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from The Independent, Wednesday 15 March, 2000

Royal British Legion refuses to honour executed deserter
By Kate Watson-Smyth

The first soldier to be shot for desertion in the First World War has been pardoned by the people of his birth town 86 years later. But not by the veterans of the Royal British Legion. 

In a referendum, residents of Shoreham in Kent voted in favour of including Private 10061 Thomas Highgate's name on their war memorial. 

But the Shoreham branch of the Legion says the vote will count for nothing, and Pte Highgate should not be remembered with war heroes. Members decided in January to exclude his name from plans to recast the names of men honoured on the memorial. They refuse to reverse their ruling. 

Major Michael Green, president of the Shoreham RBL which manages the memorial, said: "The Shoreham branch feels sympathy for this man and encourages the Legion's national intention to give some form of pardon to these men. But it does not feel this man should be included with our men on the memorial. The public are entitled to their view, but his name will not go on." 

Pte Highgate, who joined the Royal West Kents at 17, was shot at dawn days after surviving the Battle of Mons in 1914 when 7,800 British troops were killed. He was separated from his battalion and found hiding in a barn wearing clothes taken from a scarecrow. On 9 September 1914, Pte Highgate was executed, aged 19. Three hundred British soldiers were to share his fate. 

On Monday, 170 residents voted to forgive him and include his name. But 46 voted no, saying it was wrong to rewrite history. The RBL is planning to engrave in brass the names of the 51 Shoreham men who died in action. The Rev Barry Simmons, a member of the RBL who organised the vote, said: "The official policy of the Legion is to pardon and exonerate these men and it is the right thing to do. 

"People are much more understanding today. Some feel there had been an injustice and that it should be righted. But we must respect those who said no." 

Pte Highgate's name is on a war memorial in Sidcup, south-east London, where his family lived after leaving Shoreham. His date of birth was wrong, as was his regiment. It is believed the mistakes were deliberate to hide his desertion record. 

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