0:00:02 > 0:00:04MUSIC: The Man Comes Around by Johnny Cash
0:00:04 > 0:00:08100 years ago, young men like these were fighting in World War I.
0:00:10 > 0:00:11Jab! Hand up...
0:00:11 > 0:00:14Not many saw themselves as soldiers before they went.
0:00:15 > 0:00:18I've been a fighter all my life, and it's a really tough sport.
0:00:18 > 0:00:22We're taking ex-world champion boxer Richie Woodhall
0:00:22 > 0:00:27out of the ring and into the lives of two brave Birmingham brothers.
0:00:27 > 0:00:29Two men whose world-famous family
0:00:29 > 0:00:32objected to the very concept of war.
0:00:32 > 0:00:36I just can't imagine what it must have been like.
0:00:36 > 0:00:39Our little island managed to mobilise
0:00:39 > 0:00:44over six million fighting men between 1914 and 1918.
0:00:44 > 0:00:46But many good lads just didn't come back.
0:00:48 > 0:00:51Laurence and Egbert Cadbury both risked their lives,
0:00:51 > 0:00:54but only one of them went to fight.
0:00:54 > 0:00:56With special access to their private letters,
0:00:56 > 0:01:01Richie's going to hear this dramatic war story in their own words.
0:01:01 > 0:01:05A flaming picture, like the final scene in the tragedy of Ypres...
0:01:07 > 0:01:08I heartily agree with you
0:01:08 > 0:01:11in regards to this bloody murder that's going on.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14Nearly all the men I know have been done in.
0:01:14 > 0:01:16They were heirs to a chocolate fortune,
0:01:16 > 0:01:18and wanted to do their bit for the country.
0:01:18 > 0:01:21But, by joining the fight,
0:01:21 > 0:01:24they risked tearing their famous family apart.
0:01:24 > 0:01:29And 100 years ago, there would have been no ducking the big question -
0:01:29 > 0:01:31will you fight?
0:01:43 > 0:01:46Hidden away in the University of Birmingham archives
0:01:46 > 0:01:48is a large collection of letters.
0:01:48 > 0:01:52Two brothers wrote them during the First World War.
0:01:52 > 0:01:54The Cadburys were a close family,
0:01:54 > 0:01:56and while their sons Laurence and Egbert
0:01:56 > 0:01:58were caught up in the conflict,
0:01:58 > 0:02:01it was the only way they could keep in touch.
0:02:01 > 0:02:04'Dear Bertie. All the guns in creation seem to be here.
0:02:04 > 0:02:06'Everybody is having the usual lucky escapes,
0:02:06 > 0:02:07'with shoulder straps being cut,
0:02:07 > 0:02:09'holes punctured in their clothes, etc...'
0:02:11 > 0:02:13..but our faith is still unshaken.
0:02:15 > 0:02:19Laurence was the eldest, and the first to go.
0:02:19 > 0:02:22He was 25 and working for the family firm
0:02:22 > 0:02:26when Britain entered the war in August 1914.
0:02:26 > 0:02:30Within a few months, he was at the front.
0:02:30 > 0:02:35Egbert, known to everyone as Bertie, was still at university.
0:02:35 > 0:02:38At six foot three, the 18-year-old stood out
0:02:38 > 0:02:40among the 11 Cadbury children.
0:02:41 > 0:02:44They were both fit, adventurous young men
0:02:44 > 0:02:45from Bournville in Birmingham,
0:02:45 > 0:02:48which is where Richie is heading.
0:02:49 > 0:02:52I feel quite privileged and quite excited, really.
0:02:52 > 0:02:56Excited because I want to know what the letters reveal,
0:02:56 > 0:02:59and quite privileged because this is a world-famous family.
0:03:06 > 0:03:10Bournville has an extraordinary story of its own.
0:03:10 > 0:03:12Laurence and Bertie's father, George,
0:03:12 > 0:03:16built the famous Cadbury factory here, and a whole village around it.
0:03:16 > 0:03:17Using his wealth,
0:03:17 > 0:03:21he took his workers out of the city slums to a better life.
0:03:23 > 0:03:25We've asked historian Rebecca Wynter
0:03:25 > 0:03:28to guide Richie through the Cadburys' war years.
0:03:28 > 0:03:31Apart from chocolate, they were well-known Quakers.
0:03:32 > 0:03:35George's faith made him a committed pacifist,
0:03:35 > 0:03:38and he'd been an active campaigner against the controversial Boer War
0:03:38 > 0:03:40in South Africa.
0:03:41 > 0:03:42Just over a decade later,
0:03:42 > 0:03:46he still didn't agree with anyone fighting -
0:03:46 > 0:03:47least of all his children.
