General Charles Gordon of Khartoum

Charles George Gordon was born on 28th January 1833 in Woolwich.  His parents were Lieutenant-General Henry William Gordon and his wife Elizabeth (nee Enderby).  He attended Fullands School in South Road, Taunton c1843-1846.  During this time he lodged at a house in Upper High Street.

In around 1846 he attended a military school in Shooters Hill and in 1848 he entered the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich.  He was commissioned second lieutenant in the Royal Engineers in June 1852.  In February 1854 he was promoted to lieutenant and was appointed assistant garrison engineer at Pembroke Dock. While at Pembroke he became a committed Christian.

Charles Gordon volunteered for service in the Crimean War in 1855. He took part in the attack on Redan and the siege of Sevastapol. He was a proficient map maker and in 1856-8, after the end of the Crimean War, he was involved in surveying and delineating the new boundaries between the Russian and Ottoman empires in modern-day Romania and later in Armenia.

In April 1859 Gordon was promoted to the rank of captain and was based at Chatham until June 1860 when he volunteered to fight the Chinese in the Arrow War (also known as the 2nd Opium War).  He remained in China until the end of 1864 and played a part in crushing the Taiping rebellion and in defending Shanghai.  He was given the nickname Chinese Gordon by the British press and public.  

Gordon returned to England in early 1865 and was Commander of the Royal Engineer at Gravesend in Kent. He was given the job of supervising the building of forts at the mouth of the River Thames.  In his spare time he helped local homeless boys and allowed some of them to live in his house.

In 1873 Ismāʿīl Pasha, the Khedive (Viceroy) of Egypt appointed Gordon to the post of Governor of the province of Equatoria in Sudan. From 1874-1876 he mapped the Upper Nile River, set up a line of stations along the river as far as what is now Uganda and suppressed the slave trade in Equatoria.  In 1877 he accepted the post of Governor General of Sudan.  He crushed rebellions and further reduced the slave trade. 

He returned to England in early 1880.  He then served in India, China, Mauritius and the Cape Colony until October 1882.  He spent most of 1883 studying antiquities in the Holy Land.

In 1884 Gordon was sent to Sudan by the British government to evacuate Egyptian troops from Khartoum.  They were under threat of attack by the Mahdists, who were followers of the Sudanese religious leader Muḥammad Aḥmad al-Mahdī.  Gordon arrived in Khartoum in February 1884.  He managed to evacuate 2,000 civilians and 600 soldiers before the Mahdists besieged Khartoum in March 1884.  On 26th January 1885, Mahdists broke into Khartoum and killed Gordon.  A few days later a relief force arrived.  Gordon was hailed as a martyr by the British press and acquired the name Gordon of Khartoum.  His body was never found.

Plaque on house in Upper High Street where Charles Gordon lodged while he was at school in Taunton

House in Upper High Street, Taunton where Charles Gordon lodged

Fullands House, South Road

Sir John William Fortescue, British Army Historian

John William Fortescue was born in Madeira on 28th December 1859.  He was the 5th son of Hugh Fortescue, the 3rd Earl Fortescue, and his wife Georgiana.  He spent his childhood at Castle Hill near Filleigh in Devon.  His family owned large areas of Exmoor.  He attended Harrow School 1873-1878 and then went on to study law at Cambridge University in 1878.  In 1880 he was appointed as private secretary to Sir William Robinson, who was Governor of the Windward Islands.  John Fortescue spent 2 years in the Caribbean and then returned to Cambridge to complete his degree and graduated in 1884.  

From 1886-1890 he lived in New Zealand, working as private secretary to Sir William Jervois, who was the Governor of New Zealand.  During this time John Fortescue wrote several articles for Macmillan's Magazine, many of which were on the subject of military history, a subject which greatly interested him.  He was then commissioned by Macmillan to write a comprehensive history of the British army.  This was published in 13 volumes between 1899 and 1930.  He also wrote several other books, including The Story of a Red Deer (a children's book published in 1897), My Native Devon (published 1924) and a biography of the Duke of Wellington (published in 1925).

