Oliver, Peacemongers: Conscientious objectors to military service in Australia 1911-1945, Fremantle Arts Centre Press, 1997, pp. 18 and 24.

Singleton Argus, 5 October 19109, p.3

Internationalist Socialist, 30 March 1912, p.2.

Sydney Morning Herald, 29 April 1914, p.19.

Northern Miner, 22 May 1914. p.7.

Worker, 18 October 1933, p.3.