0:03:49 > 0:03:54It sounds like there was a bit of a conflict coming
0:03:54 > 0:03:58in terms of the family - war's breaking out,
0:03:58 > 0:04:02and the two lads are at an age where they could be called up.
0:04:02 > 0:04:06Erm...yeah, they're certainly of fighting age,
0:04:06 > 0:04:08so, erm...
0:04:08 > 0:04:12there would have been a sense that there's duty to the country
0:04:12 > 0:04:14but also this...
0:04:14 > 0:04:16real issue that they have,
0:04:16 > 0:04:19which is they're of the Quaker faith,
0:04:19 > 0:04:23so their father's been very anti-war in the past,
0:04:23 > 0:04:26and it's...how are they going to take things from here?
0:04:27 > 0:04:30It's hard to imagine how George reacted
0:04:30 > 0:04:33when Bertie signed up to be a fighter pilot.
0:04:33 > 0:04:36At least Laurence had found a way of doing HIS bit
0:04:36 > 0:04:38without abandoning his faith.
0:04:38 > 0:04:42He joined an unarmed ambulance convoy to France.
0:04:42 > 0:04:47I see a bit of a storm brewing here within the family, most certainly.
0:04:47 > 0:04:49You've got two lads who
0:04:49 > 0:04:53are at an age where they could go off to war,
0:04:53 > 0:04:58but you have a father who's a prominent figure in society
0:04:58 > 0:05:03who's totally against it, and it's got to have caused friction.
0:05:04 > 0:05:07Quakers like the Cadburys campaigned for peace -
0:05:07 > 0:05:09but they had to tread carefully.
0:05:09 > 0:05:12Britain's patriotic drive had kicked into gear,
0:05:12 > 0:05:15and they were in the minority.
0:05:15 > 0:05:18Most of Laurence and Bertie's friends were joining up to fight.
0:05:21 > 0:05:24To get a sense of how conflicted the Cadburys would have been,
0:05:24 > 0:05:26Richie's come to Woodbrooke in Birmingham.
0:05:26 > 0:05:30This former Cadbury home is now Europe's largest Quaker college.
0:05:30 > 0:05:33Followers of the faith call themselves Friends.
0:05:33 > 0:05:35And in these peaceful surroundings,
0:05:35 > 0:05:38they still question the rights and wrongs of war.
0:05:38 > 0:05:44Friends, I hope you'll forgive if I don't stand up.
0:05:44 > 0:05:47I could stand up, but I should fall over!
0:05:47 > 0:05:49And my Zimmer is over there.
0:05:49 > 0:05:51Stanley Holland's strong Quaker faith
0:05:51 > 0:05:54stopped him from fighting in the Second World War.
0:05:54 > 0:05:57Instead, he joined the Friends Ambulance Unit,
0:05:57 > 0:06:00which was founded by Laurence and his Quaker friends
0:06:00 > 0:06:01during World War I.
0:06:02 > 0:06:05I had reached the conclusion
0:06:05 > 0:06:09that there was only one way
0:06:09 > 0:06:14of stopping Nazi Germany and its atrocities,
0:06:14 > 0:06:19and that was not the way the Quakers would have approved of.
0:06:20 > 0:06:22And I put it to my wife,
0:06:22 > 0:06:26"How else would Hitler have been stopped?"
0:06:28 > 0:06:32These are not decisions that are easily made.
0:06:42 > 0:06:45- And you carry on worrying about it. - HIS VOICE CRACKS
0:06:49 > 0:06:52Wow. That was quite a moving experience, to be quite honest.
0:06:53 > 0:06:56What they did back then in World War I
0:06:56 > 0:06:58was going totally against that tradition
0:06:58 > 0:07:00in many, many respects.
0:07:00 > 0:07:03So now I understand how big a decision it was
0:07:03 > 0:07:05that they had to make.
0:07:11 > 0:07:14People were saying the war would be over by Christmas,
0:07:14 > 0:07:17and Laurence was in a hurry to get involved.
0:07:17 > 0:07:21An early letter shows it didn't take him long.
0:07:21 > 0:07:24On our arrival it was pretty evident we had to get busy good and quick.
0:07:24 > 0:07:26Wounded were pouring in.
0:07:27 > 0:07:29Laurence was barely off the boat
0:07:29 > 0:07:32when the first challenge greeted him.
0:07:32 > 0:07:34It was Halloween 1914,
0:07:34 > 0:07:40and with 43 founding members of the Friends Ambulance Unit, the FAU,
0:07:40 > 0:07:41he landed in France.
