Private Peaceful Michael Morpurgo

Plot

Morpurgo was inspired to write a novel about soldiers who were court-martialled and shot during the First World War after learning about the practice whilst at a conference in Ypres.[7] Soldiers accused of crimes like desertion and cowardice had trials which sometimes only lasted 20 minutes, and many of those who were executed were suffering from shell shock. After facing calls to review the executions, in 1998 the Ministry of Defence denied there was a need to grant posthumous pardons to the approximately 300 men who had been killed.[8] The UK Government did acknowledge that the executions were wrong, but continued to refuse pardons due to the complexities of reviewing the historic cases.[9] Morpurgo said he was "outraged" at the government's position.[10]

Morpurgo has said that inspiration for the plot of Private Peaceful came from the story of Sergeant John Thomas Wall, who was executed for desertion on 6 September 1917. Wall had been a successful sergeant during the war and had no other convictions to his name. During an enemy artillery barrage on 10 August 1917, Wall was sheltering in a dugout with two privates and refused to leave them behind, knowing that attempting to re-join the front line would have led to certain death.[8] The men were forced to remain in the dugout for 24 hours due to the severity of the bombardment.[11] Despite acknowledging the danger, the Company Sergeant Major said that Wall should have obeyed the order to leave the shelter. Following a short trial with only one testimony, Wall was executed.[8]

Title

The origin of the name "Peaceful" for the novel's title character came from a gravestone at Bedford House Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery near Ypres. Clare Morpurgo, Michael's wife, noticed a grave with the name "Private T.S.H. Peaceful of the Royal Fusiliers", a soldier who had died on 4 June 1915. Morpurgo has said "As soon as I saw it I knew I'd found the name for my main characters."[8][12]