Description:

Elizabeth II Queen


Elizabeth II Pardons Prisoner Convicted of Cold War Draft Dodging

 

2pp document signed by Elizabeth II (born 1926) as "Elizabeth R" at top. The bold signature measures 3.5" x 1.25". Embossed with a George VI Great Seal in the upper left corner. Also signed by British Home Secretary David Maxwell Fyfe (1900-1967) as "David Maxwell Fyfe" verso. The front page of the document is handsomely presented to the left of a Coronation-era black and white photograph of Elizabeth riding in a carriage. Displayed in a double-sided frame behind beveled mauve matting and glass. Not examined out of frame. Sight size of document is 7.5" x 12.5"; the frame size overall is 18" x 19" x .875". Catalog description from Kenneth W. Rendell Gallery, Inc. (New York, NY and Beverly Hills, CA) found verso.

 

Elizabeth II assumed the British throne in early February 1952 following the death of her father George VI (1895-1952). She had been crowned just five months before signing this document, in June 1953. Interestingly, this document was thus signed by the ruling monarch, but affixed with her predecessor's seal. This suggests that the first few years of the queen's leadership was still in a transitional phase. 

 

The newly minted queen remanded the sentence of prisoner Gary Edward Wallace. On September 23, 1953, Wallace had been convicted of shirking compulsory military duty under the terms of the National Service Act of 1948 and sentenced to six months' imprisonment at HM Prison Wormwood Scrubs. Elizabeth II pardoned him just over a month later, on October 30, 1953, citing mitigating circumstances.

 

"[signed] Elizabeth R

 

[printed and typed] Elizabeth the Second,

by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Our other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith,

 

To the Governor of Our Prison at Wormwood Scrubs

 

and all others whom it may concern, Greeting!

 

Whereas Gary Edward Wallace at the county petty sessions sitting at Chatham in the County of Kent on the twenty-third day of September, 1953, was convicted of an offence against section 8 of the National Service Act, 1948 and was sentenced to imprisonment for six months:

 

Now know ye that We in consideration of some circumstances humbly represented unto Us, are Graciously pleased to extend Our Grace and Mercy unto the said Gary Edward Wallace

 

and to pardon and remit unto him the remainder of the sentence passed upon him as aforesaid:

 

Our Will and Pleasure therefore is that you discharge him out of custody forthwith;

 

And for so doing this shall be a sufficient Warrant

 

Given at Our Court at St James's the thirtieth day of October, 1953, in the second year of Our reign

 

By Her Majesty's Command

 

[signed] David Maxwell Fyfe."

 

Wallace had been convicted of offenses against Section 8 of the National Service Act of 1948. This Act of Parliament, approved in December 1948, had extended the terms of compulsory military service for young medically fit men. This most recent iteration of the Act saw significant changes to policy concerning the minimum age of conscripts, the length and terms of compulsory service, and exemption qualifications.

 

Section 8 of the National Service Act related to the mandatory medical examination of conscripts. If the conscript failed to show up to the scheduled medical review, it could result in a fine up to £100 or imprisonment not exceeding two years. Subsection 6 of Section 8 of the National Service Act stated: "A person who, having been ordered by a court…to submit himself to examination and to be detained in custody and taken by a constable to the place and at the time at which he is to be examined, fails to submit himself for examination in accordance with the order may be arrested by a constable without warrant…" This was probably what happened to Gary Edward Wallace.

 

Although World War II had ended in 1945, the post-war British Empire was still surrounded by enemies. The National Service Act of 1948 addressed the crying need for servicemen to combat Cold War flareups in Western Europe and Southeastern Asia. During the so-called Malayan Emergency (1948-1960), for example, British Commonwealth forces faced off against Malayan Communist guerillas. The British had traded their brownshirt enemies for red ones, and needed a fighting force exceeding the number of volunteers.

 

HM Prison at Wormwood Scrubs, a men's prison located in West London, was constructed by prisoner labor in the late nineteenth century. It is still in use today.

 


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