James Vallance in later life

James Vallance in later life

James or Jim Vallance came from a farm at Coopers Creek, near Oxford. He belonged to a small, evangelistic, non-denominational church, which sent him to do ‘Gospel work’ in South Australia in 1908 and he continued working as an evangelist for the Testimony of Jesus for thirty years [1]. Jim Vallance told his military board hearing he was an un-ordained minister who received no salary but lived on what Christians gave him and occasionally worked on farms in return for his keep. He refused to do non-combatant work because of his religious scruples [2] and was sentenced to 28 days imprisonment in June 1918, followed by a two years sentence in August 1918, of which he served just over a year before his release on the 30th August 1919 [3].

[1] Hilary Jack, ‘Early Days in Oxford’. Private collection.
[2] Conscientious Objector: An Unordained Minister: of No Particular Church’, Auckland Star, 15 May 1918, p.4.; ‘Unordained “minister”: Conscientious Objection: Appeal by Evangelist’, New Zealand Herald, 16 May 1918, p.4.
[3] http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/war/first-world-war/conscientious-objection

Vallance family

Vallance family

Vallance family. Permission is required before this photograph may be reproduced or displayed.

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