Birth Notes

Whitelees, Symington

  Death Notes

7:25 PM at Azusa Valley Sanitarium, 16244 E. Gladstone Street, Azusa, CA; usual residence 1616 Trenton Avenue, Glendale, CA. Age at death 77 years.

  Burial Notes

Grandview Cemetery

  Recorded Events in His Life

• George worked as an amateur painter. One of his paintings now belongs to the North Ayrshire Council, and is featured on Art UK’s website: 
  https://artuk.org/discover/artists/view_as/grid/search/keyword:haining.

• Original Name: George Haining (at birth).

• Renamed: George Balmer Haining (in California).

• He worked as a Master shoemaker, then Seventh Day Adventist minister. ⁶

• Gallery: Birth Record, on 18 January 1881, in Symington, Ayrshire, Scotland.

• He appeared on the 1881 Census of Scotland on 3 April 1881 in Symington, Ayrshire, Scotland. ¹³
  

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1881   HAINING Robert       M     25     Dwelling:  Whitelees, Symington, Ayr, Scotland
1881   HAINING Elizabeth    F     23     Dwelling:  Whitelees, Symington, Ayr, Scotland
1881   HAINING Elizabeth    F      4     Dwelling:  Whitelees, Symington, Ayr, Scotland
1881   HAINING George       M    2 m     Dwelling:  Whitelees, Symington, Ayr, Scotland

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

• He appeared on the 1891 Census of Scotland on 5 April 1891 in Kilmaurs, Ayrshire, Scotland. ¹⁰
  

1891 Census:  Kilmaurs, Ayrshire, Scotland
    Address:  Main Street (Schedule No. 80)
                                                                                         Estimated
Name                Position   Status     Sex   Age   Occupation   Where Born            Birth Year
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Robert Haining      Head*      Married     M     34   Shoemaker    Ayrshire, Symington   about 1856
Elizabeth Haining   Wife       Married     F     33   --           Ayrshire, Tarbolton   about 1857
Elizabeth Haining   Daughter   Unmarried   F     14   --           Ayrshire, Symington   about 1876
George Haining      Son        Unmarried   M     10   Scholar      Ayrshire, Symington   about 1880
Jane Haining        Daughter   Unmarried   F      8   Scholar      Ayrshire, Dundonald   about 1882
Maggie Haining      Daughter   Unmarried   F      6   Scholar      Ayrshire, Dundonald   about 1884
Robert Haining      Son        Unmarried   M      4   --           Ayrshire, Dundonald   about 1886
John Haining        Son        Unmarried   M      2   --           Ayrshire, Dundonald   about 1888
  *House has 2 rooms with one or more windows
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GROS Number 598/00 001/000 16

• He had a residence before 1901 in Crosshouse, Kilmaurs, Ayrshire, Scotland.

• He appeared on the 1901 Census of Scotland on 31 March 1901 in Kilmaurs, Ayrshire, Scotland. ¹¹
  

1901 Census:  Crosshouse, Kilmaurs, Ayrshire, Scotland
    Address:  Douglas Cottage

Name             Age Position    Status    Occupation              Where Born            Parish     Remarks
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Robert Haining    45   Head      Married   Boot-maker (master)     Ayrshire, Symington   598008 8     *
E. B. Haining     43   Wife      Married   --                      Ayrshire, Tarbolton   598008 8
George Haining    20   Son       Single    Journeyman Boot-maker   Ayrshire, Symington   598008 8   worker
Maggie Haining    16   Daur      Single    Domestic Help           Ayrshire, Dundonald   598008 8
Robert Haining    14   Son       --        Grocer’s Apprentice     Ayrshire, Dundonald   598008 8   worker
John Haining      11   Son       --        Scholar                 Ayrshire, Dundonald   598008 8
James Haining      9   Son       --        Scholar                 Ayrshire, Kilmaurs    598008 8
Lily Haining       7   Daur      --        Scholar                 Ayrshire, Kilmaurs    598008 8
Agnes Haining      4   Daur      --        --                      Ayrshire, Kilmaurs    598008 8
William Haining    2   Son       --        --                      Ayrshire, Kilmaurs    598008 8
Ellen Haining      0   Daur      --        --                      Ayrshire, Kilmaurs    598008 8
     *employer; working at home; 3 rooms with one or more windows
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

• He worked as a Master Shoemaker on 26 December 1901 in Hurlford, Ayrshire, Scotland.

• He resided at Riccarton Road in Hurlford, Ayrshire, Scotland on 26 December 1901.

• He had a residence in 1902 in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland.

• Gallery: George Haining, wife Agnes, and first-born daughter Mary, about 1902, in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland.

• He worked as a Master shoemaker in 1906 in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland.

• Gallery: the Robert Boyd Haining family, about 1908, in Kilmaurs, Ayrshire, Scotland.

• He had a residence in 1911 in Watford, Hertfordshire, England.

• He served in the military about 1916–1918.
  