In 1905 he was appointed as librarian at Windsor Castle by King Edward VII.  He remained in this job until 1926.  He accompanied King George V and Queen Mary on their 1911 visit to India and he wrote the official account of their visit.  

In 1914 John Fortescue married Winifred Beech but they had no children.  He often stayed at Simonsbath Lodge (this is now the Simonsbath House Hotel). He was knighted in 1926. He died in Cannes on 22nd October 1933 and his ashes were scattered at Five Barrows above Simonsbath.  His widow suggested that his family should pay for a memorial cairn.  This was built at the side of the Simonsbath to South Molton road above Drybridge Combe.  The cairn and the land around it now belong to Exmoor National Park and they restored the cairn in 2001.

Sir John William Fortescue's Memorial Cairn

George Fiott Day VC

George Fiott Day was one of the first recipients of the Victoria Cross.  He was born in Southampton in 1819 or 1820 and joined the Royal Navy as a volunteer in 1833.  The first ship he sailed on was wrecked off the coast of Patagonia in 1835. He then served off the west coast of Africa, followed by six and a half years in the Mediterranean Sea from 1838.  He returned to the coast of Africa for three years from 1845 and then travelled across to the eastern coast of South America. In 1854 he sailed to the Baltic Sea and then to the Mediterranean Sea.   

The Crimean War was in progress when George arrived as a Lieutenant on HMS Recruit in the Black Sea in 1855.  On the night of 17th September 1855 he went ashore alone at Genitchi, Crimea on a reconnaissance mission to check out the batteries, bridge and Russian gunboats on the Arabat Spit in the Sea of Azov.  He had to cross 4 or 5 miles of swampy ground and wade through water, which was knee deep in places, in order to get close enough to see the enemy position.  It was only lightly defended and undermanned.  He decided that a surprise attack would be feasible but when he carried out another reconnaissance mission on the night of 19th September he discovered that the gunboats were fully manned and that the Russians were on the alert.  On this occasion the weather was cold and squally, his mission took much longer and he returned exhausted from it.  The planned attack was called off.  George Fiott Day was awarded the Victoria Cross in 1857 for his reconnaissance missions at Genitchi.  He was promoted to the rank of Commander in November 1855. 

George Fiott Day served off Africa again in 1857 and in 1858 he sailed to China.  He married Mary Ruddell-Todd in 1858 and they had three daughters.  He retired due to ill health in 1867 with the rank of Captain.  In 1875 he was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) by Queen Victoria.  The same year he moved to Weston-super-Mare with his wife and daughters.  He died at the Anchor Head Hotel in Claremont Crescent, Weston-super-Mare on 18th December 1876, aged 56.  He was buried in Milton Road Cemetery in Weston-super-Mare but his grave had no headstone until 2002 when a ceremony was held to unveil one.  There is a blue plaque commemorating him on the Anchor Head Hotel.

Captain George Fiott Day's gravestone in Milton Road Cemetery,          Weston-super-Mare

Blue plaque on the Anchor Head Hotel

Anchor Head Hotel, Weston-super-Mare

Tank Training on North Hill during the Second World War

In 1942 North Hill was taken into military control and it became the Minehead Armoured Vehicle Fighting Range.  It was one of five new tank training grounds in Britain.  Civilian access to North Hill was banned and the farms at East and West Myne were evacuated. A number of buildings were constructed, some with underground storage facilities, which were probably used either as air raid shelters or for the storage of tank ammunition. 

A concrete tank marshalling area was constructed at Moor Wood.  Four Nissen huts were probably also erected in this area, to provide accommodation for soldiers. 21 slit trenches (2 metres long by 1 metre wide) were constructed in this area, although their original purpose is unclear: they may have been part of the firing range or part of the defences of the nearby radar station.

Concrete roads were constructed that led west from Moor Wood to the tank firing ranges where there were three large triangles, which the tanks drove round and some sections of light railway, which were used to support moving targets.

