Imprisonment after found guilty at a court martial -- where?

[FrancesH]

Can anyone tell me where an officer served a prison sentence (with or without hard labour) after being found guilty at a court martial? Would it be in a military or a civilian prison, and if so where? In the instances I have found the officers concerned were all sent back to the UK for their trial from the Western Front, so I presume they would be in prison in the UK.

[FROGSMILE]

4 hours ago, FrancesH said:

Can anyone tell me where an officer served a prison sentence (with or without hard labour) after being found guilty at a court martial? Would it be in a military or a civilian prison, and if so where? In the instances I have found the officers concerned were all sent back to the UK for their trial from the Western Front, so I presume they would be in prison in the UK.

When an officer was convicted of a criminal offence that led to a sentence of imprisonment of any kind he was automatically dismissed the service and then served out his sentence in a civil prison just like any subject of Great Britain and Ireland.  That is still the case today.

Edited 12 April , 2022 by FROGSMILE

[FrancesH]

Thank you! Since I suspect from previous encounters that you know everything, can you also tell me when an officer was court-martialled, did they actually have their stripes ripped off? I notice that in case the court judgment was that the guilty officer should undergo 'every sign of ignominy'. I wondered if this took an actual physical form?

 

Best wishes F

[Dai Bach y Sowldiwr]

1 hour ago, FrancesH said:

can you also tell me when an officer was court-martialled, did they actually have their stripes ripped off?

Officers didn't have stripes, but they had other insignia - on their shoulders and/or on their cuffs.

[Guest]

Mate,

In the AIF an officer was uselly dismissed but they could also take a rank reduction

These are a few I have;

WOOD    Paul    353    CSM    19Bn    ACo prom 2/Lt 10-15 (G) to 4Co/1Bn ICC 1-16 shown T/OC 4Co (from Langley) 9-16 revert (to Capt Denson) 10-16 rtn CCo/19Bn 5-17 FGCM 2-12-18 Misbehaving before the enemy in a mannor as to show cowardice sentenced dismissed from the Service F&B SNLR loss of medals mentioned in book by Frank Reid "ahead of them raced Lt Woods with a revolver in one hand and a Gurkha's Kukri stuck in his puttee's. When eighteen hundred yards from the Turkish treches he calmly proceeded to fire at any of the enemy who showed themselves. We got the order to retire and Lt Woods came back to us with his revolver and kukri, we did not see him in action again as some weeks later he went to France"
 

WATSON    Arthur Donald    1271    Pte    01 LHR    9R att D Troop ASqn/Comp LHR 11-15 to 1 LHTR 2-16 to 2 DAC 3-16 to 12Bty/4 FAB 3-16 to 10Bty/4 FAB 7-16 to cadet RA St Johns Wood UK 3-17 prom 2/Lt 10-8-17 to Y2A MTMB 9-17 WIA 3-10-17 R/arm shrapnel in the line at Broodseinde to AGBD 3-18 F&B FGCM 14-5-18 drunkeness sentenced reduced in rank FGCM 3-7-18 drunkeness sentenced dismissal SNLR relist British 1st King Edwards Horse (2202)
 

STEWART    John        Lt    01 LHR    2R Tos 4-15 tos A Sqn D Troop 5-15 WIA 7-8-15 R/hand & abdoman bomb in charge at Popes post (P) evac to (19 BGH) hosp Egypt 8-15 to (2 London GH) hosp UK 9-15 (G) AB Weymouth UK 12-15 to 1 LHTR 6-16 rtn A Sqn 6-16 to 2ic C Sqn 6-16 to hosp (alcholism/debility) 6-16 rtn 7-16 FGCM 26-7-16 drunk sentenced dismissed RTA disch 5-9-16 SNLR (Boer War 1st Aust Horse (1108) and Lt DSqn/3 NSWMR to 4th Dragoon Guards) AKA Jack Stewart
 

