Pte 52929 James Smith

• Age: 26
• From: Bolton, Lancs
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 17th Btn
• Executed Wednesday 5th September 1917
• Commemorated at: Kemmel Chateau Mil Cem
  Panel Ref: M.25

James was born in Bolton in 1891. His story is a remarkable one and the telling of the story has been subject to a Play and a detailed account in Graham Maddocks' book The Liverpool Pals.

The reason for the interest is that James (Jimmy) Smith was the only Liverpool Pal to be Executed in the Great War. Allied to that he was subject of a campaign led by Bill Miles, a Pals Historian from Liverpool now resident in Bolton, and Charles Sandbach a journalist and descendant of Jimmy. That campaign was to get Jimmy's name added to the Roll of Honour at Bolton Town Hall, his name having not been added due to him being Executed. This fate had befallen most if not all of the 306 men who were Shot at Dawn during the Great War, in that their Village, Town or City failed to recognise their service. Bill and Charles received the support of their local MP at the time, Brian Iddon. Brian brought the matter to the attention of the House of Commons and I replicate his testimony below as it relays the story of Jimmy's serice and the subsequent campaign:

Private James Smith And the First World War

An Adjournment Debate 3 March 2009

Presented by Dr Brian Iddon Member of Parliament for Bolton, South East 

MR SPEAKER:

Many tragic stories have emerged from the two World Wars of 1914-1918 and 1939- 1945. Unbelievable numbers of British, Commonwealth and other men and women from across the World were lost in these conflicts. In my opinion, they were all people of great courage who were willing to put their lives on the line for this country and for freedom from tyranny. This is the tragic story of James Smith, Jimmy to his friends, who was born in 1891 at 77 Noble Street, today in my Constituency, and whose mother Elizabeth died just after he was born. He was brought up by his devoted maternal Aunt, Eliza, and his Uncle John in Great Lever in my Constituency. Relatives John (known as Jack) and Freda Hargreaves live in Great Lever today. Jack’s mother was Jimmy Smith’s cousin. Jimmy’s story has been brought to me by Charles Sandbach and Bill Miles, who are interested in military history and who are campaigning to have Jimmy Smith’s name added to the Bolton Roll of Honour, which is kept in the ceremonial entrance to Bolton Town Hall, and for him to be remembered every year, along with his comrades, on Remembrance Day. Jimmy was Charles’ paternal grandmother’s uncle. Charles Sandbach initially sought the help of my friend Cllr Frank White, former Member of Parliament for Bury and Radcliffe, who is currently President of the Bolton United Veteran’s Association, formed in 1906, before the British Legion was established, as the second to be formed of many such Associations that exist today. Private James Smith was the subject of a play, “Early One Morning”, written by Bolton playwright Les Smith and presented at the Octagon Theatre in Bolton, with its first performance on 22 October 1998, to mark the 80th Anniversary of the Armistice. James Smith enlisted into the 1st Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers, in 1910, just before his 19th birthday, to escape the grinding poverty that he found himself in at the time.