0:07:42 > 0:07:45The young Quakers' mission was to save lives.
0:07:45 > 0:07:49But with just eight weeks' basic first-aid training
0:07:49 > 0:07:53and only three doctors among them, they were ill-prepared.
0:07:53 > 0:07:56They receive news that, erm...
0:07:56 > 0:07:58casualties are streaming back from the front,
0:07:58 > 0:08:00they race across,
0:08:00 > 0:08:04and they're confronted by
0:08:04 > 0:08:10a mass of kind of seething humanity
0:08:10 > 0:08:14that's on the floor, on straw...
0:08:14 > 0:08:16They've been there for three days,
0:08:16 > 0:08:19so the stench is quite horrendous.
0:08:19 > 0:08:22And they set to work.
0:08:22 > 0:08:25So this is their introduction to war, they've...
0:08:25 > 0:08:27- That's how it started.- Yes. Exactly.
0:08:28 > 0:08:32Rebecca, our historian, knows this story well,
0:08:32 > 0:08:35but the details are not so familiar to Laurence's son,
0:08:35 > 0:08:37Sir Dominic Cadbury.
0:08:37 > 0:08:41I think it's fascinating because
0:08:41 > 0:08:44I didn't really talk to my father about the war,
0:08:44 > 0:08:47and he didn't talk about it to me.
0:08:47 > 0:08:52I'm also learning about the roles that my father played in it,
0:08:52 > 0:08:55that my Uncle Egbert played in it,
0:08:55 > 0:08:59and that's educational for me, but also
0:08:59 > 0:09:00it's of course very personal.
0:09:00 > 0:09:04This part of Sir Dominic's famous family history
0:09:04 > 0:09:05isn't well-known,
0:09:05 > 0:09:08so he's keen to learn more about the letters.
0:09:08 > 0:09:11- Rebecca, you've read through the letters...- Yes.
0:09:11 > 0:09:15- ..in their entirety, which of course I haven't.- Mm.
0:09:15 > 0:09:18But I know that my father
0:09:18 > 0:09:22- went at the earliest opportunity to France.- Mm-hm.
0:09:22 > 0:09:23He's never been sure
0:09:23 > 0:09:27how much his father's pacifist Quaker faith
0:09:27 > 0:09:28would have affected his decision-making.
0:09:28 > 0:09:31He would have seen himself at the start of the war
0:09:31 > 0:09:34as one of the men, you know...
0:09:34 > 0:09:37- Mm-hm.- ..doing his thing for the war.
0:09:37 > 0:09:42Then, I imagine that as the war progressed,
0:09:42 > 0:09:44- this became more of an issue.- Yeah.
0:09:44 > 0:09:46And that's when his conscience would have been...
0:09:46 > 0:09:49- He would have been saying, "Well, am I doing the right thing?"- Yeah.
0:09:49 > 0:09:54And he goes through, I'm sure, a mental battle over that.
0:09:54 > 0:09:58Under the banner of the Red Cross, and the Order of St John,
0:09:58 > 0:10:00the volunteer ambulancemen
0:10:00 > 0:10:04patched up 3,000 wounded soldiers at Dunkirk.
0:10:04 > 0:10:06But things would get far worse.
0:10:07 > 0:10:10The patriotic drive gathered pace at home,
0:10:10 > 0:10:14and a million more British Tommies were at the front by Christmas.
0:10:17 > 0:10:20Bertie's view of the war was different to his brother's.
0:10:21 > 0:10:23HE wanted to fight.
0:10:23 > 0:10:26The exciting reports Laurence had been sending home from France
0:10:26 > 0:10:31made the 18-year-old even more determined to do his bit.
0:10:32 > 0:10:35I went to Chingford where I learned to fly,
0:10:35 > 0:10:37and having got on rather fast I was appointed to this station
0:10:37 > 0:10:40which is said to be the best home station going.
0:10:41 > 0:10:43The Royal Navy's air station in Great Yarmouth
0:10:43 > 0:10:47became Bertie's new home in the summer of 1915.
0:10:48 > 0:10:52In true Cadbury fashion, he was soon in the thick of things.
0:10:52 > 0:10:57Oh, my God. I have just heard I have got to do my first patrol. Tonight!
0:11:00 > 0:11:03He had taken on one of the most dangerous jobs going -
0:11:03 > 0:11:05and Richie is about to find out why.
0:11:07 > 0:11:08By coming here,
0:11:08 > 0:11:11I really feel I'm getting closer to Egbert's story.
0:11:11 > 0:11:14Got to remember that pilots back then, they were like pioneers,
0:11:14 > 0:11:17they were doing things in these planes that were never done before.