  The attached photograph is a picture of George Haining with other Adventist non-combatants in his unit, along with their 2 seated (and unnamed) superiors.  From left-to-right, the soldiers are:  Arthur Ernest Sanders, Edward R. Harris, Frederick Herbert Thomas, George Haining, and William Charles Harold Anscombe.
  
  A Historical Perspective
  
  The loss of life — more than 8.6 million dead — and the horror of World War I is well-known to us all.  Many families were touched by the war, and lost men to the conflict.  However, the difficulties faced by British Adventist soldiers and other Conscientious Objectors is only now coming to light, nearly 100 years later.  Because they were determined to keep the Sabbath and not carry weapons, many were beaten, starved, punished, forced to clean toilets to a shine without equipment, and even imprisoned. Oddly enough, the refusal to work on the Sabbath (Saturday, for Seventh Day Adventists) frequently gave the Adventist soldiers more problems than their refusal to carry arms.
  
  The intolerance for Conscientious Objectors was partly because, in the United Kingdom, WWI was one of the first conflicts where Conscientious Objectors became an issue that needed to be dealt with in the context of military service.  Other countries had had their own conflicts that developed procedures and a status for CO’s that included exemption from service, or service as non-combatants.  For Americans, this happened during the Civil War.  In Britain, however, the army consisted of regular army and volunteers, so it was a moot point.  It wasn’t until WWI, when the loss of life became so great that Parliament needed to institute a draft that Conscientious Objectors entered the military.  The Military Service Acts of 1916 and 1918 conscripted men to replenish British troops needed at the front lines.  While the Act did allow for objectors to be absolutely exempted, to perform alternative civilian service, or to serve as a non-combatant in the army’s Non-Combatant Corps, this was only if they could convince a Military Service Tribunal of the sincerity of their objection. Unfortunately, the tribunals were notoriously harsh towards conscientious objectors, reflecting widespread public opinion that “conchies” (conscientious objectors) were lazy, degenerate, ungrateful “shirkers” seeking to benefit from the sacrifices of others.
  
  Sometime after May 1916, George Balmer Haining was conscripted into military service for rest of the duration of the war. He served as a non-combatant.  His unit, and the exact dates of his service are not known.
  
  George Haining in WWI
  
  The following excerpt about George’s military service comes from John Craven’s manuscript The Hainings and the Cravens:  A Twentieth Century Family History:
  
  

    World War I presented a problem to British Adventists like George Haining.  Most British Adventists were pacifists and so “conscientious objectors.”  By contrast, American Adventists eventually could become “conscientious collaborators” and work in the medical branch of the military.  Their religious views were protected by the American Constitution.   British Adventists had no constitution to appeal to, and British tradition and law only permitted them to be conscientious objectors.  They were roughly treated for their religious beliefs during the war and maintained their pacifism with difficulty.  German Adventists were split.  A minority were pacifists and were severely persecuted by the state and broke away as the Reformed Seventh-day Adventist Church.  Officially the main German Adventist church bowed to state pressure and allowed Adventist young men to bear arms in the war.
  
    Eventually George Haining and other Adventist pacifists in Britain were grudgingly accepted by the military.  In Francis M. Wilcox’s Seventh-day Adventists in Time of War (1936) there is a chapter called “In Prison for Christ’s Sake” which Grandpa George Haining brought to my attention.  This chapter contains a series of written experiences (without names given) of British Adventist conscientious objectors during World War I.  He said that the subsection named “Loyalty to Principle Recognized” (pp. 283 – 286) was his experience:
  

                   It was a cold, wet winter morning when I said good-bye to my wife and five small children, and set out with a heavy heart and bewildered mind for the recruiting station.  Four hours later, while marching from the recruiting station to the railway depot with a company of other poor wretches, vainly trying to look soldierlike, my heart was greatly cheered by a framed text in the dismal window of a small pawnshop by the way, and an inward joy that remained with me through all the experiences of the next tragic years, filled my heart.  There, surrounded by dusty furniture and rusty tools, shone the sure promise of God, “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.”  It was not long till that promise was to be tried and proved.
  
                   In the barracks of John Bunyan’s hometown of Bedford came the first real trial to me, and I think it will be the real trial to all Seventh-day Adventists who are called to the service.
  
                   When the sergeant and the corporal who have escorted you from your home town to the army barracks hand you over to the officers for regulation dress and kit, and introduce you as a fine young man and one who has the makings of a good soldier, — quick eye, steady trigger finger, and a brave heart, — and you are dressed up in a fine new uniform and handed a rifle with bayonet all complete, and you courteously decline to touch it, reminding the officer that your papers show that you have been given a noncombatant service, and he takes you by the hand, pats you on the shoulder and says, “Look here, comrade, you’re not a ‘conchie.’  You don’t look like a coward,”  and he calls to all the men to come and look at you, and you stand alone among those hundreds of men, misunderstood, refusing their cigarettes, beer, advice, and finally having the badge stripped off your helmet, the numerals off your shoulder straps (all in a most gentlemanly way), all the pride and dignity you may have accumulated in your church or business life gets a severe shock.
  