Canadians troops, who had helped construct the site were the first to use it. 100 units were trained at North Hill in 1943, including many American troops preparing for D-Day.  Compared to other tank training grounds, such as Castlemartin in Pembrokeshire and Kirkcudbright in Dumfries and Galloway, the site at North Hill was small and offered only 3 firing areas with limited firing arcs.  However in the second half of 1944 it was used to train 40 American armoured units, which was more than at any other site.

The site closed on 9th November 1944 and the land was returned to civilian use, although the farmhouses at East and West Myne were not reoccupied. By the 1950s the buildings had all been removed.  However the concrete bases of the Nissen huts and the tank marshalling area at Moor Wood can still be seen, as can sections of concrete road further west.

The RADAR (RAdio Detecting And Ranging) station at North Hill was completed by February 1942,  It housed equipment, which was used to detect ships and aircraft flying at less than 500 feet.  It was known as a Chain Home Low (CHL) Station.  Inside the main concrete building there were three rooms and a hole in the roof connected the equipment inside to an external rotating antenna on a 10 foot high gantry.  There was a cluster of other associated buildings nearby: operations, power, administration and standby blocks.  The radar station was staffed 24 hours a day, often by women. By 1944 there were 244 radar stations across the country.  The radar station at Minehead closed in 1946 and most of the buildings, apart from the radar station itself had been demolished by 1950.

Tank marshalling area at Moor Wood

Concrete base of a Nissen hut at Moor Wood

Concrete base of a Nissen hut at Moor Wood

Radar Station near Moor Wood

Entrance to the Radar Station

Tank Washing Platform

John Rouse Merriott Chard VC - Rorke's Drift

John Rouse Merriott Chard was born in Boxhill near Plymouth on 21st December 1847.  He was educated at grammar schools in Cheltenham and Plymouth. He then went to the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich and he was commissioned lieutenant in the Royal Engineers on 15th July 1868.

From 1870-75 John Chard served with the Royal Engineers in Bermuda and Malta.  He returned to England in April 1875.  In December 1878 he left England with the 5th Company, Royal Engineers to fight in the Anglo-Zulu War in South Africa.  They arrived in Durban in January 1879 and marched to Helpmekaar (in what is now KwaZulu-Natal province).  John Chard was sent ahead to Rorke's Drift on the Buffalo River with a few men.  Rorke's Drift at this time consisted of a kraal (traditional village of huts), hospital and store.  

On 22nd January John Chard was left in charge at Rorke's Drift with orders to protect the river crossing. Later the same day news reached them of the massacre of 1,300 British soldiers at Isandlwana, about 10 miles to the east.  John Chard made the decision to defend his position, rather than retreat.  There were 8 officers and 131 non-commissioned officers at Rorke's Drift but 35 of the men were ill in the hospital.  John Chard hastily made an entrenchment out of biscuit tins from the stores.  Soon after they were attacked repeatedly by about 3,000 Zulus for the rest of the day and on through the night.  The Zulus set light to the thatched roof of the hospital but the British soldiers under John Chard held their position. During the night they made a redoubt out of old mealie-bags.  The Zulus retreated at daybreak and John Chard went round and collected up the arms of the dead Zulus and strengthened the position as much as possible.  370 Zulus had been killed but only 15 British soldiers had died (+12 wounded).  The Zulus approached again later that day but retreated when British reinforcements arrived.

John Chard remained at Rorke's Drift for a few weeks but then became ill and was taken to Ladysmith to recover.  When reinforcements arrived in Natal in April, John Chard's company was placed in the flying column under Brigadier-General Evelyn Wood and took part in all its operations, including the Battle of Ulundi on 4th July 1879. John Chard was decorated with the Victoria Cross on 6th July 1879 by the commander of the forces, Sir Garnet Wolseley. Victoria Crosses were also awarded to 10 other British soldiers who had fought with John Chard at Rorke's Drift.   

On his return to England in October 1879, John Chard visited Queen Victoria at Balmoral and she gave him a gold signet ring. He was promoted to major in July 1886.  He then served for 2 years at Devonport, 6 years in Cyprus and 5 years in the north-western military district.  In December 1892 he sailed to Singapore, where he was commanding royal engineer for 3 years. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in January 1893.  After returning to Britain, he was appointed commanding royal engineer of the Perth sub-district in January 1896. He was promoted to colonel in January 1897.