0:11:17 > 0:11:22And although Egbert's not here to tell us of his experiences,
0:11:22 > 0:11:25the planes that he flew are still flying today,
0:11:25 > 0:11:28so I think I'm in for a real treat.
0:11:31 > 0:11:34These hangars at the Shuttleworth Collection in Bedfordshire
0:11:34 > 0:11:36are full of vintage aircraft.
0:11:36 > 0:11:38And they still fly them.
0:11:38 > 0:11:41Today, the weather's not great for the pilots.
0:11:41 > 0:11:43But Richie has found an opening.
0:11:44 > 0:11:45Do you think you can get in this?
0:11:45 > 0:11:48You know what - I'd love to have a go.
0:11:48 > 0:11:51Bertie spent hours patrolling the Norfolk coastline
0:11:51 > 0:11:53in a plane like this one.
0:11:53 > 0:11:56He was on the lookout for German bombers.
0:11:57 > 0:12:02- How's that? - That is fantastic! Oh...
0:12:02 > 0:12:03It's a tight squeeze for Richie,
0:12:03 > 0:12:07but he can only imagine what it must have been like for Bertie.
0:12:07 > 0:12:08At 20,000 feet,
0:12:08 > 0:12:13the air would have been thin and 20 to 30 degrees below freezing.
0:12:14 > 0:12:20I found that very uncomfortable, to be quite honest, in there,
0:12:20 > 0:12:22and the vision wasn't too good either,
0:12:22 > 0:12:25I'm just imagining what it was like, sitting in there, looking out...
0:12:25 > 0:12:26Yeah.
0:12:26 > 0:12:29- I don't think I'd be cut out for it, to be quite honest.- Right.
0:12:30 > 0:12:33They still build these old warbirds,
0:12:33 > 0:12:35and Bob Richardson wants to show Richie
0:12:35 > 0:12:38just how exposed pilots like Bertie would have been.
0:12:38 > 0:12:41..And it doesn't look too appealing to me, to be quite honest.
0:12:41 > 0:12:43Yeah, well...you know, it's a wicker seat,
0:12:43 > 0:12:44it's hardly bulletproof, is it?
0:12:44 > 0:12:48That wicker seat sits on top of the fuel tank,
0:12:48 > 0:12:51and Bertie would have been sent up on his own
0:12:51 > 0:12:54after just three to four hours' training.
0:12:54 > 0:12:57It was a very hazardous lifestyle, there's no doubts about that,
0:12:57 > 0:13:00compared with what we experience today.
0:13:00 > 0:13:03And they were indeed sacrificed, in my view.
0:13:04 > 0:13:07The average life expectancy of a new fighter pilot
0:13:07 > 0:13:09was just 11 days.
0:13:09 > 0:13:14Lacking even the basic safety equipment, like a parachute,
0:13:14 > 0:13:18more than half of the 14,000 airmen killed in World War I
0:13:18 > 0:13:20died in training accidents.
0:13:20 > 0:13:23You've got to take your hats off to these guys, really.
0:13:23 > 0:13:29But I suppose young lads, they think of themselves as invincible.
0:13:29 > 0:13:32But eventually, it did take its toll
0:13:32 > 0:13:38on even the most enthusiastic pilot.
0:13:38 > 0:13:40After only a month at Yarmouth,
0:13:40 > 0:13:43Bertie's second letter to Laurence
0:13:43 > 0:13:46shows the shine was coming off his flying ambitions.
0:13:46 > 0:13:48I heartily agree with you
0:13:48 > 0:13:50in regards to this bloody murder that is going on.
0:13:50 > 0:13:54Nearly all the men I know have been done in.
0:14:02 > 0:14:04Another member of the Cadbury family
0:14:04 > 0:14:07has grown up trying to imagine what the war was like.
0:14:08 > 0:14:11Justin Cadbury is Bertie's grandson.
0:14:11 > 0:14:13..Because he never told me, really, what he did,
0:14:13 > 0:14:16so I had to learn this from other people...
0:14:16 > 0:14:19Today, he's finally going to hear from the man himself.
0:14:19 > 0:14:21Richie's brought Bertie's letters -
0:14:21 > 0:14:26and this one shows the young flyer wasn't only interested in planes.
0:14:26 > 0:14:27This is the first one.
0:14:28 > 0:14:30- Wow!- It's 1915...
0:14:30 > 0:14:32I can read the first...
0:14:32 > 0:14:35- You can read the first...?- I can read the first sentence very well,
0:14:35 > 0:14:38and not something one would read out on television, possibly!
