OpsMajor Posted 11 October , 2009 Share Posted 11 October , 2009 I am looking for anything to do with the (allegedly) first officer to be shot for desertion. I believe he was 2/Lt ES Poole of the 11 West Yorks around December 1916. Can anyone help please. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marine pete Posted 11 October , 2009 Share Posted 11 October , 2009 I am looking for anything to do with the (allegedly) first officer to be shot for desertion. I believe he was 2/Lt ES Poole of the 11 West Yorks around December 1916. Can anyone help please. Mike He was shot for Desertion on the 10 th of December 1916 and he was the first to be executed by orders from Filed Marshal Haig. PETER. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
centurion Posted 11 October , 2009 Share Posted 11 October , 2009 He was shot for Desertion on the 10 th of December 1916 and he was the first to be executed by orders from Filed Marshal Haig. PETER. Do you mean that by order from Haigh he was the first to be shot or he was the first shot under Haig's command? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaeldr Posted 11 October , 2009 Share Posted 11 October , 2009 part of Haig's diary entry for 6 December 1916 'This is the first sentence of death on an officer to be put into execution since I became C-in-C.' ref WO256/14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
centurion Posted 11 October , 2009 Share Posted 11 October , 2009 part of Haig's diary entry for 6 December 1916 'This is the first sentence of death on an officer to be put into execution since I became C-in-C.' ref WO256/14 Which might imply that there had been some under French's command Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auchonvillerssomme Posted 11 October , 2009 Share Posted 11 October , 2009 Not as afar as can see, Poole was first then Lt FM Leader CEF whose sentence was commuted. Then of course Dyett. Mick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auchonvillerssomme Posted 11 October , 2009 Share Posted 11 October , 2009 72nd Can. Inf. Bn. Lt. F. M. Leader is cashiered by sentence - of a General Court-Martial. 18 Dec. 1916. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaeldr Posted 11 October , 2009 Share Posted 11 October , 2009 see also WO 71/1027 at the NA [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalog...ullDetails=True] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OpsMajor Posted 11 October , 2009 Author Share Posted 11 October , 2009 Thanks for the confirmation. Is there any further detail, why (e.g. shell shock?) where it was carried out and where his body was buried? Thanks Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liverpool annie Posted 11 October , 2009 Share Posted 11 October , 2009 He's at Poperinghe New Military Cemetery In Memory of Second Lieutenant ERIC SKEFFINGTON POOLE 11th Bn., West Yorkshire Regiment (Prince of Wales's Own) who died age 31 on 10 December 1916 Son of Henry Skeffington Poole and Florence Hope Gibsone Poole, of 2, Rectory Place, Guildford, Surrey. Born Nova Scotia. Remembered with honour POPERINGHE NEW MILITARY CEMETERY I found this too .... http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathway...eople/poole.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Bennett Posted 11 October , 2009 Share Posted 11 October , 2009 His Grave at Poperinghe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan Saunders Posted 11 October , 2009 Share Posted 11 October , 2009 I'm pretty sure Poole had originally enlisted to serve the ranks prior to his commission. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilB Posted 11 October , 2009 Share Posted 11 October , 2009 part of Haig's diary entry for 6 December 1916 'This is the first sentence of death on an officer to be put into execution since I became C-in-C.' ref WO256/14 The wording does give the impression that Haig thought an officer or officers had been executed under French as CinC. One assumes he must have been mistaken. He goes on to say that he considers such a crime to be more serious in the case of an officer than of a man. That implies that the confirmation rate for death sentences would be higher for officers. How many officers might have been sentenced to death but commuted? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auchonvillerssomme Posted 11 October , 2009 Share Posted 11 October , 2009 I'm sorry but the wording doesn't imply any such thing. Looking through the very comprehensive Oram's list no officers were sentenced to death before Poole. Mick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OpsMajor Posted 11 October , 2009 Author Share Posted 11 October , 2009 Thanks Liverpool Annie - that link to the NA gives me everything I needed! Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liverpool annie Posted 11 October , 2009 Share Posted 11 October , 2009 You're welcome ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will O'Brien Posted 11 October , 2009 Share Posted 11 October , 2009 I'm pretty sure Poole had originally enlisted to serve the ranks prior to his commission. Jon is correct. According to Putkowski & Sykes' 'Shot at Dawn' Poole was a 1914 volunteer who was commissioned in May 1915. It doesn't state with what unit he served prior to becoming an officer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Reed Posted 11 October , 2009 Share Posted 11 October , 2009 He originally served in the Honourable Artillery Company, and had also served in the Canadian Militia. His service file survives at TNA, as well as the CM papers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
centurion Posted 11 October , 2009 Share Posted 11 October , 2009 I'm sorry but the wording doesn't imply any such thing. Looking through the very comprehensive Oram's list no officers were sentenced to death before Poole. Mick Of course it does, it doesn't however mean that this is correct but unless Haig was working on a different system of English grammar it certainly implies it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auchonvillerssomme Posted 11 October , 2009 Share Posted 11 October , 2009 No it doesn't. 'This is the first sentence of death on an officer to be put into execution since I became C-in-C.' How does that statement imply there were sentences before he became C-in-C? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liverpool annie Posted 11 October , 2009 Share Posted 11 October , 2009 Any chance you guys can start a new topic ... do you think ? I keep getting notifications to this thread ...... as I'm nosy I hate to miss something if it's to do with the original post !! Annie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilB Posted 12 October , 2009 Share Posted 12 October , 2009 part of Haig's diary entry for 6 December 1916 'This is the first sentence of death on an officer to be put into execution since I became C-in-C.' ref WO256/14 Sorry, Annie, but just to add - Maybe Haig was referring back to previous wars in which he was involved. Wasn`t there at least one officer executed in the Boer War, Lt H H Morant? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will O'Brien Posted 12 October , 2009 Share Posted 12 October , 2009 QUOTE (Phil_B @ Oct 12 2009, 09:56 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Wasn`t there at least one officer executed in the Boer War, Lt H H Morant? The other being Lieutenant Peter Handcock Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tjpatti Posted 15 October , 2009 Share Posted 15 October , 2009 I've had a quick scoot through the replies to the original posting and I don't think anyone's included this link: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathway...urt_martial.htm Apologies if it's been mentioned and I'm duplicating info that's already been given. Teresa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OpsMajor Posted 22 October , 2009 Author Share Posted 22 October , 2009 Thanks to everyone for all that. I am in Ypres this weekend and intend to visit POPERINGHE NEW MILITARY CEMETERY and his grave. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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