218201 2nd.Lt. John Henry Paterson British Army 3rd Btn. Essex Regiment (d.24th Sep 1918) John Paterson was executed for murder 24/09/1918 and buried in Terlincthun British Cemetery, Wimille, France.
He deserted to run off with a French girl. When challenged by a member of the Military Police, Patterson simply shot the officer dead.
An army officer convicted of murder after deserting his regiment during the First World War has been granted a pardon by the Ministry of Defence.
Second Lieutenant John Paterson, 28, shot an unarmed detective sergeant in cold blood and went on the run with his girlfriend. He lived on money obtained by forging cheques in the names of his fellow officers.
Paterson has been pardoned under legislation introduced by the former defence secretary Des Browne to acknowledge that many of the 306 men who faced a firing squad for desertion were suffering shell shock or had committed minor breaches of discipline.
The MoD has made clear that the pardon applies only to deserters, and does not overturn the conviction for murder, but an official certificate signed by Mr Browne has been inserted into Lt Paterson’s record in the National Archives at Kew, south west London stating: ‘The pardon stands as recognition that he was one of many victims of the First World War and that execution was not a fate he deserved.’
Paterson, who had been a trader in West Africa, was one of only three officers executed during the war. He had been promoted from the ranks after twice being wounded and suffering shell shock.
But on March 26, 1918 he went missing while serving with the 3rd Battalion, Essex Regiment in reserve trenches on the Somme, at Zillebeke near Ypres. He was not seen again until July 3 when two military policemen, Lance corporal Stockton and Det Sgt Harold Collison, tried to arrest him as he crossed the wooden bridge at Pont Coulogne near Calais with his 22-year-old French girlfriend Augustine Duquenoy.
After initially attempting to bluff his way out of trouble, Paterson admitted his identity but persuaded Collison to allow him to return home with Mlle Duquenoy to take tea and say his farewells.
The military policemen kept watch for nearly two hours, Stockton on a railway embankment on one side of the house and Collison in a lane on the other. At around 9.30pm, as it was getting dark, Paterson emerged from the house and Collison went to speak to him in the yard. Stockton was on his way to join them when he heard two shots and saw Collison fall to the ground, fatally wounded.
It later emerged that the first shot had wounded Paterson in the groin; the second entered Sgt Collison’s chest, piercing both lungs and his heart. Stockton fled, claiming that Paterson fired a third shot at him, but returned with reinforcements and medical aid. By that time Paterson had hobbled away from the scene, supported by Mlle Duquenoy, and they spent two days and nights hiding out at Café Belge near Calais. He was captured a fortnight later by French police.
Paterson would have been willing to admit manslaughter but the court martial insisted he be tried on the murder charge and found him guilty. He then admitted five charges of forgery of cheques. He denied desertion but was found guilty.
He told the court martial that he had gone into the yard with the revolver in his trouser pocket, intending to use it to scare off the two policemen and escape. It had a loose safety catch and had gone off as he attempted to pull it from his pocket. It had gone off accidentally a second time as he pointed it as Sgt Collison.
Paterson was executed by firing squad at Boulogne at 6.27 am on Tuesday September 24th.
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