Although he hardly knew his father, James William Smith, who remarried, Jimmy enlisted using his father’s address in Noble Street. 2022 Private James Smith trained in Egypt, then served in Karachi, India, before being recalled when World War I was declared. Amongst his many horrific experiences of that war was the Lancashire Landing on ‘W-beach’ at Gallipoli, on the morning of 25 April 1915, when his Battalion stormed a cliff bristling with Turkish machine guns. No fewer than six of his comrades won Victoria Crosses before breakfast, still an all-time record for such awards. Half the Battalion were lost. After enduring the rest of that nightmare campaign, Private James Smith was evacuated in 1916 to France, where he joined volunteers in the 15th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers, known as the Salford Pals. With one Good Conduct Badge at that time, he was soon in the thick of action again and gained a second Good Conduct Badge. Such were the losses on the Somme that infantrymen were regularly transferred from regiment to regiment, and Jimmy was transferred to the 17th Battalion Kings Liverpool Regiment, known as the 1st Liverpool Pals, on 26 June 1917, with the rank of Lance Corporal. He almost lost his life in France on the Somme when, on 11 October 1916, a massive German artillery shell buried him alive on the Transloy Ridge, and shrapnel created a large deep wound on his right shoulder. He was rescued and taken home to Townleys Hospital in Bolton in a very poor mental and physical state from which he never recovered. The shocks and horrors of the battles that he had seen had damaged him to such an extent that he was clearly unfit for further service, and those who served with him were well aware of his condition. Today, we would recognise that he was suffering from serious post-traumatic stress disorder. No such condition was recognised in the Great War. It was believed that soldiers could overcome shell shock. Just ten days after he returned to the front line, and clearly under a great deal of stress, he volunteered to give up his stripe and became 52929 Private James Smith. Six days later he left his post without orders. On 29 December 1916, Jimmy found himself before a Field General Court Martial for a breach of military discipline. He was ordered to do 90 days Field Punishment No. 1 and lost one of his Good Conduct Badges. On 15 July 1917, just before the battle of Passchendaele in the Ypres Salient, he found himself before a Field General Court Martial for a second time for going absent without leave. He was now 26 years-old. We believe that the Court recognised that Private James Smith was in no fit condition to fight. They spared him the death sentence on this occasion and ordered him to do 90 days Field Punishment No. 1 again, with the loss of his second Good Conduct Badge.

Unfortunately, the army did not allow him to complete this sentence. The 17th Battalion, Kings Liverpool Regiment, found itself at Pilckem Ridge, North of the famous town of Ypres. Jimmy Smith by this time was so unwell that he couldn’t function properly at the front, and his comrades could see it. They tried to ensure that he was given light duties out of the trenches but to no avail. On 30 July 1917, on the eve of the battle of Pilckem Ridge, Jimmy had a breakdown and deserted his post without orders again. He was seen at 11.00 p.m. five miles from the front wandering about in the town of Poperinghe, where he was arrested. A doctor at a dressing station declared him fit for duty and Jimmy was charged with desertion. While detained in the military cells at Poperinghe Town Hall Jimmy was ordered to undertake a two hour drill. Jimmy refused to march and was also charged with disobedience. This was the beginning of the end for Private James Smith. The plain fact is that he should not have been in action at that time. On 22 August 1917, Jimmy found himself before a Field General Court Martial for the third time in seven months. Major Watson, Lieutenant Pierce and Lieutenant Collins came to a unanimous verdict of guilty on both charges. At his trial he was unrepresented, no defence witnesses were called and he never spoke a word. Jimmy accepted his fate without fear as he was sentenced to death. The Court was aware of his medical history and they could have decided to transfer him to the Labour Corps. But no, instead they decided to make an example of an experienced regular soldier, clearly suffering from shell shock and the horrors that he had experienced in several battles. The Brigadier confirmed sentence on 22 August, the Divisional Commander on 28 August and the Commander in Chief, Field Marshall Hague, on 2 September 1917. Early on the morning of 5 September 1917 a small patrol of soldiers from his own unit entered a barn at Kemmel Chateau in Belgium to clean their weapons prior to re-engagement. They were told that, first, they had a special duty to perform and were taken outside into a courtyard, where they found their friend Jimmy Smith blindfolded and tied to an execution chair in front of a wall, with a white target pinned to his tunic just above his heart. Protesting furiously to the commanding officer the twelve-man firing squad – eleven Privates and an NCO - was summarily ordered to execute Jimmy. The lads aimed and fired, the majority deliberately missing their target. However, Jimmy was wounded, the chair was knocked over and he lay writhing on the ground in agony.

