Shot at dawn, pardoned 90 years on

More than 300 British soldiers who were shot during World War I for military offences are to receive formal pardons, Defence Secretary Des Browne has announced. Mr Browne said he would be seeking a parliamentary group pardon for the men, executed for offences such as cowardice and desertion. It is believed 306 British soldiers were shot during the war from 1914-1918.

Look at the statement. Are there any characters in History that you can think of that you’d

like to give a ‘pardon’ to?

•

Reason why:-

Decided whether people, such as Private Harry Farr,

deserve a posthumous pardon?

Posthumous?

     adj : occurring after a person's death; (in the case of a child)           born after the father's death; "a posthumous award"; "a           posthumous book"; "a posthumous child"

     

Private Harry Farr

Died 1916.

Shot for cowardice

     

Private Harry Farr

Died 1916.

Shot for cowardice

R.I.P.

Write me a gravestone for Private Harry Farr

• include what job he did before the war

• what family he left behind

• how did he die

• what war he fought in

     

So, what could his trial have looked

like?

     

     

Soldier name Detail

FARR

HIGHGATE

BURDEN

McGEEHAN

     

Read your coloured sheet

     

PAIR

     

Group

     

The announcement of the pardon came after years of campaigning from the family of Private Harry Farr.

Pte Farr volunteered to fight for his country in 1914 - the year the war with Germany began. He had first served in the British Army between 1908 and 1912 but by the time World War I broke out, was working as a scaffolder and living in Kensington, west London, with his wife and one-year-old daughter, both called Gertrude. Pte Farr fought at the Battle of the Somme and at Neuve Chapelle, but during 1915 and 1916 reported sick four times with nerves, his worst case seeing him spend five months in hospital, with symptoms his family said were consistent with a diagnosis of "shellshock". He returned to action with the West Yorkshire Regiment but was court martialled after refusing to go to the trenches in September 1916, having asked to return to camp, saying he could not stand the noise of artillery and was not in a fit state. At his court martial on 16 October 1916, Pte Farr was found guilty of "misbehaving before the enemy in such a manner as to show cowardice" and he was shot the following morning, aged 25. He refused a blindfold at his execution, preferring to look the firing squad in the eye, and the army chaplain at the execution sent Pte Farr's widow a message saying "a finer soldier never lived". His daughter Gertrude Harris, who was three years old at the time and is now 93, said: "I am so relieved that this ordeal is now over and I can be content knowing that my father's memory is intact. "I have always argued that my father's refusal to rejoin the frontline, described in the court martial as resulting from cowardice, was in fact the result of shellshock, and I believe that many other soldiers suffered from this, not just my father."

     

The announcement of the pardon came after years of campaigning from the family of Private Harry Farr.

•Pte Farr volunteered to fight for his country in 1914 - the year the war with Germany began. •He had first served in the British Army between 1908 and 1912 but by the time World War I broke out, was working as a scaffolder and living in Kensington, west London, with his wife and one-year-old daughter, both called Gertrude. •Pte Farr fought at the Battle of the Somme and at Neuve Chapelle, but during 1915 and 1916 reported sick four times with nerves, his worst case seeing him spend five months in hospital, with symptoms his family said were consistent with a diagnosis of "shellshock". •At his court martial on 16 October 1916, Pte Farr was found guilty of "misbehaving before the enemy in such a manner as to show cowardice" and he was shot the following morning, aged 25. •He refused a blindfold at his execution, preferring to look the firing squad in the eye,

     

Private Thomas Highgate, of the Royal West Kent Regiment, was the first British soldier to be executed for desertion during World War I - just 35 days into the war. His offence, trial, sentencing and execution all took place on the same day - 8 September 1914.

Aged 17, he had been unable to bear the carnage of the Battle of Mons, and had fled and hidden in a barn. Pte Highgate was undefended at his court martial because all his regimental comrades had been killed, injured or captured. In 2000, the parish council in his home village of Shoreham, Kent, voted not to include his name on its war memorial. Phil Hobson, who was council chairman at the time, said: "We had the opportunity of putting the name on it because we were replacing the plaque with all the names on - after nearly 100 years it was very worn. "We took what we thought to be the best compromise position in that a space was left for his name should people want it to be added at a later date." Stuart Gendall, of the Royal British Legion, said Pte Highgate's name should be on the memorial: "I think it would be most appropriate and certainly very poignant in this year - the 90th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme."

     

At the age of 16, Private Herbert Burden lied that he was two years older so he could join the Northumberland Fusiliers and fight in the war.