0:14:40 > 0:14:42Amongst the crowd,
0:14:42 > 0:14:45I noticed the prettiest girl I have ever seen in my life.
0:14:45 > 0:14:48By God, she was some girl.
0:14:48 > 0:14:50Just as we were getting to understand each other,
0:14:50 > 0:14:54one of my blasted mechanics came up and told me the engine was ready.
0:14:54 > 0:14:57"I said, 'Curse the bugger for not having
0:14:57 > 0:15:02"'enough sense to bust something, so that I could not start.'
0:15:02 > 0:15:05"So I had to fly away home. You can imagine my feelings."
0:15:07 > 0:15:10Bertie was better at chasing German Zeppelins.
0:15:10 > 0:15:12The huge airships were bombing Britain,
0:15:12 > 0:15:15and it was his job to stop them.
0:15:15 > 0:15:17He never saw himself as a hero,
0:15:17 > 0:15:21he very much felt it was just doing it for his fellow man.
0:15:21 > 0:15:26In 1916, he became only the second fighter pilot
0:15:26 > 0:15:28to down one of the massive airships.
0:15:28 > 0:15:34In 1918, Commander Cadbury and his gunner, Bob Leckie, did it again.
0:15:34 > 0:15:36And Justin, being a Quaker family,
0:15:36 > 0:15:40do you think that your grandfather was a bit of a rebel?
0:15:40 > 0:15:42Yes, I think he was,
0:15:42 > 0:15:44reading a little bit more about the history -
0:15:44 > 0:15:47obviously to me he was just my grandfather
0:15:47 > 0:15:50and a very loving...
0:15:50 > 0:15:54a very loving grandpa, as I called him,
0:15:54 > 0:15:56but indeed he WAS a rebel.
0:15:56 > 0:15:58He was set apart to be different.
0:15:58 > 0:16:03Richie's got one more surprise for Justin.
0:16:03 > 0:16:05We have a recording
0:16:05 > 0:16:07of your grandfather from the 1950s...
0:16:07 > 0:16:10His grandfather may not have told him the story...
0:16:10 > 0:16:12but he did tell the BBC.
0:16:12 > 0:16:15- RECORDING:- '..At about 15,000 feet, coming through the clouds,
0:16:15 > 0:16:17'I saw three Zeppelins right ahead of us.'
0:16:19 > 0:16:22'I altered course, so as to get ahead of the Zeppelins.
0:16:22 > 0:16:24'I then turned my machine,
0:16:24 > 0:16:27'and attacked the leading Zeppelin head-on from underneath...'
0:16:27 > 0:16:29She looked simply immense,
0:16:29 > 0:16:32and completely blotted out the starry sky above us.
0:16:32 > 0:16:34- RECORDING:- 'Bob Leckie gave her
0:16:34 > 0:16:36'a few bursts of fire, of tracer bullets.
0:16:36 > 0:16:38'And within a matter of seconds,
0:16:38 > 0:16:40'flames started to leap from her bows.
0:16:40 > 0:16:42'And in an incredibly short time,
0:16:42 > 0:16:45'her nose dropped, and she went hurtling down,
0:16:45 > 0:16:47'a mass of flames, into the clouds below.'
0:16:47 > 0:16:49(Wow...)
0:16:49 > 0:16:51Well...
0:16:51 > 0:16:55I can't say any words to match what I've just
0:16:55 > 0:16:57seen and heard and witnessed,
0:16:57 > 0:16:59it's an extraordinary piece of history. Extraordinary.
0:16:59 > 0:17:03- Had you heard that before? - Never. I've never heard that before.
0:17:05 > 0:17:07And he never told me the story.
0:17:08 > 0:17:13Because...he had this extraordinary shy modesty,
0:17:13 > 0:17:15which he simply wouldn't.
0:17:15 > 0:17:18He would have to have been put under great pressure
0:17:18 > 0:17:21from people far greater than his grandson
0:17:21 > 0:17:23to tell a story like that, and it's...
0:17:23 > 0:17:26very personal, very moving.
0:17:26 > 0:17:29And I can hear and feel the man
0:17:29 > 0:17:33absolutely as he tells the story, and it's awe-inspiring.
0:17:33 > 0:17:36'I think that was a real big moment because he's only heard stories'
0:17:36 > 0:17:38from his family members,
0:17:38 > 0:17:41but to actually hear it from his grandfather himself,
0:17:41 > 0:17:42yeah, that was brilliant.
0:17:43 > 0:17:46While military commanders pushed their men
0:17:46 > 0:17:47and machines to the limit,
0:17:47 > 0:17:51Laurence was busy picking up the pieces on the Western Front.
