Highgate was executed 35 days into the war, on 8 September 1914, after being found hiding in a farmhouse wearing civilian clothes.

[6] Highgate was not the only soldier to act dishonourably during the retreat from Mons; two officers attempted to surrender their battalions to the enemy.

[6] Highgate was accused of desertion, and a field general court-martial was arranged a few hours after he was discovered in the farm house.

[2] Two days later, on 8 September, he was executed by a firing squad[12] consisting of men from the 1st Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment in the 15th Brigade.

[12][6] Aged 19,[2] Highgate was the first British soldier to be executed for desertion on the Western Front,[12] 35 days after the war began.

[9] Putkowski said that there may have been a "crisis of confidence" amongst senior officials in the army, who at the time of Highgate's trial had seen the deaths of 20,000 men from the British Expeditionary Force and many others wounded or missing.

Putkowski writes that the date must be a mistake on Smith-Dorrien's part, as the recorded execution was most likely Highgate, and there is no evidence of a man being shot for plundering on that day.

[14] A notice in the Sidcup and District Times on 23 June 1916 reported that Highgate had been killed in 1915 and had fought with the East Surrey Regiment.

Michael Hankins, a local historian in Sidcup, speculated that this report was incorrect because Highgate's family were attempting to change the story.

[18] In March 2000, the British Legion was in the process of restoring the memorial, which provided an opportunity to add Highgate's name.

[19] The council wanted to wait to see if the government pardoned men who were shot for desertion before adding Highgate's name.

[10] Reverend Simmons expressed unhappiness with the conclusion, saying that Highgate had served his country by dying as a deterrent, but other villagers welcomed the council's decision.

[21] In 2006, the government granted posthumous pardons to men who were shot for cowardice and other crimes during the First World War, but Highgate's name remained missing from the memorial.

[3] Highgate's name is also shown on the British memorial to the missing at La Ferté-sous-Jouarre and the Roll of Honour of the Royal West Kent Regiment.