In England there was considerably more doubt about the lust for war than in France, where the Socialists had voted to join the other parties in defense of France — and which, to be fair, the Germans had their guns trained on.

Said one Member of the British Parliament: “The crime we should commit,” writes Mr Harry Nuttall MP, “in taking part in the war, which the government has stated we are not under obligation to do, should impel every humane man and woman to exercise all the influence of which he or she is capable to secure our neutrality and non-intervention.”

And even the Times of London, no shirker from the war-drums seems to have had second thoughts:

“In England men will learn with amazement and incredulity that war is possible over the question of a Serbian port, or even over the larger issues which are said to lie behind it. Yet that is whither the nations are blindly drifting.

Letters to the Editor of the liberal Manchester Guardian, added to the anti-war emotion:

A criminal act
Sir – I would thank you for your brave stand for peace. Is Europe to be drenched in blood and are we to be involved because in an obscure town a madman kills a prince? It is incredible that a Liberal government, whose members have spoken eloquently for peace, should abandon our impregnable independence. Let the people revolt against so criminal an act. Were we to fight, the consequences would be too awful to contemplate.
Edwin T Heys, Mile End, Stockport

The conservative Telegraph crowed that the crowd at Trafalgar was barely 10,000 “but many of these were mere lads, a considerable section were foreigners and the great majority obviously came to see what was afoot rather than shout for peace at all hazards.” [pg 11]

For more see the Guardian the Telegraph and here a Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom commemoration of their peace rally held on August 4, 1914