THOMAS    Cyril James        Capt    2 LH Bde Trn    (6Co AASC) to HQ ASC Anzac MD 3-16 disch 23-8-16 SNLR one of a number of officers dismissed over misssing supplies (CMF 11 yeas) brother Claude Lt AASC KIA

WARREN    Bertie        Lt    03 LHR    9R att OCo/CTC 12-15 to hosp (pyrexia) 1-16 to QM 1 LHTR 5-16 to Adjt (from charles booth) 12-16 to hosp (neurasthenia) 4-17 rtn 5-17 to school of Instruction Zeitoun (unknown course) 6-17 rtn 7-17 to 03 LHR 7-17 FGCM 22-8-17 AWoL sentenced dismissal disch 22-10-17 SNLR forfit medals (Boer War Sgt Prince of Wales LH (32727) (Port Pire A Troop ASqn/24 LH (Flinders) CMF 3 years)
 

S.B

[FROGSMILE]

20 hours ago, FrancesH said:

Thank you! Since I suspect from previous encounters that you know everything, can you also tell me when an officer was court-martialled, did they actually have their stripes ripped off? I notice that in case the court judgment was that the guilty officer should undergo 'every sign of ignominy'. I wondered if this took an actual physical form?

 

Best wishes F

Hello Frances, I’m glad to help, but I certainly don’t know everything.  In answer to your question, in the British service there was/is no ripping off of rank and snapping of swords asunder, which is an invention of old Hollywood movies.  Bizarrely an officer did not automatically lose his rank, unless it was an act of treason, which led to a death sentence anyway.  This is why disgraced officer characters as ‘Majors’, ‘Captains’, etc. we’re regular fodder as subjects for black and white British films of the between wars and post WW2 eras**.  Many of them were purported as having undergone periods of imprisonment, but retained their rank title. 

**David Niven famously played one in the 1958 film ‘Separate Tables’.

Edited 13 April , 2022 by FROGSMILE

[FrancesH]

I am pleased to know that a cashiered officer retained his title-- I have exactly this where the man concerned is 'Captain' in the 1930s. I thought he was just trying it on, so it's interesting to know he had every right to do so.

 

Thank you also for the clarification that the snapping of swords, etc, was a movie invention! 

[FROGSMILE]

33 minutes ago, FrancesH said:

I am pleased to know that a cashiered officer retained his title-- I have exactly this where the man concerned is 'Captain' in the 1930s. I thought he was just trying it on, so it's interesting to know he had every right to do so.

 

Thank you also for the clarification that the snapping of swords, etc, was a movie invention! 

I’m pleased to help Frances.  As someone who spent a lifetime immersed in British military culture, I find the misleading tropes and fallacies enfuriating.

NB.  A major general was recently imprisoned here, he will still be a major general when he comes out.  Interestingly the vast majority of offences are historically, either financial (usually fraud), or sexual.  In short, all very ‘British’.

Edited 13 April , 2022 by FROGSMILE

[FROGSMILE]

2 hours ago, ALAN MCMAHON said:

(As an aside-  He won the Oscar for Best Actor for it as well)

Yes, unsurprisingly.  He was effectively acting in the role of a man whose military culture he was eminently familiar with, and steeped in himself.  I’ve not watched it for some years, but always thought how deeply familiar his bearing, mannerisms and demeanour were.  I saw the very tail end of that culture as it gradually changed to reflect more closely the social earthquake that had occurred in civil society at large.  It was a very slow process indeed.

Edited 13 April , 2022 by FROGSMILE

[FrancesH]

Another question! You explained further up the thread that officers found guilty by court martial then served their sentence in a British gaol (and for example, I've  now found one doing so in HMP Wandsworth). However, they don't seem to appear in the 'records of criminal prisoners' (available on Ancestry), whereas officers tried in a civil court are included. You may not know the reason for this but I thought it worth asking? Many prison registers frustratingly no longer exist, and similarly it is often not mentioned in an officer's file where his sentence was served. 

