Page 213 - ATKCM_30.04.15
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NNER Percy William
Lance Corporal 7157, 2nd Battalion, A Company, East
Surrey Regiment
Born in Kings Cliffe in 1896, Percy was the son of Roland and
Sarah Jane Skinner, of Park Street, Kings Cliffe.
At the time of the 1911 census, as a 14-year-old he was visiting
his aunt, Betsy Ann Woods, who was a house-mistress at
Uppingham School.
He was working as a gamekeeper for S. Brotherhood at
Thornhaugh when he became one of the first village boys to
join up on 7th September 1914.
He was exactly 18 years and 10 months old at the time; 5ft
6 ½in tall (1.7m) and weighed 134 lbs (61kg). He joined the
Northamptonshire Regiment but within two days had been
transferred to the 4th Battalion East Surrey Regiment.
Whether it was his ability with a gun, learnt as a gamekeeper, or
not, he was one of the earliest of the new recruits to go to war.
On 22 February 1915 he went to France and was there for nine
months.
Soon after arriving in France he was subjected to a Field Court
Martial for being found asleep whilst on sentry duty on 15th
March 1915.
The court martial was on the 20th March and he “was tried and
convicted by FGCM of being a soldier acting as a sentinel and
found sleeping at his post. Condemned to suffer death by
being shot.”
Fortunately on the 23rd it was commuted to 10 years penal
servitude with hard labour.
Possibly on appeal this was again commuted to 2 years
imprisonment with hard labour.
On 18th June 1915 his sentence was suspended.
A letter from him to his brother is reported in the Stamford &
Rutland News of 18th August 1915:-
Kings Cliffe – “Different from Shooting Rabbits” – Private Percy
Skinner, son of Mr and Mrs Roland Skinner, of Park Street,
Kings Cliffe, writing to his brother from the front states:-
211
Lance Corporal 7157, 2nd Battalion, A Company, East
Surrey Regiment
Born in Kings Cliffe in 1896, Percy was the son of Roland and
Sarah Jane Skinner, of Park Street, Kings Cliffe.
At the time of the 1911 census, as a 14-year-old he was visiting
his aunt, Betsy Ann Woods, who was a house-mistress at
Uppingham School.
He was working as a gamekeeper for S. Brotherhood at
Thornhaugh when he became one of the first village boys to
join up on 7th September 1914.
He was exactly 18 years and 10 months old at the time; 5ft
6 ½in tall (1.7m) and weighed 134 lbs (61kg). He joined the
Northamptonshire Regiment but within two days had been
transferred to the 4th Battalion East Surrey Regiment.
Whether it was his ability with a gun, learnt as a gamekeeper, or
not, he was one of the earliest of the new recruits to go to war.
On 22 February 1915 he went to France and was there for nine
months.
Soon after arriving in France he was subjected to a Field Court
Martial for being found asleep whilst on sentry duty on 15th
March 1915.
The court martial was on the 20th March and he “was tried and
convicted by FGCM of being a soldier acting as a sentinel and
found sleeping at his post. Condemned to suffer death by
being shot.”
Fortunately on the 23rd it was commuted to 10 years penal
servitude with hard labour.
Possibly on appeal this was again commuted to 2 years
imprisonment with hard labour.
On 18th June 1915 his sentence was suspended.
A letter from him to his brother is reported in the Stamford &
Rutland News of 18th August 1915:-
Kings Cliffe – “Different from Shooting Rabbits” – Private Percy
Skinner, son of Mr and Mrs Roland Skinner, of Park Street,
Kings Cliffe, writing to his brother from the front states:-
211
