Archive for September 12th, 2019
September 12th, 2019
Headsman
Private John Abigail of the Royal Norfolk Regiment was shot on this date in 1917 for World War I desertion, at the village of Esquelbecq on the French-Belgian border.
He was a four-time offender, the last occasion judiciously ditching his post just before he was ordered over the top into the Passchendaele bloodbath.
Abigail’s name surprisingly appears carved on a war memorial plaque at St. Augustine’s Church in Norwich that long predates the humane 21st century rehabilitation of those shot at dawn. (See it here , at the very top of the right panel.)
The BBC has a short program about him available here .
On this day.. 2020: Navid Afkari - 20201869: An Dehai, beloved eunuch - 20181862: Not Finnigan, miner's court survivee - 20171835: Francisco Ruiz, prostrated pirate - 20161879: Pocket, on the Hallettsville hanging tree - 20152007: Daryl Holton, wanted dead - 20141864: George Nelson, Indiana Jones rapist - 20131642: Henri Coiffier de Ruze, Marquis of Cinq-Mars - 20121823: Abram Antoine, revenger - 20111772: The Marquis de Sade and his servant, in effigy - 20101914: A French soldier, "yours also is a way of dying for France" - 20091860: (William) Walker, Nicaragua Ranger - 2008Entry Filed under: 20th Century ,Capital Punishment ,Death Penalty ,Desertion ,England ,Execution ,France ,Military Crimes ,Shot ,Soldiers ,Wartime Executions
Tags: 1910s , 1917 , esquelbecq , john abigail , september 12 , world war i
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