0:17:52 > 0:17:56He had complete commitment, and he...
0:17:56 > 0:17:57he wouldn't have been, I think,
0:17:57 > 0:18:01put off by any horrors that he saw -
0:18:01 > 0:18:04I mean, he had a pretty strong stomach.
0:18:06 > 0:18:09And, he'd have needed one.
0:18:09 > 0:18:12In May 1915, Laurence's account of casualties
0:18:12 > 0:18:14flooding into their makeshift hospital
0:18:14 > 0:18:18near the besieged Belgian city of Ypres was graphic.
0:18:19 > 0:18:21'The chateau, so quiet and pleasant an hour or two before,
0:18:21 > 0:18:23'was already full of men.'
0:18:27 > 0:18:29They were smashed and bleeding,
0:18:29 > 0:18:33or choking and making awful noises in their throats.
0:18:34 > 0:18:38We then learned for the first time of the asphyxiating fumes.
0:18:38 > 0:18:39MACHINEGUN FIRE
0:18:40 > 0:18:42He had witnessed the Second Battle of Ypres,
0:18:42 > 0:18:46and the first German gas attack on the Western Front.
0:18:46 > 0:18:51The month-long stalemate left 70,000 British and French soldiers dead.
0:18:55 > 0:18:57Typed copies of the brothers' letters
0:18:57 > 0:19:00were circulated among the family.
0:19:00 > 0:19:04Newspapers were also full of war stories, and the rising death toll.
0:19:05 > 0:19:08March 1916 saw a new law,
0:19:08 > 0:19:11and a new phase in the military campaign.
0:19:12 > 0:19:15From now on, if you were young enough and fit enough,
0:19:15 > 0:19:17you had to fight.
0:19:17 > 0:19:20Look at him. He's pointing at you.
0:19:20 > 0:19:22Can YOU say no?
0:19:22 > 0:19:24The Military Service Act
0:19:24 > 0:19:25ramped up recruitment -
0:19:25 > 0:19:28but for pacifists like the Quakers,
0:19:28 > 0:19:30there was an important clause.
0:19:30 > 0:19:31On paper, at least,
0:19:31 > 0:19:33men could ask to be exempt from conscription
0:19:33 > 0:19:35on the grounds of their faith.
0:19:36 > 0:19:39They were called conscientious objectors.
0:19:39 > 0:19:42But many people saw them as cowards.
0:19:48 > 0:19:50In the months leading up to conscription,
0:19:50 > 0:19:52young men still at home
0:19:52 > 0:19:55were the targets of an unofficial naming and shaming campaign.
0:19:55 > 0:19:58White feathers became weapons,
0:19:58 > 0:20:02designed to destroy reputations.
0:20:02 > 0:20:06Richie, I've known this trunk all my life,
0:20:06 > 0:20:08but I was over 60
0:20:08 > 0:20:11before I actually opened it to see what was inside,
0:20:11 > 0:20:14and found it was very much the story of my one grandfather.
0:20:16 > 0:20:18Keith James's grandfather, Alfred,
0:20:18 > 0:20:22had a farm to run, and a mother and two sisters to support.
0:20:22 > 0:20:25It was tough working the land on his own.
0:20:25 > 0:20:27But one day at the end of 1915,
0:20:27 > 0:20:32his loyalty and honour were called into question in dramatic fashion.
0:20:35 > 0:20:39One day, he went to Ross Market,
0:20:39 > 0:20:41where he would have been amongst friends and chums
0:20:41 > 0:20:43that he'd known, and other families,
0:20:43 > 0:20:45and all of a sudden this...
0:20:45 > 0:20:48what I would describe as a sort of Boadicea of a woman
0:20:48 > 0:20:50came bustling through the market
0:20:50 > 0:20:52and thrust upon him a white feather.
0:20:53 > 0:20:56And of course, my grandfather
0:20:56 > 0:20:59would have been mortified by this, absolutely mortified.
0:21:00 > 0:21:05Alfred enlisted as a gunner in the Royal Garrison Artillery
0:21:05 > 0:21:07almost immediately,
0:21:07 > 0:21:10leaving his mother and sisters to tend the Herefordshire farm alone.
0:21:12 > 0:21:14That little fella was his dog tag -
0:21:14 > 0:21:17- that's been at to Battle of the Somme.- The Battle of the Somme!
0:21:17 > 0:21:18Yeah, that was at the Battle of the Somme.
0:21:18 > 0:21:21That's heard the big guns roar.
0:21:22 > 0:21:24That's unbelievable.
0:21:24 > 0:21:27I've never touched anything from the Battle of the Somme,
0:21:27 > 0:21:31- to be quite honest, so...- Yeah. - ..I'm privileged.