[FROGSMILE]

On 14/04/2022 at 13:28, FrancesH said:

Another question! You explained further up the thread that officers found guilty by court martial then served their sentence in a British gaol (and for example, I've  now found one doing so in HMP Wandsworth). However, they don't seem to appear in the 'records of criminal prisoners' (available on Ancestry), whereas officers tried in a civil court are included. You may not know the reason for this but I thought it worth asking? Many prison registers frustratingly no longer exist, and similarly it is often not mentioned in an officer's file where his sentence was served. 

I’m sorry for the delay in responding Frances, I didn’t get a flag for some reason.  That said, I’m afraid I don’t know what the answer might be in this case.

One final point to emphasise though is that unlike for other ranks, there was no specific military prison for officers, so they either received a lesser sentence, such as a reduction in rank and continued service, were dismissed the service in ignominy but without incarceration, or for the more serious offences tried in a civil criminal court, served a sentence of imprisonment.

Edited 9 May , 2022 by FROGSMILE

[Ron Clifton]

On 13/04/2022 at 14:11, FROGSMILE said:

Hello Frances, I’m glad to help, but I certainly don’t know everything.  In answer to your question, in the British service there was/is no ripping off of rank and snapping of swords asunder, which is an invention of old Hollywood movies.  Bizarrely an officer did not automatically lose his rank, unless it was an act of treason, which led to a death sentence anyway.  This is why disgraced officer characters as ‘Majors’, ‘Captains’, etc. we’re regular fodder as subjects for black and white British films of the between wars and post WW2 eras**.  Many of them were purported as having undergone periods of imprisonment, but retained their rank title. 

I'm not quite so sure about this, especially as regards the Great War period. There is a difference between being dismissed from the Army, with or without a prison sentence, and being cashiered, which declares a man as disqualified from serving the King in any capacity - even as a postman. I believe that it was also the case that officers dismissed (not cashiered) in the early part of the war were often conscripted as soldiers under the Military Service Acts. They presumably were not allowed to use their former rank.

Incidentally, I have seen a report that Captain Alfred Dreyfus was to have his sword broken over the adjutant's knee, but it was bungled, even though the sword had been partially cut through beforehand, so this part of the "degradation" is not a Hollywood invention!

Ron

[FROGSMILE]

On 09/05/2022 at 18:37, Ron Clifton said:

I'm not quite so sure about this, especially as regards the Great War period. There is a difference between being dismissed from the Army, with or without a prison sentence, and being cashiered, which declares a man as disqualified from serving the King in any capacity - even as a postman. I believe that it was also the case that officers dismissed (not cashiered) in the early part of the war were often conscripted as soldiers under the Military Service Acts. They presumably were not allowed to use their former rank.

Incidentally, I have seen a report that Captain Alfred Dreyfus was to have his sword broken over the adjutant's knee, but it was bungled, even though the sword had been partially cut through beforehand, so this part of the "degradation" is not a Hollywood invention!

Ron

You raise a really good point about the distinction between dismissal and cashiering Ron, and I seem to recall that details are contained in the Manual of Military Law of the period, which I do not have.  There’s also a distinction between sentences of imprisonment and sentences with hard labour, the criterion for which I also do not know. Inevitably it all depended on the offence of course.  Anything that you can quote from the contemporary MML making it easier to understand will be gratefully read by me too.  I don’t pretend to have a detailed knowledge of imprisonment regulations, just some basic principles regarding the difference between the handling of officers and other ranks. 

As regards the famous case of Dreyfus, and based on just a little reading about it, I believe that many of the protocols in his specific case were contrived to humiliate, and part and parcel of the media furore and hysterical political (anti semitic) shenanigans at the time.  I understand that they were unique to him and not a part of the Code Napoleon, or French Military Law, but merely to put on a grandstand show for the public to read about over their breakfasts.  As you’ve pointed out, even cutting part way through the sword didn’t make it snap, which suggests that it wasn’t something well practised and familiar.

All further contributions gratefully received, there’s more to learn I’m sure.

