Dear Alethea,
Under Queens Regulations for the Army, authorised annually by the Army Act,
soldiers were (and still are) subject to a whole body of military law
additional to the civil law. This used to include offences of a military
nature, such as sleeping while on sentry, which once carried the death
penalty. Such a sentence for a military offence used to be carried out by
firing squad.
However, all the civil law applied to a soldier as well and in Danny Deever's
case, he would probably have been charged with committing a civil offence,
namely, murder. If the death sentence was awarded, then it would have been
carried out by hanging, just as it would if the murderer had been a civilian.
Yours Sincerely,
Roger Ayers
Membership Secretary,
The Kipling Society
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