If a soldier was shot for cowardice or desertion in the first world war would his death be included with the war dead? An ancestor may have died this way and i wondered if there was any way of finding out for sure.

If he was from Sheffield you could try looking on http://www.sheffieldhistory.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=4235 and search for "Shot at Dawn"

It lists

Private James Haddock, Shot 16/9/16.
Private Ernest Walter Jack Harris, Shot 3/2/17.
Private Henry Hughes, Shot 10/4/18.
Private Walter Dossett, Shot 25/6/18.
Private George Ainley, Shot 30/7/18.
Private Frank Bateman, Shot 10/9/18.

If he was from Sheffield you could try looking on http://www.sheffieldhistory.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=4235 and search for "Shot at Dawn"

It lists

Private James Haddock, Shot 16/9/16.
Private Ernest Walter Jack Harris, Shot 3/2/17.
Private Henry Hughes, Shot 10/4/18.
Private Walter Dossett, Shot 25/6/18.
Private George Ainley, Shot 30/7/18.
Private Frank Bateman, Shot 10/9/18.

These men are on the CWGC
http://www.cwgc.org/debt_of_honour.asp?menuid=14

You will find a list of all the 361 soldiers who were executed here.
http://www.chrishobbs.com/executions191418.htm

And research into the Sheffield soldiers shot at dawn here.
http://www.chrishobbs.com/sheffieldsoldiersfww.htm

Tuppie

Thanks for the info, but as he moved around a lot we are not really sure where he was living at the time of enlistment. His last known address was Nottingham but he could be anywhere. I was wondering if there was a national website at all.
I have looked at the CWGC but his name is Walter Brown and there are just loads and loads of W Brown.

Thanks Tuppie, I am pleased to see my Walter Brown is not on the list. The search goes on.

Dear Dana, just out of interest what was Walter Browns date of birth and was he married. It sounds complicated and it is complicated but I to am searching for a Walter surname unknown from the Nottingham and sheffield area.

Hi, Dana, I have a Walter Brown on my family tree, born in Retford, Nottinghamshire to Frank and Louisa Brown. I don't have any marriage or death details for him though... Do you have any other info on your Walter at all??

I have made many visits to the battlefields,memorials,cemeteries etc on the Western Front so if it is of any interest Dana anyone executed during the First World War is buried in a military cemetery in the same type of grave as those KIA and there is nothing on the headstone to say how he died, or if the soldier was excecuted.I have seen many such graves, and only known about them by way of my own research,and I might add have honoured their memory as all the others at rest in the same cemetery

Thanks to all who have responded.
Walter James Brown was born in 1884 in Stockton on Tees, Durham.
Walter married Sarah Ann Oakland at Nottingham register office on 7th July 1906, they had a child born 27th July 1906, also called Walter.
My cousin who is a direct ancestor of Sarah Ann feels he went to war but we can't find any evidence.
Sarah Ann later re-married in 1918 which is why we thought he may have died in the war.