Afternote:  apparently the breaking of sword and ripping off of insignia was a French practice that was what one might call fashionable for a while.  It required some degree of pre preparation and theatre and appears to have been a feature of French military law during one of its several Republics.

Edited 23 May , 2022 by FROGSMILE

[FrancesH]

Hello Frogsmile, Ron and Alan, many thanks for your comments. I was interested to see that Ron drew a distinction between 'dismissal' and 'cashiering'. All the cases I am currently investigating ended with cashiering but also with a prison sentence. Nearly all those concerned then rejoined the services as 'other ranks', which seems in contradiction to your comment. For example Wilfrid Marsden was cashiered and sentenced to two years with hard labour in 1916.  Almost immediately after his release he rejoined the RFC and was promoted to Sergeant Trainer. As I said somewhere earlier in the thread, it is difficult to be certain in all cases where men served their sentences (it depends what's survived in their service records), but of the two I know about for certain, one went to Wormwood Scrubs and one to Wandsworth -- so to civilian, not military prisons. As far as I am aware at this minute (you never know what you're going to turn up) all my subjects were in Britain (rather than on the Western Front) when they were arrested. Also, Frogsmile, of this specific group of cases as far as I can tell at the moment, the officers concerned served their full sentence despite, in some cases, repeated appeals to the War Office for an earlier release. 

In case anyone would like to know, all this is building up to an article for Stand To! which should appear towards the end of this year. 

 

[FROGSMILE]

1 hour ago, FrancesH said:

Hello Frogsmile, Ron and Alan, many thanks for your comments. I was interested to see that Ron drew a distinction between 'dismissal' and 'cashiering'. All the cases I am currently investigating ended with cashiering but also with a prison sentence. Nearly all those concerned then rejoined the services as 'other ranks', which seems in contradiction to your comment. For example Wilfrid Marsden was cashiered and sentenced to two years with hard labour in 1916.  Almost immediately after his release he rejoined the RFC and was promoted to Sergeant Trainer. As I said somewhere earlier in the thread, it is difficult to be certain in all cases where men served their sentences (it depends what's survived in their service records), but of the two I know about for certain, one went to Wormwood Scrubs and one to Wandsworth -- so to civilian, not military prisons. As far as I am aware at this minute (you never know what you're going to turn up) all my subjects were in Britain (rather than on the Western Front) when they were arrested. Also, Frogsmile, of this specific group of cases as far as I can tell at the moment, the officers concerned served their full sentence despite, in some cases, repeated appeals to the War Office for an earlier release. 

In case anyone would like to know, all this is building up to an article for Stand To! which should appear towards the end of this year. 

 

Thank you Frances, I do hope that we can find out more.  The discrimination between Cashiering and Dismissal doesn’t exist anymore** and I’m not sure when that qualification was abolished.  Clearly it seems to be quite germane. It really requires consultation with a Manual of Military Law contemporaneous with WW1.  I know that some iterations are accessible online via the excellent FIBIwiki administered by @MaureenE , but I’m not sure if it is that for 1914.

**from memory just dismissal with and without “ignominy” I think, each carrying different consequences.

Edited 12 May , 2022 by FROGSMILE

[FROGSMILE]

4 minutes ago, ALAN MCMAHON said:

There appear to be multiple digitisations of the 1907 Manual available on archive.org. (and 1929 as well-just for the keen).  I seem to remember browsing a while back on GWF about officers being cashiered for bouncing cheques and-after MSA, going into a court martial as an officer and being marched out again as a Private.  May be worth locating for the examples.

It’s all in the detail of the sentencing I think.  We need to be able to compare some of them involving imprisonment.

[FrancesH]

14 hours ago, ALAN MCMAHON said:

As I understand it, if a cashiered officer served his term in prison-and was of military service age when released, then after the Military Service Act he was open to conscription anyway.

Hi Alan

I can see no evidence of conscription, they seem to have rejoined of their own free will, indeed several made specific statements that they were doing so. One officer chose not to rejoin and was not conscripted either! 

