The First British Man to be Shot for Desertion in World War 1: Private Thomas James Highgate

On November 8, 2006, 88 years after the end of World War I, a long campaign was over. 306 men from the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth, who had lost their lives not by enemy hands but on the orders of their own countrymen, had finally been exonerated. Their posthumous pardons granted by royal assent removed the stain of desertion and cowardice from their records. Ilana Barnett explains.

Private Thomas James Highgate, available here.

Faced with the nightmare of trench warfare; watching their friends die, the stench of battlefields strewn with rotting corpses, lice infested uniforms, sleep deprivation, appalling weather, disease, and the constant fear of death and mustard gas attacks, it is hardly surprising that so many came out of the war forever changed, a damaged shell of the men they had been. The majority managed to hold it together, but for some, it all was too much and they ran while others collapsed, unable to go on. 

Nowadays we recognize the signs of shell shock, more commonly referred to as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but, in the past, it was a whole different story. These men were seen as weak and weakness could not be tolerated. The military commanders needed to make an example out of them, their men were holding on by a thread, they could not risk mass mutiny. Fear had to be instilled to keep them inline and the dread of being seen as cowards and the shame they would bring to their families was an effective deterrent.

Only a few weeks into the war, the military elite was faced with a terrible decision, they did not hesitate and on September 8, 1914, Thomas James Highgate, aged 19, became the first British soldier to be executed for desertion. Tragically he was not the last.

A Difficult Childhood

Thomas James Highgate was born on May 13, 1895, in Shoreham in Kent, the fourth of five children of John James Highgate, a farm laborer and Alice Highgate (née Nutley). His family’s poverty meant that his childhood was not the easiest. At some point the family must have moved from Shoreham to south London as Thomas is recorded as having attended Hither Green School in Lewisham. How good of an education Thomas received is difficult to gauge as from the age of seven, he was in and out of the Lewisham workhouse as his parents struggled to make ends meet. Coming from this type of background may explain why he decided on May 18, 1907, at the age of 12, to join the Royal Navy. At the time the Royal Navy were in urgent need of more manpower to crew the newly introduced dreadnoughts.

Life at Sea

To our modern perspective the thought of a 12-year-old joining the Royal Navy is horrific but to a child born in the Victorian period without money, connections, education or prospects, it would have been viewed as a golden opportunity. Life in the Navy was hard but it did at least guarantee food, a regular wage, and a roof over your head. These young boys were expected to learn the important seamanship skills necessary to become a good sailor.

Assigned to the training ship, Exmouth in Grays on May 18, 1907, Highgate remained there for three years before transferring to the SS Oriana as a deck boy (attested by the 1911 Liverpool census). His life in the Navy was eventful.  Two of the ships he was on were shipwrecked and while on the west coast of Africa he was taken ill with yellow fever. It appears that after these traumas, his memory was permanently impaired and his medical records note that he also on occasion suffered from amnesia. 

From Sailor to Soldier

For some reason, Highgate made the decision to leave the Navy and sign up for an Army Special Reserve battalion. He spent six months with the reserve battalion, studying for his Third-Class certificate. At the age of 17 and eight months, Highgate took the final leap and enlisted in the regular army, joining the 1st Battalion, (Queen’s Own) Royal West Kent Regiment on February 4, 1913. Highgate’s Attestation Papers, the first papers a soldier signed on entering the army, describe him as 5 feet 4.5 inches, just over nine stone,  brown hair, hazel eyes, and with naval tattoos on his arms. If he thought he was getting a reprieve from his traumatic experience in the Navy, then he was in for a shock.

The Road to France and Mons

Highgate appears to have found army life difficult. He was upbraided on a couple of occasions for being late for Tattoo, reprimanded for carrying a rusty rifle, and even received 48 days detention for desertion at the beginning of 1914. It is unclear what prompted Highgate to desert but the fact that he tried to fraudulently re-enlist does indicate some form of mental instability. Why re-enlist if you wanted to desert? The medical officer, Captain Tate examining him at Dublin’s Richmond Barracks where he was stationed recorded that although his memory appears fine at the moment, “His manner is stated to be peculiar at times”. Despite all of this, the general consensus was that he was a good worker when he was actually in attendance.

