Private Turpie

No.4753 Private. William John Turpie - 2 Bn. East Surrey Regiment

Julian Putkowski

Many soldiers who ran away from the battlefield during the First World War were summarily shot as they struggled to escape the slaughter that was taking place in the trenches. Many had un-doubtedly been driven mad by the sights they had witnessed and the general nightmare of war. Others managed to make good their escape and sometimes managed to remain free for months.

A few, a very few even managed to get back to Britain. Turpie, the first man to be executed in the vicinity of Poperinghe, managed to accomplish this feat. Since it was customary for captured deserters to face trial by Field General Court Martial, the man who might initially be regarded as being responsible for Turpie's death was his Brigade commander, Brigadier General E.S. Pereira. Pereira, commanding 85th Infantry Brigade, ordered that Turpie be tried by Field General Court Martial (FGCM) at Houtkerque on 19 June 1915 but did not otherwise take part in the trial proceedings.

Military regulations insisted that unless these were exceptional circumstances a FGCM which was trying a soldier had to be staffed by at least three experienced officers.The most senior officer, usually a Major, was appointed President of the court. The Manual of Military Law allowed the accused soldier the right to object to any of the officers who had been chosen to judge him. However, since the other members of the court decided upon the outcome such a challenge, few were successful. This was partly because of class solidarity, for the British Army's regular officer corps featured a disproportionate number of men from landowning or aristocratic families and the soldiers were mostly working class. The corporate bias of the court was sometimes even more apparent when, as in Turpie’s case, all the officers were drawn from his brigade and one actually belonged to the accused man's own battalion:

President: Major E.M. Baker - 3rd Royal Fusiliers

Members: Captain C.S. Fuller - 2nd East Surreys [1]

2 Lieutenant Milford Baice - 2nd The Buffs

To find Turpie innocent would have inferred as a criticism of the Brigadier Pereira’s judgement in convening the court martial. The system permitted the accused man to have assistance from a defending officer, sometimes referred to as a Prisoner's Friend. However, nobody appeared to defend or advise Turpie or for that matter, the vast majority of other soldiers who faced trial on a capital charge.

The proceedings of the court were typically brief. Turpie pleaded not guilty to desertion. His sergeant, No 8681 Company Quarter-Master Sergeant E. Baker testified on behalf of the prosecution:

"At VLAMERTINGHE on the 10th April 1915, the Coy. paraded to proceed to the trenches. The accused Pte. Turpie was present. I did not see him again until June 18th 1915.”[2]

Then two of Turpie's comrades, No. 9312 Pte. F. Chandler and No. 6623 Pte. C. Lilley told the court that they had seen Turpie fall out when their company had halted at Zonnebeke, en route to the trenches. The other evidence that customarily featured as part of the case for the prosecution was a statement about the circumstances under which the accused had been arrested.

In Turpie's case this took the form of a report signed by F.G. Wright, a magistrate in Dover, the English port in which the soldier had been arrested by Police Constable Alfred Stanford. The report also described Turpie's appearance: 24-years old, nearly two metres tall, with blue eyes, light brown hair, and a fresh complexion, marred by a scar on his chin. It also recorded Turpie had been wearing civilian dress when he was confronted by Stanford on Monday at 10.45 a.m. at Dover Priory Railway Station. Police Constable Wright noted:

"He gave me his name & address as 82 Woodlands Park Road, Allingay, Tottenham, London. He said he was a Fireman on board a ship running from Leith to Dunkirk. At Dunkirk they were shelled & had to go to Boulogne, there he missed his ship & was sent to Folkestone by the English Consul on Saturday. He came straight to Dover and slept at the Sailor's Rest on Saturday & Sunday nights.”[3]

Stanford had taken Turpie into custody, arranged for the London Metropolitan Police to check his prisoner's address and resumed the interrogation. Turpie had then confessed he was a deserter.