[ss002d6252]

3 hours ago, ALAN MCMAHON said:

   Go for it.   My memory may be muddled on this but I am fairly sure there is stuff about cashiering for bounced cheques on a GWF thread-somewhere!

You're correct in that there was no direct exception under the MSA for men who had been officers and been dismissed, in whatever form.

The MSA 1916 was clearly worded in the details of exceptions to conscription, as it existed under the first implementation of conscription, to be clear that former officers would come under the act.

The MSA was later amended to adjust the exceptions and open up conscription to more men but there appear to be no further restrictions to prevent former officers from falling under the remit of conscription, where the relevant age criteria etc were met.

Craig

[ss002d6252]

20 minutes ago, ALAN MCMAHON said:

Thanks Craig.  I think you will know the answer to this problem.   A man enlists for "duration of war".  He is commissioned, then court-martialled (bouncing cheque-whatever). What is then his status?

i)  "Duration of war" obligation-but as an OR

ii)  No obligation to serve-  ie Did his obligation to serve for "duration of war"  cease when he was commissioned-   the old practice that a man was discharged from the army as an OR and then taken up on commissioning?

iii)  Did the obligation serve for "duration of war  continue after commission (or was it part and parcel of wartime commissions anyway??)

As I understand it, previous terms of service entirely ceased on the commission, and he was then under the separate terms of engagement with the commission. Once this ceased, then he had no existing terms of service, and so was back to square one. There may have been rules regarding temporary officer war-time commissions and what happened to those men once the commission was over, but I have no idea on that side (I expect anything that did exist would not allow, directly, for an officer who had been effectively sacked to simply return back to the unit).

Craig

[MaureenE]

On 13/05/2022 at 03:41, FROGSMILE said:

 It really requires consultation with a Manual of Military Law contemporaneous with WW1.

There is a 1917 reprint of the 1914 edition on the HathiTrust Digital Library

https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015031059614?urlappend=%3Bseq=9%3Bownerid=3166301-15

Maureen

[FROGSMILE]

53 minutes ago, MaureenE said:

There is a 1917 reprint of the 1914 edition on the HathiTrust Digital Library

https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015031059614?urlappend=%3Bseq=9%3Bownerid=3166301-15

Maureen

Thank you Maureen, I hadn’t spotted that. 

[Ron Clifton]

I have dug out my copy of the 1914 edition of the Manual of Military Law to explore these questions
further.
Section 44 of the Army Act: Punishments may be inflicted in respect of offences committed by persons
subject to military law and convicted by courts-martial -
In the case of officers, according to the scale following:
a. Death.
b. Penal servitude for a term not less than three years.
c. Imprisonment, with or without hard labour, for a term not exceeding two years.
d. Cashiering.
e. Dismissal from His Majesty's service.
f. Forfeiture, in the prescribed manner, of seniority of rank either in the army or in the corps to which the
offender belongs, or in both.
g. Reprimand, or severe reprimand.
In the case of soldiers, according to the scale following:
h. Death.
j. Penal servitude for a term not less than three years.
k. Imprisonment, with or without hard labour, for a term not exceeding two years.
kk. Detention for a term not exceeding two years.
l. Discharge with ignominy from His Majesty's service.
m. In the case of a non-commissioned officer, forfeiture, in the prescribed manner, of seniority of rank, or
reduction to a lower grade, or to the ranks.
n. Forfeitures, fines, and stoppages.
Provided that -
(1) Where in respect of ny offence under this Act there is specified a particular punishment, or such less
punishment as is in this Act mentioned, there may be awarded in respect of that offence, instead of such
particular punishment (but subject to the other regulations of this Act as to punishments, and regard being
had to the nature and degree of the offence) any one punishment lower in the above scales than the
particular punishment.
(1A) For the purposes of commutation and revision of punishment, detention shall not be deemed to be a
less punishment than imprisonment if the term of detention is longer than the term of imprisonment.
(2) An officer shall be sentenced to be cashiered before he is sentenced to penal servitude or
imprisonment.
(3) An officer when sentenced to forfeiture of seniority of rank may also be sentenced to reprimand or
severe reprimand.
(4) A soldier when sentenced to penal servitude or imprisonment may, in addition thereto, be sentenced
to be discharged with ignominy from His Majesty's service.
. . . . .
Sections 57 to 68 of the Act cover in detail the provisions for the custody of an officer or soldier
sentenced to penal servitude or imprisonment but the gist of these is that all of these sentences should
normally be served in the United Kingdom, or in India in the case of those sentenced in that country.