Highgate knew that at the some point he would have to fight and maybe even die for his country. He even wrote a message in his payment that in the event of his death any money owed to him should be sent to his Irish girlfriend, Mary MacNulty. Still nothing in his wildest imagination could have prepared him for the horrors of World War I. Just two weeks into the war his Battalion received their orders and on August 15, 1914, he left Ireland for France. Eight days later he took part in his first engagement, the Battle of Mons also known as the First Great Battle of World War I. The fighting lasted for nine hours until the British Expeditionary Force, outnumbered by the German Army, was forced to fall back. There was no clear winner. Although from a tactical point of view, the Germans had the upper hand, in terms of casualty numbers, the British suffered fewer losses. Just over 1,600 British soldiers were killed compared to about 5,000 Germans.

It was the retreat rather than the battle that was an unmitigated disaster. The army was in disarray. The privates thought the war was over and that they had lost. The two-week retreat from the battlefield of Mons is often described as “organized chaos”. The men trudged the 250 miles (400 kilometers) towards what was later known as the First Battle of the Marne, covering about 20 miles a day. They were demoralized, physically exhausted, starving, hobbling along on blistered, bleeding feet and suffering from heatstroke; it is hardly surprising that so many got left behind, became disorientated or ran away. 

His Final Days

September 6, 1914

Either late on September 5, or in the early hours of September 6, just as his battalion was preparing to face the Germans once more, Highgate told his friends that he was going to relieve himself. He never returned. He was found at 8:15am, a short distance away in a barn by a gamekeeper searching for his bicycle, on the estate of Baron de Rothschild at Tournan-en-Brie.

Highgate was dressed in civilian clothing (it is unclear where he found the clothes but one suggestion is that he took them from a scarecrow) and without his rifle. He appeared confused and was unable to remember how he had got there, telling the gamekeeper “I have lost my army, and I mean to get out of it”.

The gamekeeper, an ex-soldier, was unsympathetic. Highgate led him to a woodshed where he had left his uniform. His rifle and cartridges were missing. The gamekeeper handed him over to the French police who in turn gave him into the custody of the British military. Captain Milward, who escorted Highgate into military custody, stated that Highgate told him that he remembered nothing except leaving his bivouac that morning.

September 7, 1914

A hasty military tribunal was convened. Highgate had no defense and no witnesses were called. He said little except to contradict what he had earlier told the gamekeeper and state that he had got lost and had meant to return to his battalion. Not at any point was Highgate’s medical history of memory loss raised to support the theory that he could have genuinely got confused and wandered off. Maybe his previous record worked against him, maybe they did not look into his background or more likely his own confused words to the gamekeeper condemned him.

It was Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig who had the final say when it came to authorizing military executions. If he had decided to, he could have issued a stay of execution. He didn’t. Haig would have been well aware that by August 30, it was being reported that there were no fewer than 12,923 stragglers. Talk of desertion was sweeping through the battalions like wildfire and the military was desperate to stamp it out. An example had to be made and sadly Highgate was the sacrifice. Senior officials insisted that the execution should be performed at once and as publicly as possible.

September 8, 1914

At 6:22am on the September 8, Highgate was informed of his fate. 

An officer arranged for a burial party and a firing squad to prepare.

While waiting to be taken to face the execution squad, Highgate wrote a sad letter to Mary. How much did he tell her of what was happening? Probably what he was allowed to write was limited. The Army would have been very careful about what information could be passed on to the world outside the army.

At 7:07am in the presence of a Church of England clergyman and witnessed by men of the 1st Dorset Regiment and 1stCheshire Regiment, Private Thomas James Highgate was tied to a stake. Often those condemned by a military court were drugged with either alcohol or morphine to calm them down before they faced the execution squad and a square of white cloth pinned to their uniform. It is not known if this was done to Highgate, it may have been a procedure implemented later on in the war, but it was said that when facing the firing squad, he cried and called for his mother. He was nineteen.

The Aftermath

Thomas’ parents suffered greatly during the war. They lost two more sons. Robert, a Lance Corporal with the East Lancashire Regiment, died on January 30, 1915 and Joseph a rifleman, with the East Kent Regiment, died of his wounds on June 6, 1916. Luckily, they were spared one son, Benjamin, who survived and died in 1940.

How much his parents understood about their son’s fate is difficult to tell. Alice submitted all three of her sons’ names to be included in the Sidcup War Memorial but other sources claim that they were shamed into leaving her home which according to records would have been Catford. Did she find out afterwards or did she know but still want her son commemorated? 

Final Thoughts

Although most people are of the view that those men executed for cowardice and desertion were just as much victims of the war as anyone else who died, there are others that do not believe that the past should be viewed with modern eyes and sensibilities. Maybe that is why Thomas’ name has never been added to the Shoreham War Memorial despite having a place left for it. Strangely his name can be found on a British war memorial to the missing at La Ferté-sous-Jouarre, a commune located near the River Marne in north-central France.

