HC Deb 16 June 1892 vol 5 cc1266-7
MR. PATRICK O'BRIEN

I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been drawn to the case of a man named Lewis Gilks, late of the 24th South Wales Borderers, who was sentenced by Court Martial at Ranakhat in 1890 to five years' penal servitude for shooting with intent to kill in a quarrel with a fellow-soldier, and is at present serving his sentence in Portland Prison; whether he is aware that Gilks, who bore an excellent character in the Army, and was highly commended for bravery and soldierly conduct by Colonel Bromhead, was, at the time of the shooting for which he was convicted, invalided from Burmah to Ranakhat suffering from jungle fever, and that no injury was done by the shooting; whether he was aware that an influentially signed Memorial, supported by Colonel Bromhead, has been forwarded to the Home Office, praying for the release of Gilks; and whether, under all the circumstances of the case, and considering that Gilks has already been over two years in prison, he will take his case into consideration with the view to discharging him on a ticket-of-leave?

MR. MATTHEWS

My attention has been called to the case of a man named Lewis Gilks, late of the 24th South Wales Borderers, who was sentenced by Court Martial at Ranakhat in 1890 to five years' penal servitude for shooting with intent to kill in a quarrel with a fellow-soldier, and is at present serving his sentence in Portland Prison. I gather from a Report from the Horse Guards that evidence of the prisoner's good character was before the Court which tried him, but the Report is silent as to the other allegations, that he bore an excellent character in the Army and was highly commended for bravery and soldierly conduct by Colonel Bromhead, and that he was suffering from jungle fever, while no injury was done by the shooting. The Memorial was sent to the Horse Guards, and not to the Home Office. The case has been fully considered by the Military Authorities, and I am informed that they are unable to recommend any mitigation of the sentence.