The young officer in charge of the firing squad was shaking like a leaf but he knew that he now had to finish Jimmy off by putting a bullet through his brain with his Webley pistol. He lost his nerve and couldn’t fire the pistol in his hand as Jimmy continued to writhe in agony on the ground. One of Jimmy’s friends, 23643 Private Richard Blundell, who hailed from Everton, Liverpool, was then ordered by the commanding officer to take the Webley pistol and kill Jimmy. Jimmy’s death was recorded on that day at 5.51 a.m. The twelve members of the firing squad were all given ten days leave after this tragic event. Richard Blundell died in Liverpool seventy years later, in February 1989 in Southport, when he was well into his nineties. As he was falling in and out of consciousness, his son William heard him utter the words “what a way to get leave”. Eventually, the story I have told about Jimmy’s execution emerged, and Richard Blundell’s final request to his son was to ask him to seek forgiveness from Jimmy Smith’s family for what he had done. His action on that morning in September 1917 had clearly been on his mind all that time. That was the first time that Blundell’s family can recall him speaking of his experiences at the front. The author of a book on the Liverpool Pals had tried unsuccessfully to interview him about his experiences in the Great War. ‘Dickie’ Blundell had also faced a lifetime sentence, perhaps worse than the fate of Private James Smith? We will never know. During, and for a long time after, the Great War of 1914-1918 shame hung over the families of soldiers like those of Private James Smith, and their names were not added to those of their comrades on our War Memorials or Rolls of Honour, or written into our Books of Remembrance. Mrs Freda Hargreaves has told me, however, that their family felt no shame and that they proudly hung a photograph of Jimmy over their mantelpiece for many years after World War I. After a long campaign, this Labour Government pardoned those soldiers shot at dawn, like Private James Smith was, in 1917. An amendment to the Armed Forces Bill was introduced in the Autumn of 2006 to pardon 306 soldiers, and the Act received Royal Assent on 8 November 2006. However, Private James Smith’s name has still not been added to the Book of Remembrance in Bolton Town Hall, and I hope that my Honourable Friend believes that it now should be.

I believe that Jimmy Smith was the only soldier from Bolton to meet this fate in the Great War of 1914-1918. At least today we have recognised him for what he obviously was - not a coward, but an extremely brave soldier who was made seriously ill by his experiences of the horrors of war. Private James Smith is buried in the Military Cemetery at Kemmel Chateau in Belgium in grave M.25. On the grave are the words ‘Gone but not forgotten’. May he rest in peace. Hopefully, we will always remember him and his bravery. In a different way, he also paid the ultimate price for the rest of us. His life was laid down for our freedom. As a footnote, I can tell my Honourable Friend that tomorrow night I expect that Bolton Council will agree to add Private James Smith’s name to their Roll of Honour, and that a ceremony will be held later this year, probably on Armed Forces Day, 27 June, to commemorate this addition. Bolton Council have let it be known too that they are prepared to add any other names to their Roll of Honour that have been missing to date for one reason or another. I hope that my Honourable Friend will agree that all Local Authorities should be encouraged to follow this lead?

Footnote:

On 12 March 2009, Brian was contacted by Richard Blundell’s (actually called Dick by the family) daughter, Mrs Jean Curwen, who was aged 84 at that time and who lived in Fulwood, near Preston. She was interested to be invited to any ceremony to honour Private Jimmy Smith and told Brian that her eldest brother, also called Richard Blundell, had died in Burma during WWII. She confirmed that her youngest brother William was also dead. Richard Blundell Snr died in Southport at the age of 95 (he was almost 96).

A ceremony was held at Bolton Town Hall on Saturday 27 June (the first National Armed Forces Day) to reveal Private Jimmy Smith’s name in the Book of Remembrance, which is kept in the porch of the ceremonial entrance to the Town Hall. Mr & Mrs Hargreaves and others of Jimmy’s relatives were present along with Mrs Jean Curwen (the first meeting of the two families). Charles Sandbach had discovered prior to the ceremony that the ‘Aunt’ who brought up Jimmy was in fact his mother. Such was the shame on families that had children out of wedlock at that time that his mother posed as his ‘Aunt’ after his birth.

Bill and Charles had succeeded and deserve great credit for their campaign which is recognised here.

