Harry Farr

Private Harry Farr (died 16 October 1916) was a British soldier who was executed during World War I for cowardice aged 25. He came from Kensington in London and was in the 1st Battalion, the West Yorkshire Regiment.

Background

Farr joined the British Expeditionary Force in 1914 and fought in the trenches. His position was repeatedly shelled, and in May 1915 he collapsed with strong convulsions. In hospital, his wife Gertrude, who was denied a widow's pension after the war, recalled, “he shook all the time. He couldn't stand the noise of the guns. We got a letter from him, but it was in a stranger's handwriting. He could write perfectly well, but couldn't hold the pen because his hand was shaking.” [ [http://www.wsws.org/articles/1999/nov1999/shot-n16.shtml British soldiers executed in First World War denied official pardon ] at www.wsws.org]

It is now thought that Farr was possibly suffering from hyperacusis / misophonia (category 4 acoustic shock), which occurs when the olivocochlear bundle in the inner ear is damaged by sound causing it to lose its ability to soften and filter sound, making loud noises physically unbearable (auditory efferent dysfunction). Despite this, Farr was sent back to the Front and fought at the Somme. After several months of fighting, he requested to see a medical orderly but was refused. [ [http://www.wsws.org/articles/1999/nov1999/shot-n16.shtml British soldiers executed in First World War denied official pardon ] at www.wsws.org]

After Farr refused to return to the Front Line, he was sent to a court martial. This lasted only 20 minutes, and some questions have been raised about its competence, [http://www.shotatdawn.org.uk/page13.html] and Private Farr had to defend himself. General Sir Douglas Haig signed his death warrant and he was shot at dawn on October 16, 1916. His family have always argued that he was suffering from shell shock at the time.

Those soldiers in the firing squad ordered to carry out the execution were often tormented by the experience for the rest of their lives. John Laister, who died in 1999 at the age of 101, recalled how he and a number of others were marched into the woods and told they were to be part of a firing squad. Speaking on the BBC television programme "Everyman" in 2006, Laister said he was still haunted by the moment that he looked in the direction the rifles were pointed and saw a mere boy stood with his back to a tree. “There were tears in his eyes and tears in mine.” [ [http://www.wsws.org/articles/1999/nov1999/shot-n16.shtml British soldiers executed in First World War denied official pardon ] at www.wsws.org]

Pardon

Harry Farr's widow Gertrude, then living in Kensington, London, was first told her husband had been killed in action, but later when her pension was stopped, she was informed he had been shot for cowardice and she was not entitled to it. In 1992, Gertrude and her family discovered that some execution papers were being released by the government and that Andrew MacKinlay MP was involved in a campaign for justice for those in similar positions to Farr. Soon they got hold of the court martial papers and were horrified to discover that Farr had been dragged screaming and kicking back to the front, when he in fact needed urgent medical treatment. [http://www.shotatdawn.org.uk/page13.html]

Despite a sustained campaign, Prime Minister John Major refused a pardon. In 1993 Gertrude Farr died.

On August 15 2006, Harry Farr's family announced that Farr was to be granted a pardon, [cite news
author=
title=WWI soldier to be granted pardon
date=2006-08-15
work=BBC News
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4796313.stm
accessdate=2008-08-08] as part of a move to pardon up to 306 British soldiers who were shot for cowardice, desertion or other offences in the First World War. The announcement came as Des Browne, the Defence Secretary, said that he would seek a statutory group pardon; ie one achieved through an Act of Parliament for all those executed regardless of the individual merits of the case. Des Browne told BBC Radio 4's "Today" programme that, after 90 years, "the evidence just doesn't exist inside the cases individually". [cite news
author=
title=300 WWI soldiers receive pardons
date=2006-08-16
work=BBC News
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4796579.stm
accessdate=2008-08-08] It has been suggested that the move would avoid numerous court cases. A group pardon would also exonerate those who had been properly found guilty of cowardice. An historian said that of cases in the Royal Norfolk Regiment he had examined there was at least one who had a history of desertion. Historians have criticised such a move in the past as trying to apply modern standards retroactively.cite journal |author=Wessely S |title=The life and death of Private Harry Farr |journal=Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine |volume=99 |issue=9 |pages=440–3 |year=2006 |pmid=16946385 |doi=10.1258/jrsm.99.9.440]

The pardon was enacted in the Armed Forces Act 2006 which came into effect on 8 November 2006. However section 359(4) of the Act states that the pardon "does not affect any conviction or sentence." Since the nature of a pardon is normally to quash a conviction or to commute a sentence, Gerald Howarth MP asked during parliamentary debate: "we are entitled to ask what it does do." [Hansard, House of Commons, 7 November 2006, col. 772] It would appear to be a symbolic pardon only, and some members of Parliament had called for the convictions to be quashed, although the pardon has still been welcomed by relatives of executed soldiers. [Hansard, House of Commons, 7 November 2006, col. 768] The song The Ballad of Harry Farr, written by Huw Pudner in 2006 is about Harry Farr's execution on the western front.

References

* [http://bbc.co.uk/news BBC News]
*Articles in the Eastern Daily Press (17 August 2006)
* [http://www.publications.parliament.uk/cgi-bin/newhtml_hl?DB=semukparl&STEMMER=en&WORDS=arm%20forc%20act%202006%20pardon&ALL=Armed%20Forces%20Act%202006%20pardon&ANY=&PHRASE=&CATEGORIES=&SIMPLE=&SPEAKER=&COLOUR=red&STYLE=s&ANCHOR=muscat_highlighter_first_match&URL=/pa/cm200506/cmhansrd/cm061107/debtext/61107-0012.htm#muscat_highlighter_first_match Hansard]

External links

*cite news
author=
title=WWI soldier to be granted pardon
date=2006-08-15
work=BBC News
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4796313.stm
accessdate=2008-08-08
* [http://www.shotatdawn.org.uk Shot At Dawn]
* fr Soldat fusillé pour l'exemple