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SHOT AT DAWN
The Trial and Execution of Pte Wilson JH
4th Bn.,1st
Brigade, 1st Canadian Infantry Division (Central Ontario Regt.)
James Wilson, an
unmarried labourer, was almost six feet tall, with a fair complexion, blue eyes
and dark brown hair. A Presbyterian, he had been born in Limerick, Ireland on 10
June 1879, and on his attestation form claimed to have served for nine years in
the
Connaught Rangers before he enlisted in the Canadian Army at Valcartier Camp
on 1 September 1914. Wilson joined 4 Infantry Battalion and six weeks later
found himself in Southern England, billeted in a tented camp at The Bustard, on
Salisbury Plain near to Stonehenge. Conditions under canvas deteriorated when
the wet winter weather set in, which was probably why on 9 November, Wilson went
absent for a month. He was arrested but managed to break out of the
guardroom on 8 December and remained free for a further five days until
Military Police again captured him in Salisbury.
Instead of embarking for France with 4 Bn., at the beginning of February Wilson
was discharged from as an "undesirable" with a bad character. However, within a
fortnight he managed to get himself transferred to 9 Bn., initially at Tidworth
and remained with the unit when it was redesignated 12 Reserve Bn. at the
Canadian Training Depot, Shorncliffe Camp.
In the six months that Wilson served at Shorncliffe Camp, he went absent,
usually for a couple of days at a time, on five occasions. Otherwise, he quite
literally spent the remainder of his time in detention. His final offence while
at Shorncliffe ended with his commanding officer punishing Wilson with 28 days
detention for going AWOL, being drunk, using abusive language and kicking an
NCO. When his confinement ended, Wilson was promptly posted to 4 Bn. in France.
En route, at 3 Canadian General Base
Depot, Etaples he celebrated his arrival by again getting drunk and forfeiting 3
days' pay. For a couple of overnight absences during the final weekend of
July, a Field General Court Martial on 26 August sentenced Wilson to 90 days'
Field Punishment No.1.
After serving a couple of months of this punishment, Wilson was charged with
escaping from confinement and being drunk. For these offences, on 15 November he
was court-martialled for a second time and punished with 70 more day's Field
Punishment No. 1. His third court martial occurred on 10 January 1916, when he
was accused of disobeying orders shortly before the end of his spell of Field
Punishment. On 10 January 1916, a Field General Court Martial sentenced Wilson
to 18 months' imprisonment with hard
labour, subsequently commuted to 90 days Field Punishment No.1.
His fourth trial by Field General Court Martial was convened on 10 March,
immediately after Wilson had served out his previous sentence. This time, the
soldier was punished for possessing a camera, presumably his own, since he was
not also charged with theft but it was still a crime which contravened General
Routine Order No.1137 and he was given a further 90 days' Field Punishment No.1.
On 22 May the verdict was quashed because of technical irregularities in the
proceedings.
On 25 May, after his unit was alerted for duty in the trenches, Wilson again
went absent but surrendered himself after four days and on 1 June, while under
arrest he attracted a fortnight's further Field Punishment No.1 for urinating in
his billet and swearing at a Warrant Officer.
There was a possibility that Wilson could have redeemed himself by some act of
outstanding valour when he was temporarily released from custody on 12 June in
order to take part with the rest of his battalion in the final successful
assault that ended the battle of Mount Sorrel. However, instead of dutifully
marching off to play his part in the offensive, Wilson deserted, yet again
surrendering himself after four days absence.
The proceedings of Wilson's fourth and ultimately fatal trial on 30 June
vanished in Canada shortly after the end of the war. However, his service record
confirms that the soldier, charged with having gone absent on two occasions, in
May and June, was found guilty and sentenced to death. A separate post-war
summary of the case made by the authorities reported that not one but two of his
court martial convictions had been, "Quashed solely on account of technical
irregularities in the proceedings and not because the accused was innocent of
the charge." Unsurprisingly, the report noted his commanding officer declared
that the soldier's character had been very bad and added that Wilson was the
leader of a gang of 7 or 8 "bad characters" whose crimes had been sullying the
unit's otherwise good disciplinary record. Wilson was shot at 4.20 a.m. on 9
July.
On the basis of all the offences for which he was convicted during his wartime
career, it seems very likely that Wilson's poor disciplinary record, like that
of very many old soldiers, was aggravated by alcohol, which aided or abetted a
defiant attitude to NCOs. Whether due to over indulgence or enforced
abstemiousness, the Army's regular issue of rum would not have helped Wilson
modify his behaviour He would consequently have been viewed as a nuisance by his
platoon and company commanders and aside from personal animus, with a measure of
justification the latter would have maintained that an erratic, ill-tempered
drunk was not a military asset. They and the battalion commanding officer would
have been all too pleased to see Wilson posted away from the unit, preferably
permanently.
That said, from his service record it is apparent that Wilson's punishments were
all carried out in addition to his discharge of the customary soldierly duties
with 4 Bn. and there is no evidence which
suggests that he was actually a bad fighting man. It might even have been argued
in Wilson's defence that he may have been labouring under a sense of grievance
and because of the rigours of Field Punishment No.1 he could have insisted that
he was not physically fit for combat. But if so, there
were plenty of soldiers who were suffering in a similar fashion and the timing
of his final absence could not have been any worse.
© Julian Putkowski 22.1.2000
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The Irish Shot at Dawn Campaign to secure pardons for Irish born British
soldiers executed for military offences 1914 -18
