Private Nicholson
Read the brief evidence that led to the execution of Private Nicholson. The prosecuting authority could not be certain he was not suffering from shellshock, yet neglected to have him medically examined. Cold-blooded callousness took precedent over comfort and care.
This is a verbatim copy of Public Record Office File: WO71/619
Field General Court Martial: 8 October 1917
President: Major K.E. Poyser DSO, 8th Bn. King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry
Members: Capt. S.W. Wicks, 9th Bn. York and Lancaster Regt. Lt. H.E. Watson, 8th Bn. York and Lancaster Regt.
Charge: When on Active Service, deserting His Majesty's Service in that he at a Camp near Dickebusch, Belgium, at about 4.0 p.m. on the 25th August 1917, when warned for the trenches and being fully aware that the Battalion was to proceed to the trenches the same night, did absent himself and remain absent, until apprehended by the M.M. Police at Reninghelst, Belgium, at about 11.50 on the same day.1
Plea: Accused Pleads Not Guilty.
Prosecution:
1st Witness - No.13208 Sgt. Roebuck G.S. 8th York & Lanc. Regt.
Sworn States:
At about 9 A.M. on 25th August 1917 the accused was in my charge undergoing F.P. No.1.2 I warned all the prisoners to join their companies as they were going to the trenches. the accused was present when I warned them
Not cross-examined.
2nd. Witness - No.39967 Sgt. T. Duffy, 8th York & Lanc. Regt.
Sworn states
At about 4 P.M. on the 25th August 1917 my platoon was in a camp at Chateau Segard near Dickebush waiting to go up to the trenches. Accused is in my platoon and I am platoon Sergt.
While we were waiting some enemy planes came over and dropped bombs near us and the men took cover. When the platoon fell in again the accused was absent. I did not see the accuse again till about a fortnight later when he was in the regimental guard room at Broxeele.
Not cross-examined.
3rd Witness - No 25470Corporal A.G.Herridge, 2nd Garr. Bn. Oxford & Bucks.L.I.3
Sworn states:
On the night of 25th August I was in charge of No.27 Front Line Examining Post. About 11.50 P.M. the sentry handed the accused over to me. I asked the accused if he was in possession of a pass allowing him to be absent from his unit after 9 P.M. He said No. I questioned him as to where he was going, he said he did not know where he was, he admitted that he left his regiment without permission about 3 P.M. that day. I had him detained.
Cross examined by Accused.
Accused: You told me it was about 3 P.M. when he left his regiment.
Defence
1st Witness - Accused No.32559 Pte. Nicholson, C.B., 8th York & Lanc. R.
Sworn states:
When the bomb dropped I got nervous. I can't say anything else.
Not XX'd
Court finds the Accused Guilty
2nd. Lieut. C.A. Watson, 8th York & Lanc. Regt.
Sworn states:
I produce certified true copy of accused's A.F.B.122 (Herewith marked 'B').
From this it appears accused is under a suspended sentence of 2 years H.L.4
Not cross-examined.
Confirmed: D. Haig 22.10.17
Promulgated: 25.10.17 - A.C Calvert, Lt. A/Adjt. 8th (S) Bn York & Lancaster Regt.
Sentence: Duly carried out at Quelmes at 6.10 a.m.27.10.17 - G.A.S. Williams, Major A.P.M. 23rd Division.5
Form A.F.B122
Nicholson C.B., A. Company, 8th York & Lancaster Regiment.
In the Field 4.6.17 (Pte) When on Active Service deserting His Majesty's Service. 1 year's H.L. commuted to 90 Day's F.P. No.1. F.G.C.M. 25.6.17. In the Field 18.7.17 (Pte) When on Active Service absenting himself without leave. 2 year's Hard labour. F.G.C.M. 23.7.17.
Army Form W.3104
Army Suspension of Sentences Act.
I forward the proceedings of a Field General Court Marital in the case of No. 32559 Pte. Nicholson C. 8th York Lanc. R. I have directed that he be committed to prison, and I request that you will issue orders as to his disposal.
H. Gordon, Brig. Genl. Comdg. 70th Inf.Bde
25the July 1917
Tried July 23rd 1917
Offence Absent Without Leave.
I direct that the sentence of 2 yrs. I.H.L. be suspended (signed) Herbert Plumer, General Comdg. Second Army.
