PRIVATE THOMAS GRANT HAMILTON
3RD OCTOBER 1916 AGE 22
BURIED: RIBEMONT COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION, SOMME, FRANCE
This lovely inscription comes from Robert Burns' 'Ode for General Washington's Birthday' 1793, which, whilst hailing Washington also laments Scotland's loss of independence:
Where is that soul of Freedom fled?
Immingled with the mighty dead,
Beneath that hallow'd turf where Wallace lies
Hear it not, Wallace! in thy bed of death.
Ye babbling winds! in silence sweep,
Disturb not ye the hero's sleep,
Thomas Hamilton's parents use 'loved one' rather than 'hero'; I wonder if they knew the circumstances of their son's death? Thomas Hamilton was executed on 3 October 1916 for striking a senior officer. The officer, a Second Lieutenant, had put him under open arrest for having a cigarette in his mouth during the mid-day stable parade, and then had refused to hear Hamilton's explanation. Hamilton lost his temper and hit him.
Brought to trial on 20 September Hamilton was found guilty and condemned to death. In ninety per cent of cases death sentences were commuted but the Commander of the 6th Division decided that "the state of discipline in this unit requires an example". General Rawlinson felt that the Second Lieutenant hadn't handled the situation well and that Hamilton should receive seven years penal servitude but Haig disagreed and Hamilton was executed on 3 October.
Did his parents know? Yes. Until November 1917 the next-of-kin of the executed received a letter stating:
I am directed to inform you that a report has been received from the War Office to the effect that ___ was sentenced after being tried by court martial to suffer death by being shot, and his sentence was duly executed on ___.
[Babington For the Sake of Example. Paladin 1985, page 83]