Devils on Horseback
2018, 75 minutes
Imagined insight into the secret, conscientious objector trials of the First and Second World Wars that took place at Deptford Town Hall
It is 1915 and Sir William Wayland, Mayor of Deptford, is determined to send as many men to war as possible. However, the conscientious objectors, Jeremiah Spencer, Harry Haskett and Henry Albrow, stand to oppose their conscription. Each trial raises issues of morality, nationalism, pride, religion, heroism and loss. The trials run as expected until one of the tribunal members, Mrs Beatrice Drapper, receives a telegram from the war office, changing the course of the proceedings. The film culminates with a trial in 1942, where once again Albrow stands across from a Drapper, however this time it is Drapper Jr., bringing the film full circle.