§ SIR EDWARD WATKINasked the Secretary of State for War, If any report has been made to him of the case of gunner Henry George Charlton, of the Royal Horse Artillery stationed at Top-sham Barracks, Exeter; and if that report justifies the belief that gunner Charlton having been sent to Millbank Prison after sentence of court martial for insubordination, was placed in a dark cell at that prison, was frost-bitten, and is now a cripple and permanently incapacitated for future military service; whether on his return to barracks a statement from gunner Charlton was not taken down in the belief that he was in a dying state, and if a copy of that statement has been placed in the possession of the Right honourable Gentleman; and, if so, at what date and by whom, and in whose presence was it taken down; and, if gunner Charlton had not been eleven years in Her Majesty's service and had borne good conduct stripes until November last?
MR. GATHORNE HARDY, in reply, said, that Gunner Henry George Charlton, of the Royal Horse Artillery, stationed at Exeter, was sent to Millbank Prison for 104 days for insubordination, and that during that time he became, to a certain extent, emaciated; but he left the prison being supposed by the doctor 1126 to have nothing the matter with him, and he made no complaint of illness while he was in prison. It appeared from his statement that his feet subsequently to his having been put in confinement became so benumbed that he had very little consciousness of feeling in them, and that he made no mention of the circumstance to the doctor because he was afraid of being put in the prison hospital and kept longer there than the term of his sentence. When he was taken by the escort back to Exeter it appeared from all the information given that he received every kindness during the journey. He walked with difficulty, however, from the train, and next morning it was found that he was in a state which required his being sent to the hospital. In hospital it became apparent that his feet were frost-bitten. He lost part of one foot, and the toes of the other, and he is now a cripple and incapacitated from service. His statement was taken down in the presence of the chaplain of the Royal Horse Artillery, and of a junior officer, on the 17th of March. Upon the Papers before him he (Mr. Hardy) had personally come to the conclusion that the injury to the feet, from which Charlton suffered, commenced in the prison, and not subsequently, and that it was owing to his not having communicated his sensations to the medical attendant. The circumstances of the case, however, were of such a character that he thought he would best discharge his duty by placing all the Papers in the hands of Colonel Du Cane, Director of Military Prisons, and when his Report was received he would be happy to lay before the House further information.