"Penal servitude" is a more stringent form of imprisonment and involves the loss of certain rights such as
the ability to enter into contracts, sue at law or deal in any way with property. It also usually involved hard
labour. It was introduced in the mid-19th century as an alternative to transportation, but was abolished as
a separate punishment in 1948.

The separate punishment of "detention" was introduced in 1906, mainly for soldiers whom it was desired to retain in the army, but incidentally it allowed more cases to be dealt with summarily by commanding officers, or by regimental courts-martial.

The parts highlighted in bold type are my own emphasis, but I think that they go to the heart of the original post.

Ron

Edited 14 May , 2022 by Ron Clifton

[FROGSMILE]

On 14/05/2022 at 22:51, Ron Clifton said:

I have dug out my copy of the 1914 edition of the Manual of Military Law to explore these questions
further.
Section 44 of the Army Act: Punishments may be inflicted in respect of offences committed by persons
subject to military law and convicted by courts-martial -
In the case of officers, according to the scale following:
a. Death.
b. Penal servitude for a term not less than three years.
c. Imprisonment, with or without hard labour, for a term not exceeding two years.
d. Cashiering.
e. Dismissal from His Majesty's service.
f. Forfeiture, in the prescribed manner, of seniority of rank either in the army or in the corps to which the
offender belongs, or in both.
g. Reprimand, or severe reprimand.
In the case of soldiers, according to the scale following:
h. Death.
j. Penal servitude for a term not less than three years.
k. Imprisonment, with or without hard labour, for a term not exceeding two years.
kk. Detention for a term not exceeding two years.
l. Discharge with ignominy from His Majesty's service.
m. In the case of a non-commissioned officer, forfeiture, in the prescribed manner, of seniority of rank, or
reduction to a lower grade, or to the ranks.
n. Forfeitures, fines, and stoppages.
Provided that -
(1) Where in respect of ny offence under this Act there is specified a particular punishment, or such less
punishment as is in this Act mentioned, there may be awarded in respect of that offence, instead of such
particular punishment (but subject to the other regulations of this Act as to punishments, and regard being
had to the nature and degree of the offence) any one punishment lower in the above scales than the
particular punishment.
(1A) For the purposes of commutation and revision of punishment, detention shall not be deemed to be a
less punishment than imprisonment if the term of detention is longer than the term of imprisonment.
(2) An officer shall be sentenced to be cashiered before he is sentenced to penal servitude or
imprisonment.
(3) An officer when sentenced to forfeiture of seniority of rank may also be sentenced to reprimand or
severe reprimand.
(4) A soldier when sentenced to penal servitude or imprisonment may, in addition thereto, be sentenced
to be discharged with ignominy from His Majesty's service.
. . . . .
Sections 57 to 68 of the Act cover in detail the provisions for the custody of an officer or soldier
sentenced to penal servitude or imprisonment but the gist of these is that all of these sentences should
normally be served in the United Kingdom, or in India in the case of those sentenced in that country.

"Penal servitude" is a more stringent form of imprisonment and involves the loss of certain rights such as
the ability to enter into contracts, sue at law or deal in any way with property. It also usually involved hard
labour. It was introduced in the mid-19th century as an alternative to transportation, but was abolished as
a separate punishment in 1948.

The separate punishment of "detention" was introduced in 1906, mainly for soldiers whom it was desired to retain in the army, but incidentally it allowed more cases to be dealt with summarily by commanding officers, or by regimental courts-martial.

