commuted, than were involved in an actual execution.
If a civilian had been condemned to death, the legal process involved led to many weeks passing between sentence and execution, giving a prison chaplain a considerable amount of time to spend with the condemned and allowing them to repent and be reconciled with God. This was not the case in the military where there were usually only days or just hours between promulgation of sentence and the execution of that sentence, meaning that the focus was on ensuring that the condemned ‘died a good death’ (Snape). Some chaplains were prepared to offer practical help in addition to spiritual assistance to the condemned, such as the provision of alcohol, pills to help them sleep better, letter writing, or accepting personal items to be passed on to family and loved ones.
Although the army required a chaplain to be present, it was still the condemned man’s choice as to whether or not to avail themselves of his services. In 1915, Captain T.H. Westmacott had been appointed the APM of the 1st Indian Cavalry Division, and his duties included being present at executions. On one occasion he attended the execution of a soldier from the 29th Lancers and noted (Brown, 2001): ‘Gibbon, the Divisional Chaplain, was a great nuisance, as he obtained leave from the Divisional Commander to visit Yadram during the night. As Yadram was a Jat and not a Christian we all considered it a great piece of impertinence on Gibbon’s part.’
† † †
The role of the condemned man’s church and the army chaplain is not as simple as it may first be thought. For the condemned man who has just found out that he is to be executed in a matter of hours, the army chaplain may have been the friendly face that they craved – however, they were far from being a friend at that time. The army chaplains were, in fact, part of the military establishment and as Snape states: ‘No case has come to light during the course of this research of any chaplain condemning a capital sentence passed by a court martial.’ Brigadier F.P. Crozier (1930) noted that what seemed to exercise the clergy more than anything was the condemned man’s access to alcohol prior to their execution.
The Society for the Abolition of Capital Punishment carried out a survey of ecclesiastical opinion in 1900 and found that all those who took part supported the state’s right to carry out executions, relying on Genesis 9.6 as justification: ‘Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed.’ Where British Army executions in the period August 1914 to March 1920 are concerned, only fifteen British soldiers were executed for murder, while the remainder were executed for offences that did not exist in civilian law (Snape), therefore making the clergy’s support for military executions questionable. The vast majority of British soldiers executed had not committed an offence that had its equivalent in civilian law or could be categorised as a sin. As Brigadier Crozier (1937), a supporter of military executions, pointed out in connection with the execution of Private James Crozier of the 9th Royal Irish Rifles on 27 February 1916: having committed no specific sin, ‘Why the culprit had to make his peace with God when the only trouble he had at the time was with the commander-in-chief of the British Armies in France, I do not know.’
It can be said, therefore, that army chaplains supported the death penalty – thereby producing a tension between their role ministering to the condemned and their place in the establishment, which would almost certainly have been too subtle for the condemned man to understand. In addition, as Snape says, the army chaplains, who were both educated and commissioned, would have had little in common with the majority of those men sentenced to death.
Even without the First World War, the world of 1914 to 1918 was vastly different from that of today, so that must temper any criticism of their
If a civilian had been condemned to death, the legal process involved led to many weeks passing between sentence and execution, giving a prison chaplain a considerable amount of time to spend with the condemned and allowing them to repent and be reconciled with God. This was not the case in the military where there were usually only days or just hours between promulgation of sentence and the execution of that sentence, meaning that the focus was on ensuring that the condemned ‘died a good death’ (Snape). Some chaplains were prepared to offer practical help in addition to spiritual assistance to the condemned, such as the provision of alcohol, pills to help them sleep better, letter writing, or accepting personal items to be passed on to family and loved ones.
Although the army required a chaplain to be present, it was still the condemned man’s choice as to whether or not to avail themselves of his services. In 1915, Captain T.H. Westmacott had been appointed the APM of the 1st Indian Cavalry Division, and his duties included being present at executions. On one occasion he attended the execution of a soldier from the 29th Lancers and noted (Brown, 2001): ‘Gibbon, the Divisional Chaplain, was a great nuisance, as he obtained leave from the Divisional Commander to visit Yadram during the night. As Yadram was a Jat and not a Christian we all considered it a great piece of impertinence on Gibbon’s part.’
† † †
The role of the condemned man’s church and the army chaplain is not as simple as it may first be thought. For the condemned man who has just found out that he is to be executed in a matter of hours, the army chaplain may have been the friendly face that they craved – however, they were far from being a friend at that time. The army chaplains were, in fact, part of the military establishment and as Snape states: ‘No case has come to light during the course of this research of any chaplain condemning a capital sentence passed by a court martial.’ Brigadier F.P. Crozier (1930) noted that what seemed to exercise the clergy more than anything was the condemned man’s access to alcohol prior to their execution.
The Society for the Abolition of Capital Punishment carried out a survey of ecclesiastical opinion in 1900 and found that all those who took part supported the state’s right to carry out executions, relying on Genesis 9.6 as justification: ‘Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed.’ Where British Army executions in the period August 1914 to March 1920 are concerned, only fifteen British soldiers were executed for murder, while the remainder were executed for offences that did not exist in civilian law (Snape), therefore making the clergy’s support for military executions questionable. The vast majority of British soldiers executed had not committed an offence that had its equivalent in civilian law or could be categorised as a sin. As Brigadier Crozier (1937), a supporter of military executions, pointed out in connection with the execution of Private James Crozier of the 9th Royal Irish Rifles on 27 February 1916: having committed no specific sin, ‘Why the culprit had to make his peace with God when the only trouble he had at the time was with the commander-in-chief of the British Armies in France, I do not know.’
It can be said, therefore, that army chaplains supported the death penalty – thereby producing a tension between their role ministering to the condemned and their place in the establishment, which would almost certainly have been too subtle for the condemned man to understand. In addition, as Snape says, the army chaplains, who were both educated and commissioned, would have had little in common with the majority of those men sentenced to death.
Even without the First World War, the world of 1914 to 1918 was vastly different from that of today, so that must temper any criticism of their
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