Thomas’ case was tragic. It is more than likely that his memory problems were due to either to a head trauma sustained while in the Navy or to side-effects from his bout of yellow fever. When combined with the horrors of the Battle of Mons, exhaustion and possible heatstroke, it is not surprising that he broke down. The tragedy is that he was found and an example made of him. If only for a missing bicycle he may have survived.

Sadly, Thomas was the first of many. The last two men were executed only four days before the Armistice was declared.

Now that they are pardoned, let’s hope that Thomas, along with those 305 other men, will finally be at peace.

Let us know what you think about the article below.

Now, you can read Ilana’s article on the Bethnal Green tube disaster during World War II here.

Ilana Barnett writes at https://hauntedpalaceblog.wordpress.com/

Why did Germany get the blame at the end of World War One? Part 3 – Ever Greater Tensions in Europe

Germany is often blamed for causing World War I – and the 1919 Treaty of Versailles led to the country needing to pay large reparations to the winners. Here, Denise Tubbs continues her look at why Germany got much of the blame for World War I. She considers the roles of Russia, Germany, France, and Britain prior to war breaking out in August 1914.

Part 1 in the series is on the decades leading up to World War One is here and part 2 on the role of Austria-Hungary in the outbreak of war here.

German troops marching through Blankenberge, Belgium in World War I.

We ended part two with Austria beginning to mobilize towards war. The generals had a plan; and sad to say it’s probably the most flawed war plan of all time. Their plan was based on a six-week timeline. In that time they planned to invade Serbia, destroy it, and subsequently conquer it. Anyone else see a problem with this plan? Its ambitious sure, it may even be a feeling of confidence. But any confidence Austria had is sheer cockiness. Let us face it, Austria has always wanted the area that makes up Serbia and needed a reason to go in and take it. The Archduke’s death allowed this to happen.

There is a truth to what is really going on in Austria. The last time the country was at war, was 48 years prior in 1866. Between then and now, there is no definitive armed force. The would be soldiers were actually farmers and industry workers – these soldiers weren’t even alive the last time war came to their homes. Right off the back Austria needed to train soldiers and quickly. But that’s not the only reality they hadn’t faced. The railroad system had not been tended to in years, and there were areas across the country that still didn’t have rail tracks at all. The ones that remained had not been tended to in years. Lastly, there were the ranking members of armed forces - these men were veteran soldiers. They were also overly confident. But these were also men who fought 48 years before. Their tactics and plans and approaches were all outdated. Their choices in formations and the use of cavalries weren’t feasible any longer.  

With all these issues and preparation for war, they faced one more issue. The timing of the escalating conflict had occurred in the middle of the farming harvest for the year. So now not only did they need to train soldiers, update railway systems, and plan with outdated military resources, but they also had to wait for those farmers to finish their harvest. This is why the plan of six weeks was fundamentally flawed. They’d need six weeks to take care of the issues they have and then prepare for war. In short, it was an unrealistic plan. 

Russian Action

Meanwhile, over in Russia, the Tsar had some choices to make. He knew that if Austria mobilized her army that Germany would too. Germany had a border with Russia; which increases the chances of conflict at that border. There was also the relationship with Serbia. There was no formal agreement in place like Belgium had with Britain. Either way, the tsar felt that there was some level of protection he should give to help the Serbs. He decided to mobilize. 

In terms of preparedness, Russia was like Austria; the only caveat is that they did not have a timeline of how events were to play out. They too had outdated rail systems, farmers that needed to be trained as soldiers and commanders overly confident in the power of what the country can muster in a crisis. Russia is the largest country on earth, and with that distinction comes another: the largest army in the world. But the number of men cannot be successful if they were beaten by technological advancements. 

Back in the late 19th century Russia had a spat with Japan. This conflict would become known as the Russo-Japanese War. Other powers in Europe assumed that any ‘civilized’ country could easily beat a country that is little more than an island chain. Well good thing no one bet on the matchup because Japan won the war. Their win sent shockwaves through Europe. The war revealed to the world two dark truths of Russia: that their army could not be controlled, and there was an uneasy resentfulness of the monarchy. 1905 was a year that had handed a warning in another way - it gave the royal family a warning that the Russian people were not happy. 

No one could understand how a country as large and as populated as Russia could lose a war in such a way. The reasons lay in the lack of training we mentioned above as well as technology advancements elsewhere. But there was also the issue of transportation. The country probably had a worse rail system than Austria did. In fact, at the time, the United States had more railway systems than Russia had ever put down. 

