Gravestone Albert Ingham

The small cemetery of Bailleulmont lies in the hills, just outside this village in Northern France. There is a corner for 31 British soldiers who died in the Great War.

The register of the cemetery mentions that all soldiers here "died of wounds". For three of men buried here this is a effrontery: they died standing before an execution squad.

The picture shows the grave of Albert Ingham, who was shot at sunrise on December 1st, 1916. He is buried next to his bosom friend Alfred Longshaw. Before the war both worked with the railways, they enlisted together, they fought together and when they were sent back to the Somme front they deserted together. They were also executed together.

Long after the war Albert Ingham's father learned about the death of his son. He demanded this inscription on the gravestone:

S H O T   A T   D A W N
ONE OF THE FIRST TO ENLIST
A WORTHY SON
OF HIS FATHER