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Document Group: CDG-B Great Britain
Size: 5 linear inches
Provenance: Donated by Gwen Catchpool, 1957
Restrictions: None
Microfilm: None
Finding Aid: Collection processed by Anne Yoder; checklist created by Joseph Mathews, May 2004
This checklist is the property of the Swarthmore College Peace Collection.
Historical Introduction
Thomas Corder Pettifor Catchpool
(15 July 1883, Leicester, England -- 16 September 1952, Monte Rosa, Switzerland)
was before World War I an engineer and, after it, a relief worker, secretary
for the Friends International Centre in Berlin, and peace worker. Educated in
schools in Leicester and later at Sidcot Friends' School in Guernsey and at
Bootham School in York, he apprenticed and worked as an engineer until World
War I. He served in the Friends Ambulance Unit for 18 months, but, in May, 1916,
when the Compulsory Military Service Act was passed, he resigned from the F.A.U.
in protest. Refusing any alternative service, Catchpool served slightly more
than two years in prison, during which his health was somewhat undermined. In
1918, he published On Two Fronts: Letters of a Conscientious Objector, a memoir
about his experiences in the war and in prison. After his release in April 1919,
he went to Berlin to perform reconciliation work with the Friends War Victims
Relief Committee. There, Catchpool met his wife-to-be, Gwen Southall, who had
nursed him from pneumonia. In 1931, the entire family--now with four children--moved
to Berlin where the Friends Service Council had invited him to serve as the
secretary of the Quaker Centre there. Soon the center was absorbed into the
Friends International Centre, representing the German Society of Friends and
the Service Councils of British and American Friends. Catchpool believed his
tasks should include extending advice and relief to pacifists and to those experiencing
persecution and political difficulties.
With Hitler's coming into power, Catchpool's assistance to those adversely affected by his regime--including Jews and French civilians--came under suspicion by the Gestapo. In 1933 his house was searched and he was arrested, interrogated and released. After a year, the Gestapo dropped its case against him. In 1936, the term of service at the Friends International Centre over, Catchpool's family returned to England to live in Hampstead, near London. The Catchpool home was open to visitors, especially Germans, and Corder traveled often to the continent, working as an interpreter for English peace efforts and as a relief worker for Germans in Czechoslovakia and Lithuania. He continued his efforts in reconciliation even after the war began in Sept. 1939. During the war he supported conscientious objectors and volunteered for hospital duty; in 1941 he became involved with the creation of the Bombing Restriction Committee and the Peace Pledge Union.
In 1946, Catchpool was finally able
to return for a time to Germany to visit friends and to perform relief work.
In 1947, he and his wife Gwen were invited by the Friends Relief Service to
run the Rest Home at Bad Pyrmont in Germany. Later, in 1950 and 1951, in the
midst of extensive travels, they represented the British Friends Service Committee
in Berlin, now surrounded by the Russian zone. Corder Catchpool never ceased
his activities in various peace societies. In 1952, Catchpool died as a result
of a fall while mountain-climbing in Switzerland.
Scope of the Collection
In 1957, Corder Catchpool's wife, Gwen, sent a selection of his papers to her
friend Mary G. Cary, Curator of the Swarthmore College Peace Collection (accessions
57-7 and 57-19) for the use of researchers and students interested in conscientious
objection and reconciliation.
The biographical materials in this collection consist of a number of originals and copies of official documents and newspaper clippings relating to Catchpool's court martial in 1917 for refusing military service and his arrest by the Nazis in 1933.
The correspondence contains a number of originals and carbon copies of letters written to and by Catchpool that highlight his interests and concerns (for example, a 1935 letter discussing the impartial inspection of conditions in German prisons, and 1937 and 1938 letters regarding Catchpool's work on behalf of destitute Sudeten Germans and German prisoners in Lithuania).
The collection includes approximately 20 manuscript articles and reports; many are memoirs and timely social observations, like the 23-page article"Adventures in International Understanding: Central Europe," written in 1946, and the "Report from Berlin" of 1951.
The folder of published writings
contains a selection of pamphlets by Catchpool, one from 1926 on "La Kvakerismo,"
translated into Esperanto. There are also many shorter pieces collected from
journals, such as the historical article written after the war "Forgotten Germany,"
and letters to the editor, such as "The Effects of Bombing" from 1943. Such
prolific and varied written work reveals Catchpool's stature as a respected
peace journalist and commentator.
More information can be found about Catchpool's life in published articles and
books. Check the on-line library catalog [tripod]
for titles, most of which can be borrowed through interlibrary loan.
Contents
of the Collection
Box 1
Biographical information: C.O. status
& court martial, 1916-1918
Biographical information: arrest by the Nazis, April 1933
Biographical information: memorials & tributes
Correspondence: 1914-1919, 1925 [scattered]
Correspondence: re: German political prisoners, 1933-1938
Correspondence: 1931, 1933-1937
Correspondence: 1938-1939
Correspondence: 1940-1952, n.d.
MS articles & reports: 1919-1952
Writings: published
Miscellaneous
Swarthmore College Peace Collection
For more information,
contact Wendy Chmielewski, Curator, at
wchmiel1@ swarthmore.edu or call 610-328-8557.
For other resources,
see the college's online library catalog (Tripod).