Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria. Including a superb collection of medals to the King’s German Legion, Police Medals from the Collection of John Tamplin and a small collection of medals to the Irish Guards

A highly emotive and important Boer War Medal reflecting one of the darkest chapters in British military history: the execution by firing squad of deserters in the Great War

Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 5 clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902 (4378 Pte. A. E. Smith, 3rd Dgn. Gds.) suspension rod replaced, edge bruising, contact marks and polished, fine £1500-2000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Small Collection of Medals to the Irish Guards.

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Alfred Ernest Smith (alias Smythe) was born in the Parish of St. John’s, Co. Sligo and enlisted locally in the 3rd Dragoon Guards in February 1900, aged 19 years. Going on to witness active service with the Regiment in South Africa between January 1901 and August 1902, he showed no signs of being anything but a good soldier. But in May 1903, he committed the first of a string of offences which by the time he was placed on the Army Reserve in January 1908, included being absent from duty, drunk, improperly dressed, disobedient and ‘wilfully letting his horse loose’.

Worse was to follow, however, when he was caught in July 1910 for having irregularly enlisted in the Irish Guards in June of the previous year by not informing the attesting Officer that he had previously served in the 3rd Dragoon Guards and was still on the Army Reserve, a deceit made possible by adopting the alias of ‘Smythe’, using a different birthplace and lying about his age. The same attestation papers also reveal that he was now sporting tattoos of a highlander and crossed swords on his right forearm, and clasped hands and a thistle on his left forearm, sure signs of identity for the future.

As it transpired, he ‘claimed the benefit of the King’s pardon’ and was retained by the Irish Guards but still in the name of ‘Smythe’. And several new offences would be added to his service record by the time he went to France with the 1st Battalion on 12 August 1914, these including further charges for drunkenness and absence from duty, in addition to ‘being found in possession of another man’s boots’.

The Battalion witnessed severe fighting in the retreat from Mons and, according to statements surviving in Public Records Office files, Smith appears to have first attracted his C.O’s disapproval at Soupir in mid-September, when his unit managed to hold the line under shell and sniper fire. Yet more casualties were inflicted on the Battalion at Polygon Wood in the following month, Rudyard Kipling recording in his regimental history how some men were blown to pieces with no trace, sights that no doubt played their part in influencing Smith’s subsequent behaviour.

By November the Irish Guards had moved to positions on the edge of Zillebeke Wood, once more experiencing horrendous conditions and constant fighting. And it was on the evening of the 1st, while detached on stretcher-bearer duties, that Smith went missing, his absence being noted at a roll-call held on the following day. A few days later, another Irish Guardsman, Private T. Cummings, also went missing. But as far as higher authority was concerned both men were probably genuine battle casualties, or certainly until January of the following year, when the Mayor of Choques reported that two British soldiers were hiding at a local farm. Events would now move rapidly forward, as evidenced by a report submitted by No. 6765 Corporal T. C. Brennan, Military Mounted Police:

‘On January 15th 1915, I was ordered by Captain FitzPatrick, Assistant Provost Marshal, 1st Army Corps, to proceed to a farm near Choques to look for two soldiers who had been reported to be living there by the Mayor of Choques. I proceeded to the farm accompanied by a French Gendarme. I asked the lady of the farm if there were two soldiers staying there. She replied there had been two but that they had left that morning to rejoin their regiment at La Bassee. I had reason to doubt this woman’s statement so made enquiries at some houses near by. From these enquiries I learnt that two soldiers were staying at the farm and had been seen there about three weeks. One lady said she could show me where they were and took me to the original farm and pointed to a barn. I went to the barn but found the door locked. I went back to the owner of the farm and asked her to unlock the door. This at first she refused to do, but after a lot of argument and stating there was no one there, I got her to unlock the door. I entered the barn and in the loft I saw the accused [Smith]. I called him to come down which he did. I conveyed him to the Assistant Provost Marshal, 1st Army Corps, who ordered me to take him to the Assistant Provost Marshal, 2nd Division. This I did and handed him over to the Assistant Provost Marshal, 2nd Division. The accused declines to cross examine the witness’.

Private Cummings was also apprehended on the same occasion and both men were duly charged to be tried by Field General Court Martial, the relevant document for Smith being signed by Major J. F. Trefusis, 1st Battalion, Irish Guards and a Brigade Major V. Vivian, and dated ‘In the Field’ on 17 January 1915:

‘The accused, No. 3379 Private Alfred Smythe, 1st Battalion, Irish Guards, a soldier of the regular forces, is charged with:

Sec. 12 (1a): When on active service deserting His Majesty’s service in that he at Zillebeke on November 1st 1914 absented himself from the 1st Battalion, Irish Guards Regiment until he was apprehended by the Military Mounted Police in a barn at Choques on 15 January 1915’.

Trefusis also compiled a brief character history for the benefit of the Court:

‘No. 3379 Pte. A. Smythe enlisted in the Regiment in 1909. He was made a Lce. Corporal early in 1910, reduced for drunkenness soon after, and then gave himself up as a deserter from the 3rd Dragoon Guards. He received the King’s pardon and remained in the Regiment. In 1912 he was made a machine gunner and gave satisfaction until the Battalion was at Soupir, when he was returned to duty. I have known this man all his service personally and since he obtained the King’s pardon during peace, he did very well, but since he came on active service he has not done well’.