Jimmy had already been Pardoned by the British Government by this time, by virtue of Section 359 of the Armed Forces Act 2006 signed by the then Secretary of State for Defence, Des Browne. At the Campaign launch for the Liverpool Pals Memorial Fund at Liverpool Town Hall on 23rd March 2011 Jimmy's family presented the committee of the Liverpool Pals Memorial Fund with a framed copy of his Pardon. Also present was Jean Curwen, the daughter of Richard  Blundell. It was an emotional moment when details of Jimmy's story where read to the audience gathered in the Council chamber and a standing ovation was given to both parties. 

Jimmy now rests at Kemmel Chateau Military Cemetery in Belgium, his headstone bears the epitaph:

"GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN"

Never has there been a truer epitaph. 

Kemmel Chateau was north-east of Kemmel village and the cemetery was established on the north side of the chateau grounds in December 1914. It continued to be used by divisions fighting on the southern sectors of the Belgian front until March 1918, when after fierce fighting involving both Commonwealth and French forces, the village and cemetery fell into German hands in late April. The cemetery was retaken later in the year, but in the interval it was badly shelled and the old chateau destroyed. There are now 1,135 Commonwealth burials of the First World War in the cemetery and 21 from the Second World War (which all date from the Allied withdrawal ahead of the German advance of May 1940). The cemetery was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.

Jimmy's military service began with him enlisting in the Lancashire Fusiliers as Private 2022.  He was subsequently transferred to the 17th Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment in June 1916.

The following passage concerning Jimmy, was written by Graham Maddocks and was contained in his book "Liverpool Pals":

Shot at Dawn

The Battle of Pilkem Ridge was over, but the battle to break out of the Ypres Salient would continue for three more weary murderous months, and even then, only for the tip of the Passendale Ridge would be reached. The 30th Division would take no further part in the fighting, but would continue to move in and out of the line and suffer the wearing and inevitable casualties of trench manning and trench fighting. Most of the month of August was spent in training and reserve at Merris and Dranoutre, and in the third week of the month the 18th Battalion took over trenches in the Wytschaete area, where it remained until 30th August. The 89th Brigade and the other three Battalions moved back into the front line at Hollebeke at the beginning of September and spent most of the month in and out of the trenches. 

On 5th September 1917, however, whilst the 17th Battalion was in support at Hollebeke, one small group from the Battalion, probably consisting of an officer and ten men, was in the rear at Kemmel, where a most unpleasant duty was performed - the execution of a comrade -52929 Private J Smith of 'C' Company. The story of this tragic episode was brought to the attention of the author in a most unusual way.

During the course of the research of this book, the author several times met with a veteran of the 17th Battalion, 24643 Private Richard Blundell, who originally came from the Everton district of Liverpool.  Although he would always chat generally about his Great War experiences, of which he was justifiably proud, he would never consent to a full interview. Sadly, Richard Blundell died in February 1989, and a few months later, his son, Mr William Blundell, contacted the author in the hope that he might be able to verify the details of a story that had disturbed him since his father's death. 

Richard Blundell did not die quickly, but lapsed in and out of consciousness for some time before the end, sometimes murmuring in a semi-delirium. One phrase which seemed important to him, and which he repeated time and time again was "What a way to get leave, what a way to get leave",and the places Hellfire Corner and Kemmel were also mentioned a lot. In one of his lucid moments of consciousness, his son asked him what it all meant, and obviously anxious to talk about it before he died, the former soldier related his story. It seemed that sometime in 1917, whilst in the Ypres Salient, he had been chosen as part of a firing squad to execute a soldier from his Battalion who had been sentenced to death for cowardice. Private Blundell knew the soldier well. The sentence was duly carried out, but after the volley had been fired, it was discovered that the condemned man was still alive. By tradition, in such an event it was always the duty of the officer in charge of the firing squad to carry out the 'coup de grace' with his revolver, and kill the unfortunate victim. However, on this occasion, the officer in charge was unable to go through with it and giving Private Blundell his service revolver, he ordered him to kill the man. Blundell carried out the order. Then as a 'reward' for carrying out this most unpleasant duty, he was granted ten days immediate leave to the UK. After his father's eventual death, William Blundell naturally wanted to know if there was any way of verifying the story, as he was quite sure that if it was true, being as it was, in the nature of a death bed confession.

