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unusual facts about Pardon for Morant, Handcock and Witton



Pardon for Morant, Handcock and Witton

In October 2009, the Australian military lawyer, Commander James William Unkles, of the Royal Australian Naval Reserve sent petitions for pardons for Morant, Handcock, and Witton to both Queen Elizabeth II and to the Petitions Committee of the Australian House of Representatives in October 2009.

Following four separate courts martial in early 1902, during the Second Boer War, Lieutenants Peter Joseph Handcock (1868-1902) and Harry Harbord Morant (1864-1902), also known as "Breaker" Morant, of the Bushveldt Carbineers, were executed by a firing squad of Cameron Highlanders, in Pretoria, South Africa, on 27 February 1902, 18 hours after they had been sentenced.


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