This paper scrutinises the elusive and extraordinary lives of two anti-war Manchester women, Phillis Annie Skinner and Maud Hayes. Both women were arrested and imprisoned in 1917 in what became known as the ‘Peace Crusade Case’.  Both women were involved with the No Conscription Fellowship and were involved with men who were imprisoned as conscientious objectors. Phillis and her husband Allan were both members of the Independent Labour Party.

This paper will explore the Case within the wider context of the anti-militarist Women’s Peace Crusade which ran like wild fire across the country in 1917. The paper will also look at how fragments of a life can be pieced together using archival research and some serendipity.

This paper scrutinises the elusive and extraordinary lives of two anti-war Manchester women, Phillis Annie Skinner and Maud Hayes. Both women were arrested and imprisoned in 1917 in what became known as the ‘Peace Crusade Case’.  Both women were involved with the No Conscription Fellowship and were involved with men who were imprisoned as conscientious objectors. Phillis and her husband Allan were both members of the Independent Labour Party.

This paper will explore the Case within the wider context of the anti-militarist Women’s Peace Crusade which ran like wild fire across the country in 1917. The paper will also look at how fragments of a life can be pieced together using archival research and some serendipity.

Alison Ronan has been involved in community organisations in the North West– as a youth worker, by running arts projects, and as a lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University. Recently, as an old Greenham Common campaigner, she has become interested in uncovering women’s voices of the past – particularly women involved in the anti-war movements of the early twentieth century.

https://www.theproudtrust.org/about-us/our-trustees/alison-ronan-chair/