Ten months later he was court martialled for desertion after leaving his post to comfort a recently-bereaved friend stationed nearby, having seen many other friends killed at the Battle of Bellwarde Ridge. The officers considering Pte Burden's case heard his unit had been issued orders to make for the front just before he went missing. By the time he faced the firing squad on 21 July 1915, Pte Burden was 17 - still too young to even officially be in his regiment. It was Pte Burden's case which led John Hipkin, a retired Newcastle teacher, to set up the Shot at Dawn campaign in the early 1990s. The campaign fought for soldiers such as Pte Burden to be pardoned. Mr Hipkin, now 80, fought in World War II, taken prisoner by the Germans at the age of 14, when he was cabin boy in the merchant navy. He began campaigning after reading about Pte Burden's case and said: "I couldn't believe it was true, but when I looked into it there were others, and this really angered me." On Wednesday he said of the news of the pardons: "It is great news, I could not believe it. It is well overdue." A memorial to soldiers shot by their own side during WWI, a statue of a young soldier blindfolded and tied to a stake, unveiled in 2001 in Staffordshire, is modelled on Pte Burden.

     

Private Bernard McGeehan, of the Liverpool King's Regiment, was executed on 2 November 1916, after being found guilty of desertion.

Aged 28 and from Derry, Northern Ireland, he had been transferred to the front line just after the Battle of the Somme earlier that year.

"He couldn't cope. He was shell-shocked completely, shaking, bewildered and lost. "He went for a walk one day out of his lines and five days later walked back in again,

looking for his regiment. "He was arrested, court martialled and shot at dawn - for alleged desertion.

"I've always contended that anybody who walks back into his lines again is not planning to desert."

     

Soldier name Detail

FARR

HIGHGATE

BURDEN

McGEEHAN

     

Think back to last Monday’s lesson..... For each of the 4 people we looked at who were to receive a ‘posthumous’ pardon you need to rate their case. Give them a ranking [ 1= strongest case, 4= weakest case]. Then on the back of the

sheet write an obituary for them....

FARRDied 1916

Aged 25

Previously served in army

Left a wife and young child

HIGHGATEDied 1914

Offence, trial, sentence and execution all on the same day

17 years of age

BURDENDesertion after comforting a friend

Inspired Shot at Dawn campaign

Was 16 when lied to join the army

McGHEEAged 28

Court marshalled for desertion

Actually walked back to the front line

     

Can I have your

Homework please?

     

We’re going to watch the

whole episode of

the trial today!

Blackadder Season 4, Episode 2

     

     

Peter Caddick-Adams – Historian

• I believe Des Browne has got it wrong

• Maybe a popular view, but is distorting historical fact

• Some of those sentenced were clearly suffering from shell-shock

• We must be careful not to judge events by our standards today. We were fighting a war for national survival

• Surely the way to confront this tragedy is to remember it, not pretend it never happened

• 3000 soldiers convicted of desertion, only 10% were killed

     

John McGeehan of campaign group Shot at Dawn

• I’m a relative, and on a personal level I’m absolutely delighted with Des Browne’s decision

• The decision is important as it closes a chapter for 306 British families

• It is important on humanitarian grounds

• For critics to say it’s re-writing history. It’s not. The story wasn’t finished

• These people went into the Ministry of Defence archives for 75 years. They weren’t discovered until the 1990s

• I personally haven’t got personal closure

     

Positives Minuses It would be interesting if....

More than 300 British soldiers who were shot during World War I for military offences are to receive formal pardons, Defence Secretary Des Browne has announced....

     

Think back to last Monday’s lesson..... For each of the 4 people we looked at who were to receive a ‘posthumous’ pardon you need to rate their case. Give them a ranking [ 1= strongest case, 4= weakest case]. Then on the back of the

sheet write an obituary for them....

FARRDied 1916

Aged 25

Previously served in army

Left a wife and young child

HIGHGATEDied 1914

Offence, trial, sentence and execution all on the same day

17 years of age

BURDENDesertion after comforting a friend

Inspired Shot at Dawn campaign

Was 16 when lied to join the army

McGHEEAged 28

Court marshalled for desertion

Actually walked back to the front line

     

     

Timed essay

     

“Surely the way to confront this World War I tragedy is to remember it, not pretend it had never happened”

Peter Caddick-Adams

In relation to the pardoning of soldiers from World War I how far do you agree with the statement?

     

“Surely the way to confront this World War I tragedy is to remember it, not pretend it had never happened”

Peter Caddick-AdamsIn relation to the pardoning of soldiers from World War I how far do you agree with the

statement? Max 1,250 words

Level 5 Agrees and shows increasing factual knowledge. Structured work making appropriate use of dates and terms.

Level 6 Disagrees but also begins to assess the significance of the statement. Begins to analyse why there are different historical interpretations.

Level 7 Balanced answer with supported conclusion whereby the pupil offers his/her own opinion. Assesses the significance of the quotation and relates it to their own life/ life in 2007. Reaches a substantiated conclusion.

Level 8 Balanced answer with supported conclusion whereby the pupils offers his/her own opinion. Well-structured narrative, description and explanation making appropriate use of dates/terms.

NB Max L5 if essay does not discuss cases of at least 4 soldiers who received a pardonMax L5 if essay does not include discussion on historical debate around ‘Shot at Dawn’Max L5 if essay does not include factually correct information