The sentence will be brought forward for reconsideration on 28th October 1917.
(signed) A. Gordon Brig. Gen. Comdg. 70th Inf. Bde.
1.Mounted Military Police
2. i.e. Field Punishment No. 1, rigorous discipline, heavy labour and being tethered to a fixed object, often a post or wheel for a couple of hours for the duration of the sentence.
3. Garrison Battalion, Oxford & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry.
4. Hard labour.
5. .Assistant Provost Marshal.
Putkowski & Sykes note in their book "Shot at Dawn" that Nicholson's misfortune was unique. Two days after his trial when he was sentenced to death, his twin brother was killed in action in the Ypres Salient. They remark, "The death of the two brothers in so short an interval was a great tragedy - especially as they were aged only 19. The twins were born at Middlesborough early in 1889. The fact that the condemned soldier was a twin came to light from detail supplied by the parents for inclusion in the register pertaining to the cemetery in which the executed soldier was buried."
More recently, Putkowski has observed, "A soldier undergoing sentence and with a previous conviction for desertion, 19-year old Nicholson (born in Middlesborough early in 1898) was unrepresented even though he was on trial for his life.
Although it was legally permitted for the court to include an officer from Nicholson's unit, there remains an inherent bias against the defence in such an arrangement. The verbatim record of the proceeding fully records what was stated by the prosecution witnesses but fails to indicate in similar detail exactly what Nicholson stated in his own defence. The proceedings in his case were therefore not a complete record of the trial - a serious shortcoming in the case of a capital case.
Even by the standards of the time, the brevity of Nicholson's trial and evident disinclination of the court to solicit evidence about the nature and impact of the bombing may be taken to infer that the court was not disposed to consider his defence. The gravity of this bias should be appreciated in the knowledge that there was no system of appeal for a convicted soldier.
In spite of the unchallenged submission on oath by Nicholson that his nerves had been adversely affected by the experience, the court made no effort to either probe the matter or to have him medically examined. In the latter respect, this case and similar ones flatly contradict the assertion by John Major (when Prime Minister), that all soldiers who were sentenced to death were medically examined.
The customary process of soliciting the opinion of a convicted man's character, his personal service record and the state of his battalion by a succession of ever more senior officers was not observed in Nicholson's case. Had this been the case then the contribution and opinion of other confirming officers would have to be taken into account. However, in Nicholson's case the sole confirmatory authority was Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig and the proceedings of Nicholson's trial were all that he personally considered necessary to authorise the soldier's execution.
Between the beginning of August and the end of October 1917, while the Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele) was in progress, 305 British soldiers were sentenced to death and Haig confirmed the sentences on 41. On the basis of Nicholson's perfunctory trial and the Field Marshal's summary pronouncement it is extremely difficult to credit that justice was better served than Haig's enthusiasm for intimidating the Army's rank-an-file.
In the case of the 8th Battalion York and Lancaster this enthusiasm may be demonstrated by the fact that Haig had earlier ordered the execution of Pte. Leonard Mitchell who had (previously served with the 1/5th Bn. (Rotherham) Battalion. Mitchell had previously been punished for inflicting a wound on himself, was sentenced to death (later suspended) for desertion in early August 1917. When he subsequently lost his way during an enemy artillery barrage, a further charge of desertion ended with his execution at La Clytte on 17 September. As was to be the case with Nicholson, Mitchell's trial was blemished by the presence of one of his battalion officers sitting in judgement; the absence of any defending officer; no medical evidence being solicited; brief proceedings and Haig's solitary confirmation of the decision to implement the execution.
The execution in swift succession of these two men begs the question what was so bad about the 8th Battalion that caused Haig to consider that it needed more than one of its rank-and-file executed for the sake of example. It cannot have been casualties - for over a hundred of their number were killed and many more were wounded in the Ypres Salient between August and November. Perhaps the answer lies in a bigger figure - the tens of thousands of men whose lives were willfully squandered in the succession of futile attacks Haig ordered in the bloody quagmire later dignified as the Third Battle of Ypres.
On 10 October 1917 Nicholson's twin brother John Rutherford, 2nd Essex Regiment was killed in action in the Ypres Salient - a fact recorded in the burial register of Longuenesse (Souvenir) Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery (near Omer) by their parents. On the headstone of Charles' grave (4/E/66) they had inscribed: "Loved by all in life, lamented in death."
