Between 1914 and 1920, more than 3,000 British soldiers were sentenced to death by courts-martial for desertion, cowardice, striking an officer, disobedience, falling asleep on duty or casting away arms.

However, only 346 were actually executed with 37 of these having committed capital crimes such as murder. The remaining 309 become the centrepiece of our Talk.

We explain the Background to how these events unfolded; we pick out a handful of examples and tell their stories; we explain how they were finally pardoned after 90 years of disgrace to their families.