John Chard died of cancer of the tongue on 1st November 1897 at his brother's rectory in Hatch Beauchamp.  He was buried in the churchyard at Hatch Beauchamp on 5th November.  There is a stained glass window in the chancel of the church, which is dedicated to him.

Grave of John Chard in the churchyard of St John the Baptist Church in Hatch Beauchamp

John Chard's memorial window in the church of St John the Baptist, Hatch Beauchamp

John Chard's medals, including the Victoria Cross, in the top left corner of his memorial window

Church of St John the Baptist, Hatch Beauchamp

Lonely Chimney Stack at Leigh Hill on the Blackdown Hills

There is a red brick chimney stack standing alone in a field at Leigh Hill on the top of the Blackdown Hills.  It can be seen from the road as you drive east from Forches Corner to Holman Clavel.  It is just under half a mile east of Forches Corner.  It is all that remains above ground of a Victorian military encampment and rifle range, which was used by the Somersetshire Militia as a summer training ground.  Most of the encampment consisted of tents and wooden cabins. The 1889 edition of the 25" Ordnance Survey map shows that the chimney was part of one of two sergeants' messes.  There were also two officers' messes (one of which had a tennis court adjacent to it), two canteens, a swimming bath, a drill ground and a mission hall.  

The restoration of the chimney stack c2009 was funded by the Neroche Community History Fund.  It is on private land but can be seen from the road.  The grid reference is ST189 170.

Lonely chimney stack

Chimney Stack

Rubble and Chimney Stack

Chimney Stack

Harry Patch: the longest surviving British veteran of the First World War

Henry John Patch (known as Harry) was born at Fonthill Cottage, Combe Down near Bath on 17th June 1898.  His parents were William John and Elizabeth Ann Patch and he had two older brothers George and William.  All of them lived to considerable ages.  Harry left school in 1913 and became an apprentice plumber.

In October 1916 Harry was conscripted into the army.  He was posted to the 7th battalion of the Duke of Cornwall's light infantry as a Lewis-gunner and travelled to France in June 1917.  He fought at Passchendaele (also known as the Third Battle of Ypres). He was seriously injured by shrapnel on 22nd September 1917 and spent the rest of the war recovering from his injuries.

After the end of the First World War Harry returned to work as a plumber in Gobowen, Shropshire.  In 1919 he married Ada Billington in Shropshire and they had two sons: Dennis and Gordon (known as Roy).  Two years later Harry got a job in Bristol where he worked on the plumbing for the Wills Memorial Tower (part of Bristol University).  He later set up his own plumbing business in Combe Down but had to sell it at the beginning of the Second World War when his employees were called up.  During the Second World War he served with the Auxiliary Fire Service in Bath. 

After the Second World War Harry worked for a company near Yeovil until his retirement in 1963.  Ada died in 1976 and Harry moved to Wells to live with his son Dennis.  In 1982 he married Kathleen (known as Jean) Joy.  She died in 1989.   Harry's sons both predeceased him.

Harry never talked about his experiences in the trenches until he was almost 100 when he was persuaded by Richard van Emden to take part in a television documentary called Veterans.  He later made several trips back to the battlefields of the First World War. In 2008 Harry collaborated with Richard van Emden to write his autobiography: The Last Fighting Tommy.

When he was 100 Harry moved to the Fletcher House Care Home in Wells, where he met Doris Whitaker and they became close companions.  He died in Wells on 25th July 2009 aged 111.  His funeral was held at Wells Cathedral on 6th August 2009 and he was buried in the churchyard of St Michael's Church, Monkton Combe close to his parents and brother.

In 2012 a memorial stone was erected outside the Wells and Mendip Museum.  It is made of Doulting stone and weighs 5 tonnes.  It was unveiled in May 2012.

