The Execution of Admiral Byng

It took place, as James Kirkup reminds us, on this day in 1757. As James puts it:

To this day, his family argue – with considerable justification — that he was wrongly treated and should be pardoned. Every year on the anniversary of his death, bells sound in Southill, Bedfordshire, where his descendents still live.

Voltaire immortalised Byng’s death in Candide with a scathing summary of the British attitude to its military commanders: il est bon de tuer de temps en temps un amiral pour encourager les autres. Sadly, those days are gone.

For the avoidance of doubt, I’m not arguing that it was right to kill Byng, or that such brutal injustices should be visited on others. But I wonder if since Byng’s day, the pendulum has swung too far in the opposite direction. Simply put, we’re too soft on our military chiefs these days.