The life and death of Private Harry Farr.

Last month the Defence Secretary Des Browne announced a formal pardon for Harry Farr, who had been shot at dawn for cowardice on 16 October 1916. The long-standing campaign for a pardon, not just for Harry Farr but for all those executed for military offences during the First World War, has been concluded. Most people will probably have been pleased by the result, and feel that justice has finally been done. Now that a pardon will be granted, it is timely to review what we know about the life and death of Harry Farr. There is little dispute about the sequence of events on 17 September 1916 that led to the execution of Private Farr. Harry Farr was a member of 1st Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment, which was taking part in the battle of the Somme. That day his battalion was moving from their rear positions up to the front line itself. At 9.00 am that morning Farr asked for permission to fall out, saying he was not well. He was sent to see the medical officer, who either found nothing wrong with him, or refused to see him because he had no physical injury—the Court Martial papers are unclear on this point. Later that night Farr was found still at the rear, and was again ordered to go the trenches. He refused, telling Regimental Sergeant Major Haking, that he ‘could not stand it’. Then Hanking replied ‘You are a fucking coward and you will go to the trenches. I give fuck all for my life and I give fuck all for yours and I’ll get you fucking well shot’. At 11.00 pm that night a final attempt was made to get Private Farr up to the front line, and he was escorted forward. A fracas broke out between Farr and his escorts, and this time they let him run away. The following morning he was arrested and charged with contravening section 4 (7) of the Army Act—showing cowardice in the face of the enemy. The Field General Court Martial took place 2 weeks later. Four soldiers gave evidence against Farr, confirming the general sequence of events, which Farr did not deny. Farr was not represented by a so called ‘prisoner’s friend’ (this was not unusual1), but spoke in his own defence. He was asked by the president of the court whether he had the opportunity to report sick between the night of the offence and now; Farr replied that he had indeed had the opportunity but had not done so. When asked why Farr replied, almost certainly unwisely for his future, that this was because ‘being away from the shell fire I felt better’. The Court then heard about his medical history and his disciplinary record, which, apart from a brief period of going absent without leave in 1914 had been exemplary. Private Farr had spent several months in a rear hospital in 1915 with a diagnosis of shell shock, had been treated by the medical officer with the same diagnosis in April 1916, and again for one day in July 1916. Unfortunately, the medical officer who had treated Farr was not able to give evidence: he had been severely wounded. Despite intense searching, we have found no other information about Farr’s medical history; the records were almost certainly lost when the Public Records Office was bombed in 1940. The Court Martial lasted less than an hour. For the military, it was probably an open and shut case. The evidence against Private Farr was overwhelming. He had absented himself from duty on several occasions, despite being told forcefully the consequence of his actions. The events took place ‘in the face of the enemy’. He was found guilty, and sentenced to death. Despite receiving the death sentence Harry could still have comforted himself that he was unlikely to be executed, since he would have known that most of those who received a capital sentence from a Court Martial were soon reprieved. Between August 1914 and October 1918 there were around 240 000 Courts Martial, of which 3080 resulted in a death sentence. Of these 3080, 346 (11%) were carried out, 2734 were not.1 Private Farr was charged with cowardice. There were 551 Courts Martial for cowardice that resulted in a guilty verdict, but only 18 (3.3%) executions. No execution could take place until it had been confirmed by the Commander-in-Chief (France) Sir Douglas Haig, and in nine out of ten occasions he did not. Farr was one of the unlucky ones; and to understand why this was we need first to consider the military background to Farr’s offence. What was going through Haig’s mind when he signed Private Farr’s death warrant? To answer that we must be careful not to read history backwards. By 1916 there were large issues that preyed on the minds of the senior British commanders. It was not a foregone conclusion that the British Army would be able to continue to withstand the strain of the Western Front. Only a few months later the French Army would mutiny, and remain paralysed for most 440 J O U R N A L O F T H E R O Y A L S O C I E T Y O F M E D I C I N E V o l u m e 9 9 S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 6