0:21:31 > 0:21:34So Keith, what actually happened to your grandfather?
0:21:35 > 0:21:37Well, he did survive the war.
0:21:37 > 0:21:42He was in France until 1918, and then he was severely wounded.
0:21:42 > 0:21:46But for him, another great tragedy befell him
0:21:46 > 0:21:48because when he got back here,
0:21:48 > 0:21:53he found that because there was no man to work the land,
0:21:53 > 0:21:56his family had been evicted.
0:21:56 > 0:21:59So he had nothing, really, to come home to.
0:21:59 > 0:22:03And I can imagine the poor fellow was quite heartbroken.
0:22:03 > 0:22:05Because at the end of the day this was supposed to be
0:22:05 > 0:22:08a land fit for heroes...
0:22:08 > 0:22:10and he came home to nothing.
0:22:11 > 0:22:15Again, Richie's left to wonder what HE would have done.
0:22:15 > 0:22:18That decision ultimately changed, probably,
0:22:18 > 0:22:19the whole course of his life,
0:22:19 > 0:22:21certainly his livelihood,
0:22:21 > 0:22:24and a family tradition when he came back that had gone.
0:22:24 > 0:22:27And he was homeless. It's just an incredible story.
0:22:31 > 0:22:33Conscription was also becoming a problem
0:22:33 > 0:22:35for the Friends Ambulance Unit.
0:22:35 > 0:22:38A surge of new recruits joined them in 1916,
0:22:38 > 0:22:40as an alternative to military service.
0:22:41 > 0:22:43One of Laurence's letters home suggests
0:22:43 > 0:22:46he wasn't convinced by everyone's motives.
0:22:47 > 0:22:50I don't object to consciences...
0:22:50 > 0:22:53not even overly manured ones.
0:22:53 > 0:22:56Things got worse when news spread among the unit
0:22:56 > 0:22:59that conscientious objectors were being jailed at home
0:22:59 > 0:23:02for refusing to help the war effort.
0:23:02 > 0:23:05Some threatened to quit in protest.
0:23:05 > 0:23:06Among the letters,
0:23:06 > 0:23:08Rebecca has found evidence
0:23:08 > 0:23:11that Laurence was considering a drastic course of action.
0:23:13 > 0:23:17We've actually found this in the archives.
0:23:19 > 0:23:22So, he's gone out as a noncombatant...
0:23:22 > 0:23:25- Mm-hm.- ..as a volunteer,
0:23:25 > 0:23:27and here you can see
0:23:27 > 0:23:30he's actually written off to...
0:23:31 > 0:23:33- ..join up, in essence.- Mm-hm.
0:23:33 > 0:23:36So, these are the forms.
0:23:36 > 0:23:38He's interested in joining
0:23:38 > 0:23:41the Royal Field Artillery.
0:23:43 > 0:23:46And here you have
0:23:46 > 0:23:49the forms themselves.
0:23:49 > 0:23:51Yeah, I've never seen these.
0:23:52 > 0:23:56The prospect of another son joining up to kill the enemy
0:23:56 > 0:23:58was quite a bombshell for the Cadbury family.
0:23:58 > 0:24:01Laurence received a flurry of letters,
0:24:01 > 0:24:04including one from his war hero brother Bertie,
0:24:04 > 0:24:07urging him not to join the Army.
0:24:07 > 0:24:10To join now would be disastrous, so for God's sake
0:24:10 > 0:24:12don't dream of doing so,
0:24:12 > 0:24:16for I am absolutely positive you will regret it.
0:24:16 > 0:24:18There were people who were conscientious objectors,
0:24:18 > 0:24:21and this was becoming controversial
0:24:21 > 0:24:25and he would have wanted to be...
0:24:25 > 0:24:28He, as a volunteer,
0:24:28 > 0:24:30would have found it difficult, I think,
0:24:30 > 0:24:34- to come to terms with the fact that he was seen in any way...- Mm.
0:24:34 > 0:24:37..to be ducking his responsibilities at all,
0:24:37 > 0:24:39that was just not him.
0:24:39 > 0:24:42There is also a scribbled note from Laurence,
0:24:42 > 0:24:43spelling out HIS feelings.
0:24:43 > 0:24:47And you see here at the very top
0:24:47 > 0:24:51of the list of "Against the FAU,"
0:24:51 > 0:24:55he says, "The shame of being a noncombatant -
0:24:55 > 0:24:59"A, now, and B, after the war."
0:24:59 > 0:25:02Shame was driving him towards the Army -
0:25:02 > 0:25:06but the letters show he was already risking his life.
