only four were carried out,[1] the rest being quashed by the British commanders of the armies involved.
(In addition, New Zealand Private Jack Braithwaite was executed by the British for mutiny.
The grounds for the pardon was that the execution was not a fate that Spencer deserved, but was one that resulted from (a) the harsh discipline that was believed at the time to be required; and (b) the application of the death penalty for military offences being seen at that time as an essential part of maintaining military discipline.
Section 8 of the Pardon for Soldiers of the Great War Act reads thus: Pardon of Private Spencer Private Victor Manson Spencer, regimental number 8/2733, a member of the 1st Battalion, Otago Regiment,—
is, by this Act, granted a pardon for that offence of desertion.Spencer was included in the mass pardon of 306 British Empire soldiers executed for certain offences during the Great War enacted in section 359 of the UK Parliament's Armed Forces Act 2006, and which came into effect by Royal Assent on 8 November 2006.