|
|
This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site you agree to accept cookies.
If you enjoy this site please consider making a donation.
Site Home
Help & FAQs
Features
Submissions
Information
Advertisements
World War 1 One ww1 wwII greatwar great 1914 1918 first battalion regiment
L/Cpl. Joseph William Stones
British Army 9th Btn. Durham Light Infantry
(d.18th Jan 1917)
Joseph William Stones served with the Durham Light Infantry 9th Battalion. He was executed for casting away his arms on 18th January1917 and isburied in St. Pol Communal Cemetery Extension, St. Pol-sur-Ternoise, France.
The case of Sergeant W Stones - at 2.30am on 26th November 1916 (on the Somme), the British came under heavy mortar fire in thick mist. Stones went out on patrol with a lieutenant and came face to face with the enemy. The lieutenant was shot dead and Stones ran back to raise the alarm. He jammed his rifle across the trench to slow down the pursuing Germans - this cost his life. On return when it was discovered he had no weapon he was arrested with "shamefully casting away his arms". He was later tried and shot.
Lance Sergeant Joseph William Stones (1892 – 18th January 1917) was a British soldier during the First World War who was executed for cowardice. He later became the first Briton so executed to have his name added to a war memorial. He was commended for his bravery several times, and fought in the Battle of the Somme.
The incident for which he was executed occurred near Arras on 26th November 1916. According to his statement to his court martial, his officer, Lt Mundy, was injured by a gunshot, and ordered him to go for help. He was unable to fire his rifle because the safety catch was on and the cover was over the breech, so he jammed it across the trench to slow down the advancing German soldiers. In spite of Mundy's orders, and a statement from his commanding officer that "he is the last man I would have thought capable of any cowardly action." Stones was convicted of "shamefully casting away his rifle" in the face of the enemy, and sentenced to death. Brigadier-General H O'Donnell upheld his conviction, in spite of his doubts about the quality of the evidence presented. Stones was executed by firing squad several days later alongside John McDonald and Peter Goggins, who had been convicted of abandoning their posts in the same incident. The chaplain who prayed with them before their deaths remarked that he had never met three braver men.
Related Content:
Can you help us to add to our records?
The names and stories on this website have been submitted by their relatives and friends. If your relations are not listed please add their names so that others can read about them
Did your relative live through the Great War? Do you have any photos, newspaper clippings, postcards or letters from that period? Have you researched the names on your local or war memorial?
If so please let us know.
Do you know the location of a Great War "Roll of Honour?"We are very keen to track down these often forgotten documents and obtain photographs and transcriptions of the names recorded so that they will be available for all to remember.
Help us to build a database of information on those who served both at home and abroad so that future generations may learn of their sacrifice.
Celebrate your own Family History
Celebrate by honouring members of your family who served in the Great War both in the forces and at home. We love to hear about the soldiers, but also remember the many who served in support roles, nurses, doctors, land army, muntions workers etc.
Please use our Family History resources to find out more about your relatives. Then please send in a short article, with a photo if possible, so that they can be remembered on these pages.
The free section of The Wartime Memories Project is run by volunteers.
This website is paid for out of our own pockets, library subscriptions and from donations made by visitors. The popularity of the site means that it is far exceeding available resources and we currently have a huge backlog of submissions.
If you are enjoying the site, please consider making a donation, however small to help with the costs of keeping the site running.
Hosted by:
The Wartime Memories Project Website
is archived for preservation by the British Library
Copyright MCMXCIX - MMXXIV
- All Rights Reserved -We do not permit the use of any content from this website for the training of LLMs or for use in Generative AI, it also may not be scraped for the purpose of creating other websites.