                   I was the only conscientious objector in Bedford that week, and not a chance was lost to make me prominent in messroom, parade ground, or barrack.  Finally, I was put on a train and shipped to Canterbury, and put in a noncombatant company.  I found two other Adventist boys, younger than I, in the company.  They were delighted to see me, and I shall never cease to love those brethren.
  
                   They told me they were getting Sabbath off, and for some months we did; but one morning on parade our names were called out, and we were marched to the captain’s office.  Before entering we were ordered to remove our helmets.  Then we knew we were “on a crime.”  Sure enough, the charge was:  “Refusing to go on parade on Saturdays.” 
  
                   At first, the captain was very friendly, complimenting us on our good behavior and the splendid reports of our work.  (I should explain here that we had two sets of officers over us:  the noncombatant officers for discipline and the royal engineers for labor.)  Then he said:  “The War Office has been very considerate in giving you noncombatant service.  Now take my advice and don’t cause any trouble about this Sabbath business.  I, too, am a Christian, and when in civil life a strict Sunday man; but now on Sundays, when the enemy came surging on, threatening your home and dear ones, and mine, and the order came, ‘Over the top,’ I did not say, ‘This is my Sunday.  I must rest.’  No!  I went out and fought.”   And the five wound strips on his coat sleeve were good evidence that he had done his duty.
  
                   The other boys looked at me to answer, and claiming God’s promise to give words, I began to speak, and said that that was quite all right for him, as he has said it was his Sunday and he could use it as he pleased, but we had no day of our own — it was the Sabbath of the Lord our God, and we could not change it.  He cut me off with a fearful oath, said we were a bunch of cowardly hypocrites, and threatened to line us up on the barrack square and turn a machine gun on us.  We were not fit to live.  “Christians, bah!”  We would sit on our bed all day Saturday reading our Bibles, and if the hospital, full of wounded men, should go on fire or the drains should choke up, we would fold our hands and pray. 
  
                   “No, sir,” I spoke up, “if such an emergency should arise, call on me any Sabbath, and I will clear the drains if it takes all day and night.”
  
                   The next argument was that he was pointed out among his fellow officers as “the captain who had three men who refused to obey orders.”
  
                   I replied that he should not suffer for us, he should punish us by imprisonment or otherwise.  I added that we had nothing to fear or suffer in prison — we did not drink any intoxicants, smoke or chew tobacco, eat meat, fish, or fowl, nor drink tea or coffee.  Prison would deprive us of nothing.  We did not go to shows, play cards, or gamble, and if it would put him straight with his equals and superiors, he could put us in the guardroom on Saturdays, at least, and if he wanted any work done, we were ready for business as soon as the sun set Saturday.
  
                   He wheeled in his chair.  “Sergeant Major, is this man speaking the truth?  Don’t they eat meat, drink tea, or smoke?”
  
                   “He’s telling the truth, sir.”
  
                   “Well!” he spat with an oath, “have all the noncommissioned officers in here at once.”
  
                   They came and stood at attention.
  
                   “Do you see these three men?  Well, from now on, one-half hour before sunset on Fridays, no matter where they are or what they are doing, send them back to barracks.”
  
                   From that day until our discharge we had no trouble over the Sabbath.
  
                   Other captains came to the company, found out we had Sabbath free, but their other officers told them the story of our trial, and that ended the matter.
  
                   Other Adventist men came to the company, and we took them to one side, urged them to be faithful to duty  on the six days, and they need not worry over Sabbath.
  
                   All noncombatant men are privates.  We had in our company ministers (various denominations), doctors, chemists, presidents of colleges, lawyers, men from all walks of life, but I think the Adventist men fitted in best of all.  Each of us had been trained to work in several lines.  I myself did some electrical,  painting, plumbing, surveying, draining, sewage disposal, shoe repairing, kitchen, and several other kinds of work.  We gave all the service we could with a smile, and three of our officers gave me their names and civil business addresses, and said that if even I wanted employment after the war, they would give me work and good wages.

  Here he shows himself a Puritan idealist able to stand alone in the face of mass disapproval and to explain his point of view simply and clearly and persuasively. 
  
             At the end of the war he was assigned to digging graves in the winter of 1917 when there were thousands of deaths from Spanish influenza.  He remembered how hard it was to dig through the icy earth.  But when he got down to the level of the neighboring coffins, how black and foul-smelling was the seepage from the sides of the grave!
  
    Only rarely did he get leave to visit his family, so when his work was done, he would sneak home weekends and arrive at Watford Junction where military police were looking for soldiers taking unofficial leaves.  But his daughter Mary would be watching from the nearby bridge and would signal if the way was clear.  If it was, he would run across the rail tracks and exit the station by the “back door.” 

  For More Information
  
  For further information on British Adventists in WWI, see http://www.adventistreview.org/141530-18N or https://adventist.uk/wwi-and-the-adventist-church/.