Early Life and Involvement in The Boer War
Witton was born near Warrnambool, Victoria, Australia, and was from a farming family; prior to his VIB enlistment, he was a gunner in the Royal Australian Artillery. He enlisted in the Victorian Imperial Bushmen for the Boer War, and was promoted from Corporal to Squadron Quartermaster-Sergeant. Major Robert Lenehan enlisted him in the Bushveldt Carbineers with a commission as Lieutenant.
After the killing of a number of Boer prisoners, Witton was one of four officers charged by the British Army with murder, and was convicted. However, he strongly protested and secured a legal opinion from Isaac Isaacs KC, an Australian member of parliament, who recommended that he should petition HM the King for a pardon. Kitchener commuted Witton's sentence to life imprisonment. After further protests, he was released on 11 August 1904, although not pardoned. He had been ill twice in prison in England, once from arsenic fumes in a metal shop and once from typhoid fever. He returned to Australia on 12 November 1904 embittered after three years in prison and wrote a book giving his version of the events involving Morant, Handcock and the BVC.
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