The parts highlighted in bold type are my own emphasis, but I think that they go to the heart of the original post.

Ron

Thank you for taking the time to lay that out Ron. I was especially interested to learn of the end of penal servitude in 1948.  What is still not clear to me are the circumstances in which an officer received a period of imprisonment without losing his rank.  The MML seems to say that all officers must first be cashiered before undergoing periods of imprisonment, and yet there were supposedly former officers, akin to those portrayed by David Niven in the film mentioned earlier in the thread.  What is your interpretation of that aspect?

Edited 19 May , 2022 by FROGSMILE

[FrancesH]

On 14/05/2022 at 22:51, Ron Clifton said:

I have dug out my copy of the 1914 edition of the Manual of Military Law to explore these questions
further.
Section 44 of the Army Act: Punishments may be inflicted in respect of offences committed by persons
subject to military law and convicted by courts-martial -
In the case of officers, according to the scale following:
a. Death.
b. Penal servitude for a term not less than three years.
c. Imprisonment, with or without hard labour, for a term not exceeding two years.
d. Cashiering.
e. Dismissal from His Majesty's service.
f. Forfeiture, in the prescribed manner, of seniority of rank either in the army or in the corps to which the
offender belongs, or in both.
g. Reprimand, or severe reprimand.
In the case of soldiers, according to the scale following:
h. Death.
j. Penal servitude for a term not less than three years.
k. Imprisonment, with or without hard labour, for a term not exceeding two years.
kk. Detention for a term not exceeding two years.
l. Discharge with ignominy from His Majesty's service.
m. In the case of a non-commissioned officer, forfeiture, in the prescribed manner, of seniority of rank, or
reduction to a lower grade, or to the ranks.
n. Forfeitures, fines, and stoppages.
Provided that -
(1) Where in respect of ny offence under this Act there is specified a particular punishment, or such less
punishment as is in this Act mentioned, there may be awarded in respect of that offence, instead of such
particular punishment (but subject to the other regulations of this Act as to punishments, and regard being
had to the nature and degree of the offence) any one punishment lower in the above scales than the
particular punishment.
(1A) For the purposes of commutation and revision of punishment, detention shall not be deemed to be a
less punishment than imprisonment if the term of detention is longer than the term of imprisonment.
(2) An officer shall be sentenced to be cashiered before he is sentenced to penal servitude or
imprisonment.
(3) An officer when sentenced to forfeiture of seniority of rank may also be sentenced to reprimand or
severe reprimand.
(4) A soldier when sentenced to penal servitude or imprisonment may, in addition thereto, be sentenced
to be discharged with ignominy from His Majesty's service.
. . . . .
Sections 57 to 68 of the Act cover in detail the provisions for the custody of an officer or soldier
sentenced to penal servitude or imprisonment but the gist of these is that all of these sentences should
normally be served in the United Kingdom, or in India in the case of those sentenced in that country.

"Penal servitude" is a more stringent form of imprisonment and involves the loss of certain rights such as
the ability to enter into contracts, sue at law or deal in any way with property. It also usually involved hard
labour. It was introduced in the mid-19th century as an alternative to transportation, but was abolished as
a separate punishment in 1948.

The separate punishment of "detention" was introduced in 1906, mainly for soldiers whom it was desired to retain in the army, but incidentally it allowed more cases to be dealt with summarily by commanding officers, or by regimental courts-martial.

The parts highlighted in bold type are my own emphasis, but I think that they go to the heart of the original post.

Ron

Thank you so much for providing this, Ron, it's very much appreciated and clarifies the legal position for the officers I am currently investigating. 

[Ron Clifton]

On 19/05/2022 at 20:03, FROGSMILE said:

the circumstances in which an officer received a period of imprisonment without losing his rank.  The MML seems to say that all officers must first be cashiered before undergoing periods of imprisonment

As I read it, he would have lost his rank by being cashiered, and hence would be imprisoned as a civilian.

Ron