217812 Pte. John Sloan British Army 1st/4th Btn. King's Own (Royal Lancaster) Regiment (d.16th Jul 1916) John Sloan served with the King's Own (Royal Lancaster) Regiment, 4th Battalion. He was shot for desertion. His mother received the following letter from the Records Office. He was executed for desertion on 16/07/1916 and buried in the Barly French Military Cemetery in Pas-de-Calais, France.
Territorial Force Records,
Sessions House Preston,
3rd August 1916.
Mrs Sloan, I regret to inform you that No 3563 Private Sloan. John. 1/4th Bn. The King's Royal Lancaster Regiment was sentenced after trial by Court Martial to be shot for deserting His Majesty's Service and the sentence was duly executed on 16th July 1916.
S M McMaster
Col for Colonel I/C Records Preston.
Rest of paperwork as for any other casualty, e.g. normal form 118 for delivery of effects to next of kin and list of effects, with receipt for delivery. Interestingly, effects do not contain any Regimental insignia such as cap badge or buttons - something that is part of just about all the effects from this Battalion and occasionally all there is. (I suspect a cap badge and button or two were added from Battalion Stores, so families had some sort of memento when these items were missing). In cases of death by firing squad the prisoner must have been stripped of all such insignia as the prelude to his sentence being carried out,
|