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Pte. Thomas J. Highgate
British Army 1st Btn. Royal West Kent Regiment
from:Shoreham, Kent
(d.8th Sep 1914)
Thomas Highgate served with the Royal West Kent Regiment 1st Battalion. He was executed for desertion on 8th September 1914. He is commemorated on The La Ferté-sous-Jouarre Memorial, Seine-et-Marne, France.
Thomas Highgate was the first to suffer such military justice. Unable to bear the carnage of 7,800 British troops at the Battle of Mons, he fled and hid in a barn. He was undefended at his trial because all his comrades from the Royal West Kents had been killed, injured or captured. Just 35 days into the war, Pte. Highgate was executed.
Born the only son of a farm labourer at Oxbourne Farm in the Kent village of Shoreham, Highgate was himself a farm labourer before enlisting as a regular soldier in the 1st Battalion, Royal West Kent Regiment on 4th February 1913, aged 17 years and nine months. Prior to mobilisation his battalion was based in Dublin's Richmond Barracks and it crossed to France on 15th August 1914. The battalion first saw action at the Battle of Mons, being engaged in both the battle and the subsequent retreat.
