I have the honour to present a petition with historic overtones.

Some 250 years ago, Admiral John Byng was court-martialled and executed on the quarter-deck of his ship for a perceived naval failure. It was his execution that gave rise to Voltaire’s satirical phrase in “Candide”, which has been passed down to us today as “In England they execute the occasional admiral pour encourager les autres”.

Born and buried in the village of Southill in my constituency, Admiral Byng’s memory, and the sense of injustice among those who feel that he was convicted when it might have been the Government in the dock for providing him with inadequate ships and men, have led the petitioners—consisting of family and friends and some 600 signatories—to seek redress so that the wrong of his court martial and sentence can be finally righted, and the stigma of his unjust fate may be removed from his family with the sensitivity and understanding that have become more acceptable in modern times than in the past.

The petition states:

The Petition of the friends of All Saints Southill, the parishioners of Southill, Byng family members and the supporters of Admiral John Byng,

Declares that the conduct at his trial and the verdict of his trial in December 1756 and January/February 1757, which resulted in his execution on 14th March 1757 was unfair and unjust. Further declares that he was made the scapegoat for the inadequacies of the Government and his Naval Superiors at the time, whom the Petitioners believe to have been responsible for the loss of Menorca to the French.

The Petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Ministry for Defence and the Ministry for Justice to review the trial and the verdict of that trial, resulting in Admiral John Byng being declared innocent posthumously; his Honour should be restored for him, his family and supporters.

And the Petitioners remain, etc.

[P000153]