Broken men shot at dawn
Post-traumatic stress wasn’t recognised in the Great War... and hundreds of British Servicemen paid the ultimate price. John Vincent reports
They came for them at dawn, those trembling, frightened young men with moments to live. They were frogmarched outside, put up against a wall, blindfolded and shot by firing squad for cowardice. Nearly 350 British soldiers were gunned down in this fashion during the First World War, bringing dishonour and shame to themselves and their families. But how many of these men really were cowards deserving of execution?
Take the case of Harry Farr, who went “over the top” countless times and was shelled repeatedly from 1914. He shook continuously from May 1915, possibly because his eardrums were so badly damaged that the auditory nerve was exposed and he couldn’t physically bear loud noises.
He struggled on for months but finally asked to see a medical orderly, only to be told by a sergeant-major: “If you don’t go up to the f***ing front, I’m going to f***ing blow your brains out.” Farr replied: “I just can’t go on.” His court-martial lasted just 20 minutes and he was shot by firing squad on October 16, 1916 after refusing a blindfold. For his widow, Gertrude, there was no pension, only shame. When she went to the Post Office after his death death she was told: “We don’t give pensions to the widows of cowards.” She was left destitute, with a three-year-old and a fourmonth-old to feed.
Then there was Herbert Morrison, shot for desertion aged 17. And the poor soldier
shot at dawn after confessing: “I haven’t been the same since I scraped my best friend’s brains from my face.”
Now let us add one more name: that of Private Alfred Thomas Anstead, of the Royal Fusiliers, who twice went
AWOL and after giving himself up told Military Police he was “unnerved by shellfire”. He was executed for desertion on November 15, 1916. The rare, possibly unique, memorial plaque in his name - to which he was not officially entitled but was awarded nonetheless – surfaced at Noonans in London to fetch £11,780 against an estimate of £2,400-£2,800. No medal or dependant’s pension was given so why a plaque was issued is a mystery, although an administrative error is suspected.
Anstead, Morrison, Farr and all those other Servicemen shot at dawn for cowardice or desertion were officially pardoned by the Government in 2006 and their names commemorated at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire. The main monument is a figure based on Private Herbert Burden who, at 16, added two years to his age to enlist. He deserted at Ypres after his unit suffered huge losses and was executed on July 21, 1915, aged 17. ■ At the same Noonans sale, the George Cross, King’s Commendation for Brave Conduct and three other medals awarded to London Blitz bomb disposal officer SubLieutenant John BP Miller realised £136, 400. His astonishing courage on two occasions merited a second GC but he was told “there could be no such thing as a Bar to the Cross” and he was given the
King’s Commendation instead.
After his death death she was told: ‘We don’t give pensions to the widows of cowards.’