Formally interviewed at Locon on the same day, Smith made his defence statement to Captain Lord Desmond FitzGerald, Adjutant of the 1st Battalion, Irish Guards:

‘On November 1st 1914, in the evening, I volunteered to go as a stretcher bearer to fetch some wounded with Pte. Reardon. It was a very dark night and we were fired upon. We got separated. I lost my way. I walked for most of that night - I eventually came upon some French troops. No one could inform me where the British troops were. I remained with the French troops about six weeks. I cannot say what Battalion it was as they all seemed mixed up. I don’t know who commanded. After being with them about six weeks I heard there were some British troops at Hazebrouck. I therefore walked there. On the outskirts of the town I met a British private soldier who told me that the British Division had gone to La Bassee. I walked on for the best part of two days but could not find them. I stayed in a farm near Choques until found by the Military Mounted Police as I could not get any information as to where the Irish Guards were’.

Four days later, Smith and Cummings, the latter having been through exactly the same process, went before the Field General Court Martial, both entering pleas of ‘Not Guilty’. The findings of the Court, which was presided over by Major P. A. Macgregor, D.S.O., Coldstream Guards, were to the contrary, and a grim process commenced to seek final approval of the sentence ‘to suffer death by being shot’. The following day Brigadier-General Lord Cavan, C.O. of the Guards Brigade, forwarded the Court’s findings to his senior, the Major-General commanding 2nd Division, his accompanying notes stating that he felt that the two men had made no real effort to rejoin their unit and that with regret he could find ‘no solid grounds for any recommendation to mercy’. His superior agreed, stating in his submission to the Lieutenant-General commanding 1st Corps, ‘The Circumstances are such that I can see no reason why the sentences should not be carried out’. The fate of Smith and Cummings was finally sealed by the C.O. of 1st Corps in his memorandum to General Sir Douglas Haig:

‘Proceedings of Field Courts Martial held for the trial of No. 3379 Pte. A. Smythe and No. 2222 Pte. T. Cummings, 1st Bn., Irish Guards, are forwarded herewith.

These two cases of desertion with intent to evade active operations against the enemy are very clearly proved. The charges as framed, however, do not actually specify that these men were avoiding any particular important military service, but it was naturally within the judicial knowledge of the Court that the battalion concerned was, during the greater portion of the absence, serving actively in the trenches against the enemy.

These two cases are particularly heinous ones, and I hope that the extreme penalty which has been awarded by the Court will be approved’.

On 24 January 1915, at 1st Corps H.Q., General Sir Douglas Haig closed the final chapter in the lives of the two Irish Guardsmen with the following statement:

‘I concur and recommend that the two prisoners be shot’.

On 29 January 1915, the D.A.A. and Q.M.G., 1st Army sent off a message to re-affirm the General’s recommendation, together with a request to be informed of ‘the date, place and time of execution’, but his apparent eagerness had already been overtaken by events. Smith and Cummings had been executed by firing squad at Locon at 8.15 a.m. on the previous day.

Neither man’s place of burial was found after the War and they are commemorated on the Le Touret Memorial.

But officialdom still had one more matter to clear up, the Regimental Adjutant of the Irish Guards making contact with Smith’s only sister, Maude Keir, in September 1924, in order to confirm her address and status as next of kin. Writing on the 25th of the month from 215 High Street, Ayr, she corrected him on a number of matters:

‘In reply to yours of the 19th inst., I replied to your letter of 8 May 1922, saying that I had never lived at 368 Cumberland St., my address while in Glasgow being 349 Pollockshaws Rd. I also mentioned at the time that I was Private Alfred Smith’s only sister’.

And two days later she received the following response:

‘With reference to your letter of the 25th instant, I am forwarding herewith the Queen’s South Africa Medal, and 5 Bars awarded your late brother, No. 3379 Guardsman A.E. Smith, Irish Guards.

Will you please sign the attached receipt and return same to this office at your convenience’.

In returning the signed receipt, Smith’s sister asked whether any other effects of her brother had survived:

‘I have to acknowledge your receipt of the Queen’s South Africa Medal and Clasps, and regret to inform you there are no Effects or Medals belonging to your late brother, No. 3379 Guardsman A.E. Smythe, Irish Guards’.

N.B.
Death sentences carried out for desertion and cowardice under the auspices of British Military Courts in the Great War have attracted a good deal of media interest over recent years, not least as a result of the publication of two books on the subject, namely For the Sake of Example (1983), by His Honour Judge Anthony Babington, and Shot at Dawn (1989), by Julian Putkowski and Julian Sykes. The former title was based on the Judge’s findings after being permitted access to the relevant court martial transcripts (but not permission to publish the actual identities of the servicemen involved), findings that undoubtedly cast a question mark over the fairness of many case histories, whether on medical grounds or the overall efficiency of Army legal procedures. In Shot at Dawn, Putkowski and Sykes revealed for the first time the identities and stories of 312 British servicemen to suffer execution at the hands of the firing squad, in addition to providing some startling statistics and observations in their introduction.

Then in 1998, Gerard Oram produced his definitive roll Death Sentences Passed by Military Courts of the British Army 1914-1924, a publication that reveals the names of over 3000 convicted soldiers and civilians, although some ninety percent of these men had their sentences commuted to other forms of punishment. And many, of course, had been convicted for a variety of other crimes, including murder, treason and espionage.

The next of kin of those the servicemen who were executed in the Great War were not issued with the relevant campaign medals to which their relatives would otherwise have been entitled.

By the time Smith and Cummings were executed for desertion on 28 January 1915, seven other Army personnel had suffered a similar fate; a full file of research extracted from Public Record Office sources is included with the Lot, extracts from which have been used in the above footnotes.