Grave of Private J Smith Kemmel Chateau Military Cemetery Belgium
A victim of the British Army " shot at dawn " policy during WW1. Private Smith was executed for desertion and disobedience.
Private Jimmy Smith joined the British Army in 1914 to fight and protect his country. He fought gallantly in the Gallipoli Campaign in 1915. He received two good conduct medals at the Battle of the Somme where he was injured. After recovering from his injuries he returned to the frontline during the Battle of Ypres ( Passchendaele ) 1917.
The Armed Forces Act 2006 granted a symbolic pardon to soldiers controversially executed for cowardice and other offences during the First World War.
Of the 200,000 or so men court-martialed during the First World War, 20,000 were found guilty of offences carrying the death penalty. Of those, 3000 actually received it, and of those sentences, 346 were carried out. The others were given lesser sentences, or had death sentences commuted to a lesser punishment, e.g. hard labour, field punishment or a suspended sentence (91 of the men executed were under a suspended sentence: 41 of those executed were previously subject to commuted death sentences, and one had a death sentence commuted twice before). Of the 346 men executed, 309 were pardoned, while the remaining 37 were those executed for murder, who would have been executed under civilian law.
Private SMITH JAMES
Service Number 52929
Died 05/09/1917
Aged 26
17th Bn The King's (Liverpool Regiment)
Son of James William and Elizabeth Smith, of 52, Noble St., Bolton.
Grave of Private J Smith Kemmel Chateau Military Cemetery Belgium
A victim of the British Army " shot at dawn " policy during WW1. Private Smith was executed for desertion and disobedience.
Private Jimmy Smith joined the British Army in 1914 to fight and protect his country. He fought gallantly in the Gallipoli Campaign in 1915. He received two good conduct medals at the Battle of the Somme where he was injured. After recovering from his injuries he returned to the frontline during the Battle of Ypres ( Passchendaele ) 1917.
The Armed Forces Act 2006 granted a symbolic pardon to soldiers controversially executed for cowardice and other offences during the First World War.
Of the 200,000 or so men court-martialed during the First World War, 20,000 were found guilty of offences carrying the death penalty. Of those, 3000 actually received it, and of those sentences, 346 were carried out. The others were given lesser sentences, or had death sentences commuted to a lesser punishment, e.g. hard labour, field punishment or a suspended sentence (91 of the men executed were under a suspended sentence: 41 of those executed were previously subject to commuted death sentences, and one had a death sentence commuted twice before). Of the 346 men executed, 309 were pardoned, while the remaining 37 were those executed for murder, who would have been executed under civilian law.
Private SMITH JAMES
Service Number 52929
Died 05/09/1917
Aged 26
17th Bn The King's (Liverpool Regiment)
Son of James William and Elizabeth Smith, of 52, Noble St., Bolton.