You are, of course, right – my apologies – Kitchener intended them to be shot, but died before the sentence was carried out.
The sentence was commuted to ten years hard labour – but mounted to a life sentence as
"After their release they continued to pay for their stand; many found themselves social outcasts unable to get jobs or settle back into the lives and communities they had left behind."
No less barbaric behaviour on the art of the authorities, but as you say, not death.
Jim Carroll

The Richmond Sixteen
Richmond Castle served as a base for the Non-Combatant Corps from 1916 and COs from across the north were sent there. These included 16 men who stuck to their pacifist principles and refused to do anything to promote or contribute to the war.
In May 1916, these 16 men were taken from Richmond against their will to an army camp in northern France. This meant that they were on active service where refusal to obey orders was punishable by death. News of their transport to France only leaked out, because one man threw a note from the train window in London. Later one of the men sent a coded postcard saying they were in Boulogne.
The Richmond Sixteen were put into field punishment camps where they continued to defy military orders and were severely punished. When asked to assist with the unloading of war supplies, all but one refused this work, and they were consequently court-martialled and sentenced to death on 14 June 1916.
Kitchener, who had introduced conscription, had wanted to make an example of them by having them shot for refusing to obey orders.
Just before the death sentence was due to be carried out, Kitchener died suddenly and the sentence was commuted to ten years hard labour by the Prime Minister, Asquith.
Arthur Rowntree, an MP for York and a Quaker, had taken up the case of the Richmond Sixteen and campaigned for their release at a high level.
On their return from France the Richmond Sixteen, with the other absolutist conscientious objectors, were imprisoned again in labour camps and civil prisons. Although they stayed true to their pacifist principles, imprisonment took its toll; all the objectors suffered severe long-term psychological effects.
After their release they continued to pay for their stand; many found themselves social outcasts unable to get jobs or settle back into the lives and communities they had left behind.
The moral convictions of the Richmond Sixteen and other conscientious objectors who were willing to suffer punishment, imprisonment and potentially even execution for their beliefs, changed public attitudes toward conscientious objection and pacifism. Their experiences led to reforms in prison conditions and they set the scene for people to object to compulsory military service during the Second World War.
Many more men and some women sought exemption from service in the 1939-45 war and conscientious objection to war continues in many countries today