Military Commanders in Russia were not appointed based on experience. It was a society of ‘who knows who’ aristocracy that paid little attention to threats facing the country. That’s not to say that all positions were based on who you knew; there were a few ranks that required military experience but they were far and few. The commanders of the war would make decisions that had major repercussions across the country during the war years. These actions only added to the fuel that was the Russian Revolution in 1917. 

German Ultimatum

Now that Russia had mobilized, Germany sent an ultimatum: Either stop the preparations or they would be forced to mobilize their forces. While the official message was clear, what was not is the relationship between their respective heads of state. Kaiser Wilhelm and Tsar Nicholas were third cousins; both sharing the same great great grandfather Peter I of Russia. The two began writing to each other in hopes of coming to some kind of agreement. The letters, later known as the “Willy-Nicky correspondence” did not have the result either of them wanted. The reason being that by now the decision making was well out of their hands - generals, prime ministers, and other officials were now calling the shots. 

Seeing how the letters did nothing to soothe the situation, and with Russia concerned over her ability to succeed in another war, Russia made a few calls to their ally France. The Franco-Russian Alliance was essentially a military agreement between the two nations. With Germany gaining strength in the late 19th century both countries found it needed to align with each other in the event of conflict. Now with Germany giving ultimatums, Russia activated the alliance with France. 

France up until this point had been waiting in the wings. The government had been paying attention to the events knowing that this may be the chance to get a little revenge on Germany. When Russia called on France they are all for it. The territories they lost in the Franco-Prussian War were still a sore spot and they wanted that land back. 

Escalating Tensions

Lets stop and recap for a second. Two sides have now formed: Germany and Austria-Hungary versus Serbia, Russia, and now France. If you looked at a map, or even from space that is a solid chunk of Europe and part of Asia. This is escalating, but at the level of the commanders and leaders, it's still not apparent that it will end in war. 

Germany realized that with France to its west and Russia to its east they were looking at a two front conflict. On one point they were determined to finish off France. Russia they thought could be dealt with later. This is where their plan forms to deal with both countries. As long as they could take out one of them first before either is ready, they had a shot of winning. This plan looked great on paper, but was not fully investigated. The German plan was to invade one of them, and take them out. This way a two front conflict becomes one. In looking at their options, Germany chose France to invade first because they assumed that it would take Russia longer to mobilize its forces. In that time it was theorized they could eliminate France before Russia could come with aid. 

So France was the first step. It would not be an easy approach either. Commanders went over all possible points of entry to invade France. Only one made the most sense and that was to march through the relatively new country of Belgium. Germany asked Belgium if they could march through to get to France and Belgium said no. Well Germany didn’t take well to the denial and begin to threaten Belgium that they would march through with or without permission. This was a huge mistake on the part of German arrogance. They neglect the fact that Belgium is under the protection of Great Britain.

Britain’s Role

If there was any European Power truly not directly affected by the events in Sarajevo, it was Great Britain. She’s is like the sleeping bear in the back of the cave; she may stir every once in a while, but as long as you don’t bother her or her cubs she’ll stay sleeping. Belgium is one of her cubs. When the country was formed a treaty was put in place. The Treaty of London (1839) stated that if any state threatened the neutrality of Belgium, Great Britain was required to enforce the treaty and protect Belgium. This is where Germany went wrong. When it came down to it, Great Britain was the one country that Germany did not want to go up against.

Britain had not only the firepower and global standing, they had more troops than any other country across its territories. Those troops would be not only from Britain, but also Canada, Australia, India, New Zealand, etc. With the largest empire on earth Germany knew fighting them would likely mean defeat. But by now the situation was too far along. And the confidence Germany had blinded them to any real logical action. After threatening Belgium, they invoked the terms of The Treaty of London.

War Begins

Britain wasn’t really trying to go to war. They had their own problems in Ireland. Political unrest and violence between Catholics and Protestants kept them from really watching what’s happening across Europe. The Prime Minister David Lloyd George received the call of help from Belgium and discussed it with his government. They decided to give Germany a timetable. They had until midnight local time to send word they would not enter Belgium. Midnight came and went, and Britain had her answer. They started mobilizing their troops. 

By now Germany was at the border of Belgium. They did ask one more time about marching through. Again Belgium declines. Germany began entering Belgium. The date was August 4, 1914 and the war was officially live. So now we know how it all began. What’s next? Part 4 will have that and the wrap up to this tale.

What do you think about Germany invading France through Belgium? Let us know below.

Sources

Wikipedia 

Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History Podcast (Blueprint for Armageddon parts 1-6)

The History of the Great War Podcast

A World Undone: The Story of the Great War by G.J. Meyer