GAZETTE & HERALD: Ninety years ago this week Lance Corporal Joseph Stanley Victor Fox was blind folded, tied to a stake and shot at dawn by a firing squad formed by fellow servicemen.

On April 20, 1915 the 20-year-old from Chippenham was executed, charged with the capital offence of desertion during the First World War.

Now campaigners are trying to obtain a pardon for Lance Corporal Fox and 305 other young soldiers some aged only 17 who were executed.

The Shot at Dawn campaign, set up 15 years ago by John Hipkin, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, is determined to lift the stain of these fatal charges from the names of these soldiers.

Mr Hipkin was himself a prisoner of war at the age of 14 during the Second World War after his merchant navy vessel was sunk, and sympathised with the four patriotic 16-year-old lads who signed up to fight for Britain in the 1914-18 war and were shot within a year for desertion.

After all these decades, he said, it was crucially important for these men and boys to be pardoned at last.

"Some of their family members have lived with this all their lives," he said. "One 91-year-old lady, whose father was shot when she was three, wants a pardon for her father. She grew up under the shadow of this stain on his character."

Shot at Dawn Campaign members have undertaken copious research and written two books about the fate of the 'deserters' faced with the horrors of the trenches.

Their research has revealed that Lance Corporal Fox, son of Charles and Harriet Fox, of 45 The Causeway, was described by his company officers as bearing an exemplary character, as a thoroughly trustworthy and as a particularly reliable soldier.

He was serving with 3 Division Cyclists Company in Belgium at the time of the event that sealed his fate.

In October 1914, while on patrol, Fox and several of his men were fired upon. Bicycles had to be abandoned and the men had to swim a canal to reform themselves. Sent to recover the bicycles the same evening, the men returned, minus Fox whose bicycle had been rendered unusable.

Court martial papers state that Fox was unable to find his way back to his unit, although described as being most anxious to do so by the officer to whom he reported his situation.

The NCO was seen anxiously heading in the correct direction but he was still unable to find his unit.

He was next seen by an officer in February 1915 and having given false details when challenged, was placed under arrest to face a court martial, charged with the offence of desertion.

Court martial documents include a summary of a statement by Lance Corporal Fox that said his original absence was caused by circumstances over which he had no control.

He did not take steps to return to his unit during December, January and February because he had heard that the penalty of death for being absent was being carried out, and he was afraid to return.

On these grounds he appealed to the Mercy of the Court. That appeal was recognised by members of the court martial, on grounds of his previous good character, but senior officers had other ideas, and the death sentence was confirmed.

"Few would feel that he deserved his fate at 4.40am on that April morning," said Shot at Dawn campaigner Rosemary Clarke. Few would feel that the other 305 British, Irish and Empire servicemen who were also shot at dawn for military offences such as desertion, cowardice and casting away of arms during World War One, deserved such a fate.

"These men fought for King and Country. They must be allowed to rest in peace and their families freed from the stigma with which they have lived for so many years."

Fox is commemorated at Dickebusch New Military Cemetery, Ieper and his name is also included on both the town and church memorials in Chippenham.

Anyone with information about surviving relatives of Lance Corporal Fox is asked to contact the Gazette by e-mailing ssingleton@newswilts.co.uk