On one of my trips to the Public record Office I read the files on some of the soldiers who had been executed in France, I chose Private Bladen as one of these because he had been in the 10th Battalion of the York and Lancs..

Desertion hinges on ‘intent’. Questions for his C.O. He lies with 2618 other soldiers.

Private F.C.H. Bladen was tried by Court Martial on the 8th March 1916, found guilty of desertion and sentenced to death, he was executed on the 23rd March 1916.  Bladen had been more resourceful than many who were tried for desertion, he got himself back to England and escaped a couple of times after he had been arrested by the police. His length of time away from his unit, the fact that he got back to England and then escaped a couple more times made it easy for the court to determine ‘intent’, and very difficult for him to put forward any defence against a charge of desertion.  The following are some of the extracts from the record of the Court Martial [WO 71/458].

The NCO in charge of Bladen’s section [signallers] was Lance Corporal Harrold whose evidence was that; “On December 20th 1915 at the convert, Armentieres, as NCO in charge of the signallers I called the roll at 1pm. The accused was absent.  He was one of my party of signallers. I did not see him again ‘till about February 26 1916.”

The record states that ‘no pass was given to the accused’. [This means then that he was Absent Without Leave (AWOL) at that point, not desertion.  Desertion would be the charge if he were to be absent for more than 21 days with an intent not to return. J Dillon]

Bladen went AWOL on the 20th December and wandered for some time before making his way to Boulogne and managing to get the ferry to Folkestone. On January the 5th he went into London and managed to subsist on small amounts of money and food that he managed to get from the odd soldier who would help him. He made his way towards his home at Hornsey wher he saw his wife and told her that he was on a week’s leave. He then left and made his way back in to London and spent a few weeks ‘roughing’ it before deciding that he would go back and see his wife again, but he was arrested by a policeman on the 19th January when he was unable to produce a leave pass.  The record states that he said “I have not got one, I have destroyed it.”  Bladen was sent to Southampton where he was handed over to the Officer in charge of the rest camp there, but he escaped but was caught again by the Military Police at Waterloo Station at 12.45 on the 6th February.  When questioned he gave false details and was imprisoned in the Tower, then removed to the York & Lancaster guardroom on the 11th February; resourceful as ever he escaped again on the 12th but recaptured on the 13th improperly dressed and giving incorrect details.

The details given made a charge of desertion inevitable; he was away for more than 21 days and his behaviour when captured showed he had no intention to return to his unit. Under the rules a sentence of death was bound to be passed by the Court Martial board. During the evidence his officer said that Bladen had been at the battle of Loos, but he did not recall seeing him during the battle.

Bladen was examined by a medical board who gave their findings as; “...nothing to remark on in his mental condition except that he shows a want of intelligence, and answers slowly and with hesitation questions that are put to him.”

Part of the formal process of the Court Martial was a requirement for the man’s Commanding Officer to answer a set list of questions on a form that would go with the documentation to higher authority for the sentence to be confirmed or commuted.  In Bladen’s case the answers were given by Major C.H. Taylor and according to the battalion history Major Taylor had recently returned to his unit after being wounded, and he would be killed later on the 13th March; five days after the Court Martial, and ten days before Bladen was executed. The following are Major Taylor’s answers.

Q1. Are you personally of the opinion that the extreme penalty should be carried out?  “The sentence should be carried out.”

Q2. His character previous to the charge?  “Good”.

Q3. Comment on discipline of the unit. “He was under the command of a L/Cpl who had “little authority”.  Since amalgamated these signalers into a larger unit. It is the opinion of the former Regimental Signaling Officer, also of OC Company, that if a stronger NCO had been in charge of the company signalers this man might have been stopped from deserting.”

Q4. Do you think that the crime was “deliberately committed with the sole object of avoiding the particular service involved”. Major Taylor replied on this “I do not wish to express an opinion.  That I consider has been answered by the members of the Court Martial when they found him guilty.”

Q5. Give your reasons why you recommend that the extreme penalty be inflicted (if you do so recommend) Answer; “I consider it was a clean case of desertion, that he twice escaped from his escort after he had been arrested in England and that it would be bad for discipline if he escaped with a light sentence.”

A death sentence had to go up the chain of command to be confirmed.

HQ 21 Division passed the sentence to 2nd Corps with the recommendation that “I consider that the accused intended to desert, and in the interests of discipline the death penalty should be carried out.”  This was confirmed at 2nd Corps and 2nd Army level and passed to Haig as C-in-C, who also confirmed the sentence. The sentence then had to be carried out.  Although Bladen was caught in England it was common practice for a deserter to be returned to his unit for the Court Martial and for the execution to be carried out by men drawn from his own unit.  No executions were carried out in England.

The sentence was carried out at 5.45am on the 23rd March 1916 at Armentieres, the following is the order detailing what needed to be done.

“The following detail from the 10th Battalion York & Lancaster Regt. will be sent to Armentieres tonight, returning to STRAZEELE on completion of duty. Busses are being arranged for:-

Regimental Sergeant Major Provost Sergeant Escort; 1 NCO and 2 Men Firing Party; 1 Officer, 1 Sergeant, 16 Men (corrected from 14)

There was also the comment that, “The men need not be informed of the duty for which they are being detailed until the morning of the 23rd instant.”  One must assume that the composition of the group gave them more than a clue.

The execution was witnessed by a RAMC Captain; “In accordance with the orders received from the A.D.M.S. 21st Division, hereby certify that I attended the execution of 14357 Pt. Bladen, Charles, witnessed the sentence carried out, and that death was instantaneous at about 5.45 am.”

As with the others who were executed, this fact is not recorded on their memorial, the CWGC certificate for Charles Bladen records him as ‘Remembered with honour”. It also records thet he was the husband of Alice May Peachy (formerly Bladen), of 21, North View Road, Hornsey, London.  He is buried in the Cite Bonjean Military Cemetery, Armentieres. In their book Putkowski & Sykes make the disparaging remark that “The remains of Private Bladen now rest at Cite Bonjean Military Cemetery, in the sleazy (my italics) suburbs of the once famous town of Armentieres.”  There are 2619 men buried here in a typically beautifully kept CWGC cemetery, the comment was uncalled for by the authors.

The cemetery where Private Bladen lies, alongside 2618 other soldiers. At the end of the day they were all ‘some poor mother’s son”.