Turpie's defence consisted of a sworn statement. The written proceedings note that he said:

“I was marching to the trenches with my Coy. The Coy halted and I fell out to go to the rear. I had been suffering from dysentery for about a month and had taken medicine from the medical officer, but it had not cured me. I also had sores on me caused by scratching, as I was in a verminous condition. I don't know what happened to me after I fell out. I wandered about for a week and then I found myself in BOULOGNE. I was there for about four weeks, when I met a sailor, who gave me some clothes and told me to go to the English Consul. I did so and the English Consul me to FOLKESTONE & from there I went to DOVER. I am now 24 yrs old. When I was 18 yrs old I was an engine cleaner at KING’S CROSS Loco [motive] Depot LONDON G[reat] N[orth] Railway. I had an accident and fell from the boiler onto my head. I was unconscious for about 2 1/2 hours and since then I have been subject to fits of forgetfulness. I enlisted for the duration of the war on 9th Sep. 1914, to serve my Country and am sure that had I been in full possession of my senses, I could not have done as I did.”[4]

The court did not cross-examine Turpie nor did it order enquiries or a medical examination to test truth of his story. Instead, as with 87% of other soldiers who were similarly court-martialled, they found Turpie guilty of the offence with which he was charged.[5] His disciplinary record noted that on 6 January 1915 Turpie had been confined to barracks for three days in Winchester for overstaying his leave but otherwise his character was good.[6] Nevertheless, the court recommended Turpie be sentenced to death for desertion.

Turpie’s case and that of two other soldiers who had been sentenced to death in separate proceedings were dealt with simultaneously dealt by the confirming authorities. Of the trio, only Turpie had his death sentence confirmed, successively by Brigadier General C.E. Pereira, Major General E.S. Bulfin (Officer Commanding 28th Division); Lieutenant General Charles Fergusson (Officer Commanding 2nd Corps) and finally on 28th June, the Commander-in-Chief, Field Marshal Sir John French. None these senior commanders provided any reason to explain why they recommended that Turpie be shot.[7]

However, that it was to deter his fellow soldiers from deserting swiftly became apparent. Arrangements to execute Turpie were made by Captain W.Y. Miller, Assistant Provost Marshal, 28 Division and Lieutenant Colonel C.G. Ashton, Officer Commanding 2 East Surrey. A Church of England chaplain attended to the spiritual aspect of the ritual. Three soldiers from each of the four battalions which composed 85 Brigade were detailed to form the dozen-strong firing squad and the remainder of the brigade were paraded to hear Ashton promulgate the sentence and witness Turpie's death.[8]

At precisely 5.05 a.m. on 1st July, Turpie was shot. Lieutenant R.M. Macphail RAMC, the Medical Officer of the dead man’s battalion certified that death had been instantaneous.

The tactical justification for executing Turpie had little to do with the refinements of the Manual of Military Law. It had everything to do with the fact that Field Marshal French had sacrificed around 60,000 men and contracted the Ypres Salient by withdrawing the 28th and other Divisions after German gas attacks during April and May. This move, which had been made against advice of field commanders, left British positions around Ypres even more exposed to continuous enemy artillery barrages than had previously been the case. It was apparent that Field Marshal French had blundered and the officer corps evidently felt their authority had been thereby undermined. Disinclined or unable to secure the replacement of their incompetent superior, the brigadiers and divisional commanders opted to secure themselves from criticism by intimidating the soldiers under their control. Their ritual slaughter of Turpie was the first of nine similar exercises, which occurred near Poperinghe during July 1915

William John Turpie was born in St. Pancras in 1892. His parents were Lydia (33) and William Turpie (34), a railway engine driver. In addition to William, they had another son, Ernest Richard (b. 1898) and three daughters: Amelia Eliza (b. 1894), Lydia (1899) and Rose (b. 1900). William was buried near Dickebush, where he had been executed but his remains were later disinterred and nowadays his grave may be found in White House Cemetery, St. Jean.

1. MML 1914 - Pt.1 49 (1) (b); 2. MML Pt.1 50. (1) permitted an officer from any corps, including the accused's own unit to serve as an officer on an FGCM.

[2] WO71/421 FGCM : W. Turpie

[3] Dover Standard, 5.6.1915; "Allingay" refers to the London Borough of Haringay. A “Fireman” may refer to stoking a steamship’s engine, rather than firefighting.

[4] Op. cit., WO71/421 FGCM: W. Turpie.

[5] Statistics of the Military Effort of the British Empire during the Great War (HMSO: London: 1922), p. 644.

[6] His disciplinary record notes that Turpie officially enlisted on 7.9.14. WO71/421

[7] Ibid.

[8] Ibid. The battalions were: 2 Buffs; 3 Royal Fusiliers; 2 East Surreys and 3 Middlesex. See also: J.J.Putkowski and J. Sykes (1989) Shot at Dawn (Barnsley, Pen & Sword Books), p. 45-46.