218192 Pte. James Crozier British Army 9th Btn. Royal Irish Rifles from:Belfast (d.27th Feb 1916) James Crozier was executed for desertion 27/02/1916, he was the son of Mrs. Elizabeth Crozier, of 80, Battenberg Street, Belfast.
James Crozier from Belfast was shot at dawn for desertion – he was just sixteen. Before his execution, Crozier was given so much rum that he passed out. He had to be carried, semi-conscious, to the place of execution. Officers at the execution later claimed that there was a very real fear that the men in the firing squad would disobey the order to shoot.
One of the most poignant and, best documented judicial slayings of being ‘Shot at Dawn’ was that of 18 year old James Crozier from Belfast. In 1916 his commanding officer was a namesake, Lieutenant-Colonel Percy Crozier. James was a 16 years old apprentice in Belfast shipyard when he enlisted in September 1914. He was under age and his mother came as far as the recruiting officer to persuade him not to join up. She threatened her son that she would tell the recruiting officer his real age. James said, ‘You cannot do that, mother, if you do you will be a coward and none of your family were ever cowards’. At this point the then Major Crozier said to the mother, ‘Do not worry, I will look after him and see that no harm comes to him’. Events would show that the officer was not as good as his word.
Rifleman James Crozier spent the dreadful winter of 1915/16 in the trenches of the Somme. In February of that miserable cold, dreary wet winter James Crozier went missing from his sentry post. He had walked a considerable distance when he was admitted to an Army Medical Post. At his court martial he said that he had not known what he was doing when he made off, being in a daze and suffering from pains throughout his body. However the doctor who examined him pronounced him fit for active service and he was returned to his unit to face the consequences of his desertion. Lt. Col. Percy Crozier in evidence stated that this was not a case of a confused and disorientated young man who left his post to check into a field hospital. Rather he was a cunning deserter. He also said that James Crozier, fed-up, cold, wet to the skin and despondent, had sneaked off from the line under cover of darkness, throwing away his rifle, ammunition and equipment. (A legal ground for a second charge also punishable by death)
Percy Crozier’s distortion of the facts makes it easier for him to explain away his subsequent actions. The young rifleman was court- martialed and found guilty of desertion. Despite his promise to the boy’s mother the officer had no hesitation in recommending to higher authority that the sentence be carried out. The carrying out of the sentence itself often verged on black farce. According to Lt. Col. Crozier, he plied his young namesake with drink in order ‘to ease his living misery’ before his execution. He may also have had a desire to ensure that the young man went to his death in a state of sufficient oblivion to avoid any embarrassing scenes. The officer was conscious that feelings against the execution were running high in the battalion. The military police and the assistant provost marshal were convinced that the firing party would deliberately miss. They even feared a mutiny by the troops.
Just before dawn on the morning of 27th February 1916 the battalion was paraded, the execution was to take place in a walled garden so Crozier’s comrades could hear, but would not see, what happened. Not unexpectedly, the firing squad failed to find their target, and the officer in charge was obliged to step forward and put a bullet through young Crozier’s head. Because of his promise to the young boy’s mother; Percy Crozier attempted to have his name added to a list of field casualties. He failed in this and Mrs. Crozier was duly notified that her only son had been shot for desertion, and she was denied the normal allowances payable on the death of next-of-kin. Percy Crozier commanding officer of the 9th Royal Irish Rifles, despite his promise to the boy’s mother had no hesitation in recommending to higher authority that the dearth sentence be carried out. He tried to justify his stand by saying that, ‘When it fell my lot to recommend the carrying out or remitting of the death sentence, I invariably recommended the carrying out of the extreme penalty – because I expected to be shot myself if I ran away’, Crozier was conscious that feelings against the execution were running high in the battalion.
Outside the winter snow lined the ground. James Crozier's guards wanted him to walk the short distance to a small garden where the firing party was waiting. The young rifleman was too drunk to move, and he had to be carried out into the open space. By now he was practically unconscious. Bound with ropes, he was attached to the execution post. His battalion formed up on the open road close to the garden. Screened by a wall, they wouldn't see the execution but would hear the shots.
Crozier's namesake Frank Percy Crozier, the man who recruited him and promised his mother he'd watch out for her son, was now preparing to watch him die. Crozier later recalled how he was secured to a stake 10 yards from the firing squad. "There are hooks on the post; we always do things thoroughly in the Rifles. He is hooked on like dead meat in a butcher's shop. His eyes are bandaged - not that it really matters, for he is already blind."
Then James Crozier was shot "A volley rings out - a nervous volley it is true, yet a volley. Before the fatal shots are fired I had called the battalion to attention. There is a pause, I wait. I see the medical officer examining the victim. He makes a sign, the subaltern strides forward, a single shot rings out. Life is now extinct." The firing squad, made up of men from his own regiment, shot wide, so James Crozier was killed by a bullet fired by a junior officer. After the shooting, as Frank Crozier recalled, life resumed as normal. " We march back to breakfast while the men of a certain company pay the last tribute at the graveside of an unfortunate comrade. This is war."
Frank Crozier didn't want James' family to discover how he had died. He tried but failed to pass off his death as 'killed in action'. Details of the manner of Crozier's death leaked out - though the facts weren't made public at the time. Weeks later one of Frank Crozier's officers was tackled about the shooting while on leave. He was asked by a civilian about the Crozier execution, and it was suggested that it had brought shame on the battalion and on the city of Belfast.
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