By consulting a ledger int he Imperial War Museum library, the author was able to discover that the only time that Private Blundell was granted ten days leave was in September 1917, the leave commencing 5th September. A check through "Soldiers Died" for the Pals Battalions, however, revealed that there were no deaths at all, in any circumstances, in any of the four Battalions on this date. Executions were not always officially listed, however, and the author knew that the book 'Shot at Dawn' was in the process of preparation by the authors Julian Putowski and Julian Sykes. A phone call to the publishers solved the problem. There was only one Liverpool Pal executed during the Great War, 52929 Private J Smith of the 17th Battalion, who came from Bolton in Lancashire, and who was executed on 05th September 1917, at Kemmel near Ypres. A simple check of all the cemetery registers in the immediate area of Mount Kemmel soon found the grave of Private Smith, and confirmed the date of death. It was a straightforward process to establish further details of the service life of this unfortunate soldier.

James Smith was born in 1891, and was the son of James William and Elizabeth Smith of Bolton. In 1910, he joined the local county regiment The Lancashire Fusiliers, and became 2022 Private J Smith and on the outbreak of war was serving with the 1st Battalion in Karachi, India. The Battalion returned home early in 1915, but on 16th March 1915, it was dispatched to the Middle East to take part in the Gallipoli landings. On 25th April 1915, the Battalion won immortal fame, and six Victoria Cross awards, when it stormed the Turkish positions at 'W' Beach, Cape Helles, later to be called 'Lancashire Landing' in honour of the heroism of the soldiers who fought and died there. The Battalion stayed on the Gallipoli Peninsula until the final evacuation in January 1916, and eventually arrived in France in March 1916. At some stage, Private Smith was transferred to the 15th Battalion of his regiment, and then on 26th June 1916 was transferred to the 17th Battalion The King's Liverpool Regiment with the rank of Lance Corporal.

Whether or not Smith thought he had 'done his bit' in the war and should not have been sent to the front again can never now be established, but his time with the 17th Battalion was not a happy one. On 11th October 1916, the day before the Battle of Flers, he was buried by a German shell whilst in the front line in front of Ligny-Thilloy, and when dug out was taken to 140 Field Ambulance with a bruised shoulder. He returned to duty a fortnight later, but not long after, committed a breach of military discipline, probably absence, for which, at a Field General Court Martial held on 29th December 1916, he was sentenced to ninety days Field Punishment No.1 and ordered to forfeit one Good Conduct Badge. As we have already discussed, it is unlikely that he would have served his sentence in the front line but in any case, it obviously did not have the desired deterrent effect on his conduct, for six months later, whilst serving with the Battalion in the Salient he went absent again. At another Field General Court Martial convened on15th July, he received another ninety days FP1, and was ordered to forfeit a second Good Conduct Badge, which considering his record, must be considered a light sentence! Perhaps there were extenuating circumstances. However, this punishment had was obviously no more effective than the previous one, for some time later, almost certainly during the Battle of Pilkem Ridge, he refused to carry out an order and then deserted. He was tried on 22nd August 1917  for desertion and disobedience, and once his guilt had been established, there could really be only one sentence - death. He was executed at 5.51 am on 05th September and his body was buried in Kemmel Chateau Military Cemetery in Grave M.25 where it lies today.

                                                               
Grateful thanks are extended to Bill Miles, Charles Sandbach and Brian Iddon.  

Liverpool Pals by Graham Maddocks is a wonderful tribute to the  men and boys who served in the Liverpool Pals Battalions in the Great War and is highly recommended.  

We currently have no further information on James Smith, If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.