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David Stevenson 52128 Private David Stevenson, a member of 13th Battalion Middlesex Regiment, had absconded whilst in a forward area, and remained at large for seven weeks. Details of this offence were posted in Rouen on 2 August 1918. He was then seen in a village, located in the rear. When he was questioned, Stevenson claimed that he was working for the town's mayor. Unfortunately for Stevenson, he was already under a suspended sentence for a previous desertion conviction. The recollections of the NCO in charge of Stevenson's firing squad was published after the war: It was a terrible scene, being that I knew him made it worse for me. The ten men were selected from a few details left out of the line. They were nervous wrecks themselves, and two of them had not the nerve to fire. Of course, they were courts-martialed but they were found to be medically unfit - their nerves had gone ... The last words the lad said were: "What will my Mother say?". Private David Stevenson was shot at 03:57am on 18 July 1918. The execution took place in the mining village of Bully-Grenay, near Lens in Northern France. He was the last member of the Middlesex Regiment executed during the First World War. Stevenson is buried in Bully-Grenay Communal Cemetery (British Extension), Grave Reference V.G.1.
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Stephen's Study Room:

British Military & Criminal History in the period 1900 to 1999.

Home - British Courts Martial - The Middlesex Regiment - David Stevenson

David Stevenson

52128 Private David Stevenson, a member of 13th Battalion Middlesex Regiment, had absconded whilst in a forward area, and remained at large for seven weeks. Details of this offence were posted in Rouen on 2 August 1918. He was then seen in a village, located in the rear. When he was questioned, Stevenson claimed that he was working for the town's mayor. Unfortunately for Stevenson, he was already under a suspended sentence for a previous desertion conviction.

The recollections of the NCO in charge of Stevenson's firing squad was published after the war:

It was a terrible scene, being that I knew him made it worse for me. The ten men were selected from a few details left out of the line. They were nervous wrecks themselves, and two of them had not the nerve to fire. Of course, they were courts-martialed but they were found to be medically unfit - their nerves had gone ... The last words the lad said were: "What will my Mother say?".

Private David Stevenson was shot at 03:57am on 18 July 1918. The execution took place in the mining village of Bully-Grenay, near Lens in Northern France. He was the last member of the Middlesex Regiment executed during the First World War.

Stevenson is buried in Bully-Grenay Communal Cemetery (British Extension), Grave Reference V.G.1.