Let's leave the last words to Harry himself:

"Why should the British government call me up and take me out to a battlefield to shoot a man I never knew, whose language I couldn't speak? All those lives lost for a war finished over a table. Now what is the sense in that?^"

Plaque on Harry Patch's house: 5 Gladstone Place, Tyning Road, Combe Down

Grave of Harry Patch, St Michael's Church, Combe Down

Inscription on his tombstone

Memorial outside the Wells and Mendip Museum

Plaque on Harry's Memorial in Wells

Portrait of Harry Patch

This oil on canvas portrait was painted by Martin Alford in 2014. It is on display in the Wells & Mendip Museum in Wells.

The Monmouth Rebellion and the Battle of Sedgemoor, 1685

The Battle of Sedgemoor took place near the village of Westonzoyland on 5th/6th July 1685. Rebels led by the Duke of Monmouth were defeated by James II's troops led by Lord Feversham. 

James, later the Duke of Monmouth, was born in Rotterdam in the Netherlands in 1649.  He was the illegitimate son of King Charles II and Lucy Walter.  Both his parents had sought refuge in the Netherlands during the English Civil War. It has been claimed that his parents married each other but this has never been proved.  As a child James lived with his mother in many locations in the Netherlands, Flanders and France and briefly in London in 1656.  After a short imprisonment in the Tower of London in 1656, James and his mother moved back to Flanders.  He was kidnapped by his father in 1658 after his mother attempted to blackmail his father by threatening to make public his love letters to her.  James's mother died later the same year.  He then lived in Paris under the protection of William, Lord Crofts and he used Crofts as his surname. 

Charles II was restored to the throne in 1660 but James was not summoned back to England until 1662.  He joined the royal court in London and became one of his father's favourites.  In February 1663 he was created Duke of Monmouth, Earl of Doncaster and Baron of Fotheringay (the last title was later changed to Baron Scott of Tynedale) and a Knight of the Garter.  In April 1663 he married wealthy Scottish heiress Anne Scott, Countess of Buccleuch (who was only 12 at the time) and he changed his surname to Scott.  The Duke of Monmouth had four children with his wife but he also had a succession of mistresses.

There was speculation in 1662-4 and again in 1667 that Charles II would declare that Monmouth was his legitimate son.  This worried Charles II's brother and heir, James, Duke of York.  In about 1668 the Duke of York became a Catholic.  Many people in England would have preferred the Protestant Monmouth to succeed to the throne on the death of his father.

In 1668 Monmouth became Captain of the Life Guard and in 1670 he was admitted to the Privy Council.  He commanded English troops on the continent of Europe in the Anglo-Dutch War of 1672-4.  In 1678 Monmouth became Captain General of all the armed forces in England and Wales.  The following year he defeated a rebellion by some Scottish Presbyterians at Bothwell Bridge near Lanark.  

The question of the succession remained unresolved and in September 1679 Charles II banished both Monmouth and the Duke of York from England.  Monmouth returned to England in late November 1679.  Charles II was angry with his son for returning and he stripped Monmouth of most of his offices and ordered him to leave the country.  Monmouth refused to go and support for him continued to grow.

Monmouth fled from England in early 1684 after taking part in the Rye House Plot, a Whig conspiracy against his father and uncle.  He sought refuge in the Netherlands.

Charles II died suddenly on 6th February 1685 and the Duke of York became King James II.  Monmouth met with Scots in exile in the Netherlands led by Archibald Campbell, the 9th Earl of Argyll and they plotted co-ordinated rebellions in Scotland and the West Country. It was also hoped that Cheshire and London would rise in support of Monmouth.   Argyll set sail for Scotland on 2nd May 1685.

Monmouth landed at Lyme Regis on June 11th 1685 with 82 followers.  He stayed in Lyme Regis for a few days gathering supplies and enlisting recruits and then marched to Taunton via Axminster, Chard and Ilminster, accumulating more supporters along the way.  He reached Taunton on 18th June where he recruited more supporters and was proclaimed king.  The same day, his rebellion in Scotland having failed, Argyll was captured (he was executed in Edinburgh on 30th June 1685). Monmouth's rebel army numbered between 5,000 and 7,000 at its height.