0:25:07 > 0:25:11You can see here he's really in the very thick of the fighting -
0:25:11 > 0:25:16obviously there's ammunition going off, there are shots being fired.
0:25:16 > 0:25:18And he says here,
0:25:18 > 0:25:21"When you are carrying fellows on stretchers
0:25:21 > 0:25:24"up and down mountains of bricks and masonry,
0:25:24 > 0:25:28"and the shells come zing, bang overhead,
0:25:28 > 0:25:30"and the bits patter down on the ground
0:25:30 > 0:25:32"and hit tiles with a metallic clang,
0:25:32 > 0:25:34"it is at times unpleasant."
0:25:37 > 0:25:40With a plunk and a roar, up go bits of the house,
0:25:40 > 0:25:43and the air is full of dust and flying pieces.
0:25:43 > 0:25:46You can't turn and run, as inclination suggests.
0:25:48 > 0:25:51Rebecca's been doing some more digging among the archives,
0:25:51 > 0:25:54to find out what was on George Cadbury's mind
0:25:54 > 0:25:57now that his sons were so heavily involved in the war.
0:25:59 > 0:26:01- Found another letter...- OK.
0:26:01 > 0:26:04..which is a little later on in the war.
0:26:04 > 0:26:06It's from George this time,
0:26:06 > 0:26:07and he says actually
0:26:07 > 0:26:10"These young men may become, in the future,
0:26:10 > 0:26:12"the best advocates of peace,
0:26:12 > 0:26:15"having witnessed for themselves the horrors of war."
0:26:15 > 0:26:17Mm.
0:26:17 > 0:26:21Cadbury had in fact shown his support for the troops all along,
0:26:21 > 0:26:25sending chocolate to raise morale, and funds for hospitals.
0:26:25 > 0:26:27But now, the famous pacifist
0:26:27 > 0:26:30was defending Quaker fighters in a national newsletter.
0:26:31 > 0:26:33And there were a lot of them.
0:26:33 > 0:26:35Virtually a third,
0:26:35 > 0:26:39so 33% of all young Quakers
0:26:39 > 0:26:41of fighting age, had enlisted.
0:26:44 > 0:26:46I find that incredible.
0:26:46 > 0:26:50So, again they would be going against family tradition,
0:26:50 > 0:26:52family values...
0:26:52 > 0:26:55- Mm.- 33%, I think, is a lot.- Yeah.
0:26:55 > 0:26:56Yeah, I mean, absolutely,
0:26:56 > 0:27:01you can see that there's a real sense of erm...duty,
0:27:01 > 0:27:06just as the rest of the nation is having to decide between
0:27:06 > 0:27:08the voices of war and peace,
0:27:08 > 0:27:11actually, so too are Quakers.
0:27:12 > 0:27:16The war had caused divisions among the Quaker community.
0:27:16 > 0:27:19But this photo shows the Cadburys remained united.
0:27:19 > 0:27:22George, the proud chocolate king,
0:27:22 > 0:27:24looks on as the King of England
0:27:24 > 0:27:26presents Bertie with his flying medals.
0:27:27 > 0:27:29Over 2,000 Cadbury workers
0:27:29 > 0:27:32were honoured for their war service that day -
0:27:32 > 0:27:35including the 218 who died.
0:27:36 > 0:27:38Laurence hadn't fired a shot,
0:27:38 > 0:27:43but he was decorated for his bravery by Britain and France.
0:27:43 > 0:27:47They may have had different paths during the war,
0:27:47 > 0:27:51but I think they started from the same place, that they wanted to do
0:27:51 > 0:27:55what they felt they could do, as quickly as possible,
0:27:55 > 0:27:56to help the country -
0:27:56 > 0:28:00and they were quite different routes, it's true,
0:28:00 > 0:28:02but I don't think that
0:28:02 > 0:28:07they perhaps thought of them as being as different as we do now.
0:28:08 > 0:28:11I always like to put myself in the position,
0:28:11 > 0:28:14what I would do in their place? It would be very, very difficult.
0:28:14 > 0:28:16And as this story unfolded,
0:28:16 > 0:28:18I got quite concerned
0:28:18 > 0:28:22what was going to happen to these two brothers, Egbert and Laurence -
0:28:22 > 0:28:25after all they'd been through, they could quite easily have been killed.
0:28:25 > 0:28:27But they came through it stronger,
0:28:27 > 0:28:32with their brotherly bond, and the Cadbury reputation, still intact.
0:28:47 > 0:28:49Hear more incredible war stories from your area
0:28:49 > 0:28:52with World War One At Home, at bbc.co.uk/wwi.