A HARROW Weald woman who has been campaigning for 14 years to clear her father's name of a charge of cowardice for which he was executed during the First World War has won her fight.

And in doing so, Gertrude Harris, 93, of Blackwell Close, who never knew her father, Private Harry Farr, has won pardons for more than 300 men shot for cowardice.

Mrs Harris said her father's 20-minute court martial did not consider medical papers offering evidence of shell-shock.

Nor did it allow him a "soldier's friend", an officer who could vouch for his good conduct.

The campaign to persuade the Ministry of Defence to clear Private Farr's name was started by his granddaughter, Mrs Harris's daughter, Janet Booth.

It was resisted by the then Armed Forces Minister John Reid (now Home Secretary) in 1998 and by defence Secretary Geoff hoon in 2004.

Mrs Harris's lawyers were seeking a judicial review of the case when earlier this year, Mr Reid, by then Defence Secretary, announced he was reviewing the decision.

Private Farr served with the 2nd Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment, and fought at Neuve Chapelle and the Somme.

He went over the top many times.

Mrs Harris argued that he did not show cowardice, but was suffering from post traumatic stress disorder when he was shot at dawn at Carnoy, France, on October 18, 1916, aged just 25.

"He had been in hospital for five months with shell-shock," she said.

"When they did release him, he was all right until he heard the sound of guns, then he went to pieces.

"He reported in sick but because there were no visible wounds, he was sent back out."

The court martial papers revealed when threatened by a sergeant major, Private Farr replied he could not go on.

"Field Marshall Haig kept saying examples must be made," Mrs Harris said.

On Tuesday, Minister of Defence Des Browne said that all 306 soldiers shot for cowardice and other military offence during the First World war would be granted a group pardon.

The Government will add an amendment to the Armed forces Bill.

"I am conscious of how the families of these men feel today," Mr Browne said.

"They have had to endure a stigma for decades."

The men to be pardoned came from 14 countries as well as the UK.

Private Farr's death left Mrs Harris's mother a widow at just 21-years-old.

Because her husband had been executed, she received no pension and she had to work as a maid in Hampstead, bringing up three-year-old Gertrude alone.

"This has been for her all along," said Gertrude, who has lived in Harrow for 58 years.

"The worst thing was the stigma."