On 21st June Monmouth left Taunton for Bridgwater and then travelled on to Glastonbury and Shepton Mallet.  He was hoping to reach Bristol but was forced by Royalist troops at Keynsham to change his route and aim for Bath.  He was unable to capture Bath and retreated to Norton St Philip on 27th June, where he spent the night at The George Inn and survived an assassination attempt.  Monmouth moved to Frome on 28th June.  While he was in Frome he received news of the defeat of Argyll in Scotland.   The anticipated uprisings in Cheshire and London had failed to materialise and Monmouth proposed abandoning his attempt to become king but he was persuaded to carry on by Lord Grey.  However some of his rebels began to desert him.

Monmouth and his remaining followers, who were comprised mainly of untrained and ill-equipped farm workers, artisans and nonconformists, marched back to Bridgwater via Shepton Mallet, Wells and Glastonbury, arriving in Bridgwater on 3rd July.  On the night of 5th July Monmouth tried to surprise the king's troops, led by Lord Feversham and John Churchill (later the Duke of Marlborough), who were camped on Sedgemoor near the village of Westonzoyland.  However when they were still a mile away from the Royalist camp, the alarm was raised.  Monmouth's men outnumbered their opponents but Feversham's men were trained soldiers.  Monmouth's men failed to cross the Bussex Rhyne to get closer to the Royalists and as dawn broke Feversham's men advanced across the rhyne and the rebels fled.  Hundreds of Monmouth's men were killed.  Most of the rest were rounded up and imprisoned in St Mary's Church, Westonzoyland.  The dead rebels, who numbered between 727 and 2,700 (contemporary accounts vary but the lower number is the more likely) were buried on the battlefield, although the exact location of the graves is not known for certain.  Most of the 27 dead Royalists were buried in the churchyard of St Mary's Church, Westonzoyland.  The Monmouth Rebellion is sometimes known as the Pitchfork Rebellion.

Monmouth fled but was captured two days later at Ringwood.  He was taken to London and imprisoned in the Tower of London on 12th July.  He was beheaded on 15th July but it took 5 axe blows before his head was severed from his body.  He was buried in the Tower of London.

1,300 of Monmouth's suspected followers were tried by five judges led by Judge George Jeffreys at various locations in August and September 1685 at what became known as the Bloody Assizes.  The first trials were held in Winchester and then the judges moved on to Salisbury, Dorchester, Taunton and Wells. The vast majority of Monmouth's followers were found guilty and sentenced to death, although only about 250 were executed.  850 had their sentences commuted to transportation to the West Indies.

Judge Jeffreys became known as the Hanging Judge.  After the Glorious Revolution of 1688 when James II was overthrown and replaced by William of Orange and his wife Mary, who was James II's daughter, Judge Jeffreys was imprisoned in the Tower of London.  He died there in 1689 of natural causes.

There is a memorial to those who died at the Battle of Sedgemoor on the west side of Langmoor Drove to the north of the hamlet of Bussex.  You cannot access it by car - you can drive to Bussex Farm where there is space to park a couple of cars and an information board with maps and a written account of the battle.  From Bussex Farm it is about half a mile along a track to the site of the memorial, which is in a fenced off compound.  There are two further information boards at the memorial.

The inscription on the main memorial reads as follows:

"To the Glory of God

and in memory of all those who

doing right as they gave it

fell in the Battle of Sedgemoor

6th July 1685

and lie buried in this field

or who for their share in the fight

suffered death

punishment or transportation

Pro patria"

In addition to the above memorial, there are 4 staddle stones, which commemorate those who have died in subsequent wars: Seven Year's War, Napoleonic Wars, First World War, Second World War.

Battle Mural above the front door of the Sedgemoor Inn, Westonzoyland

Battle of Sedgemoor Memorial, Langmoor Drove, Westonzoyland

Memorial compound and information boards near Westonzoyland

Map of the Rebel and Royal Armies 5th and 6th July 1685

Map of the Duke of Monmouth's route from Lyme Regis to Sedgemoor

Portrait of the Duke of Monmouth after Sir Peter Lely c1680

This painting is on display in the Museum of Somerset in Taunton

Portrait of Judge Jeffreys by Sir Godfrey Kneller c1686

This painting is on display in the Museum of Somerset in Taunton

Plaque on the Market House in Taunton

The George Inn at Norton St Philip

9 Monmouth Street, Topsham, Devon

The Duke of Monmouth is said to have made a speech in this house during a visit in 1680.  Monmouth Street was formerly called New Street.

Plaque in Somerton commemorating the personal sacrifice made by men from Somerton during the Monmouth Rebellion and events, which took place in the town before and after the Battle of Sedgemoor.

Market Place, Wells

This blue plaque was put up by the Wells Civic Society.  It says:

The Bloody Assizes

 In front of here stood

 the Market Hall

 where in 1685 Judge Jeffreys

 condemned 94 people to

 death for supporting the 

Monmouth Rebellion.

Shot at Dawn - Somerset Light Infantry

In 2006 the 306 British and Commonwealth soldiers who were executed mainly for desertion during the First World War were finally pardoned by the British government.  The men who were executed for murder were not pardoned.

In all 3,080 men were sentenced to death under the British Army Act between 4th August 1914 and 31st March 1920.  The rationale behind the execution was that it would deter other soldiers from deserting, mutiny, disobedience etc.  The first execution by firing squad to be carried out by the British Army in the First World War was on 8th September 1914. 90% of the death sentences were not carried out but 346 men were executed by firing squads. 

Before their trials soldiers were offered the assistance of an officer to act as their defending counsel.  Not all soldiers accepted the help offered and those that did were assigned officers who were rarely legally qualified or skilled in advocacy work. There were plenty of qualified solicitors and articled clerks in the army but they were rarely called upon to defend the accused soldiers.  In many cases the soldiers were clearly suffering from mental collapse or shell shock.  Today we would call it post-traumatic stress disorder. However there was an absence of informed medical opinions at the courts martial.  Therefore the soldiers cannot be considered to have had fair trials.

The reasons for the death penalty were as follows:

268 for desertion
18 for cowardice
7 for quitting their post
5 for striking a superior officer
5 for disobedience
4 for mutiny
2 for sleeping at their post
2 for casting away arms 
At least 37 for murder

Military capital punishment was abolished in 1930 for all offences except mutiny and treachery.

There is a poignant memorial to the soldiers at the National Memorial Arboretum near Alrewas in Staffordshire.  There is a post with a name label for each of the 306 executed soldiers arranged in a semi-circle behind the statue of a blindfolded young soldier. The semi-circle is in the style of a Greek theatre and symbolises "tragedy".

The 10ft-high figure is modelled on Private Herbert Burden, of the Northumberland Fusiliers. He lied about his age in order to be allowed to join up and was executed for desertion, aged 17 on 21st July 1915.  The memorial was created by Birmingham artist Andy de Comyn and it was unveiled in 2001.

Two members of the Somerset Light Infantry were executed, although neither of them actually came from Somerset:

Private Louis R Phillips
Louis Phillips lived in London but chose to serve with the Somerset Light Infantry. He was sent to France in April 1915 and served near Ypres, where there was heavy fighting.  He went missing for 4 days in July the same year. He was sentenced to death by a court martial and was executed in Ypres at 4.20am on 19th August 1915

Private Alfred Leonard Jeffries
Alfred Jeffries, who lived in the St Philip's area of Bristol, enlisted on the outbreak of war in 1914.  He was sent to France in May 1915 but was injured shortly afterwards. He was hospitalised in November 1915 suffering from a nervous breakdown. He returned to his regiment in early 1916 but he deserted in August 1916 because he was unable to stand the strain. He was arrested in Le Havre while trying to catch a ferry back to England. His brother Arthur, who was serving in the same battalion, was killed in action in September 1916.  Alfred was executed near the village of Penin at 6.10am on 1st November 1916.

Further Reading:

Shot at Dawn: Executions in World War One by authority of the British Army Act: Julian Putkowski and Julian Sykes.  Wharncliffe Publishing, 1989

 Shot At Dawn Memorial

 Louis Phillips's post

 Alfred L Jeffries's Post