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The life and death of Private Harry Farr

Professor Simon Wessely

To cite this article: Professor Simon Wessely (2006) The life and death of Private Harry Farr, The RUSI Journal, 151:5, 60-64, DOI: 10.1080/03071840608522876 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/03071840608522876

Published online: 10 Jun 2008.

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Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=rusi20 Special Feature: Shot at Dawn The Life and Death of Private Harry Farr

Simon Wessely

Professor Simon Wessely is Co- This summer Secretary of State for physical injury - the Court Martial Director of the King's Centre for Defence Des Browne decided that he papers are unclear on this point. Later Military" Health Research, part of would no longer contest the ongoing that night Farr was found still in the King's College . He is also judicial review of the decision of a rear, and was again ordered to go to Honorary Civilian Advisor in series of his predecessors to refuse to the trenches. He refused, telling the Psychiatry for the . He grant a to Private Harry Farr, Regimental Sergeant Major (RSM), gave evidence in the Judicial Review of shot at dawn for cowardice on 16 Haking, that he 'could not stand it'. the case of Private Farr on behalf of . At the same time, he The RSM replied: the Ministry of Defence. This article is announced he was seeking drawn from a paper first published in parliamentary approval to offer a You are a fucking coward and you the Journal of the Royal Society of statutory pardon not just to Private will go to the trenches. I give luck Medicine (Vo199, September 2006). It Farr, but all those executed for all ~.or my life and I give/.uck all/or is reproduced with some amendments military offences during the First yours and I'll get you /.ucking well by kind permission of the Royal World War. The media coverage of Des shot. Society of Medicine. Browne's decision confirmed that most people were pleased by the At 11.00 pm that night a final decision, and feel that justice has at attempt was made to get Private Farr long last been done. As one up to the front line, and he was newspaper observed, those 'dry as escorted forward. A fracas broke out dust' historians who expressed doubts between Farr and his escorts, and this about the decision were clearly out of time they let him run away. The touch with modern feeling. Either following morning he was arrested way, it is now dear that a pardon will and charged with contravening section be granted, and thus it is timely to 4 (7) of the Army Act - showing step back and review what we know cowardice in the face of the enemy. about the life and death of Private Farr. For the military, it was Background probably an 'open and There is little dispute about the sequence of events on 17 September shut" case. The evidence 1916 that led to the execution of against Private Farr was Private Farr. Harry Farr was a member of I st Battalion West Yorkshire overwhelming Regiment, who were taking part in the . That day his The Field General Court Martial battalion was moving from their rear (FGCM) took place two weeks later. positions up to the front line itself. At Four soldiers gave evidence against 9.00 am that morning Farr asked for Farr, confirming the genera[ sequence permission to fall out, saying he was of events, which Farr did not deny. not we[[. He was sent to see the Farr was not represented by a so- Medical Officer (MO), who either called 'Prisoner's Friend' (this was not found nothing wrong with him, or unusual), but spoke in his own refused to see him because he had no defence. He was asked by the

RUSI JOURNAL OCTOBER 2006 President of the Court whether he had the opportunity to report sick between the night of the offence and now, and Farr replied that he had indeed had the opportunity but had not done so. Why, asked the President, and 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 disciplinary record, which apart from a brief period of going AWOL in 1914 had been exemplary, and his medical history. Private Farr had spent several months in a rear hospital in 1915 with a diagnosis of shell shock, had been treated by the MO with the same diagnosis in April 1916, and again for one day in July 1916. Unfortunately the MO who had treated Farr was not able to give evidence, having been subsequently severely wounded. Despite intense searching, we have no other information about Farr's medical history, since the records were almost certainly lost when the Public Records Office was bombed in 1940. The Court Martial lasted less than Private Harry Farr an hour. For the military, it was probably an 'open and shut' case. The understand why this was we need Haig had reason to be worried. By evidence against Private Farr was first to consider the military 1916 most of the regular army, the overwhelming. He had absented background to Farr's offence. 'Old Contemptib[es', had gone. In himself from duty on several their place came the citizen army, the occasions, despite being told Haig's Thinking Kitchener Army, which would in turn forcefully the consequence of his What was going through Haig's mind be followed by the conscripts of actions. The events took place 'in the when he signed Private Farr's death 1917. For regulars such as Haig these face of the enemy'. He was found warrant? To answer that we must be were viewed with suspicion. They guilty, and sentenced to death. careful not to read history backwards. were not lacking in patriotism or Despite receiving the death By 1916 there were [arge issues that morale, but they were not proper sentence, Harry could still have preyed on the minds of the senior soldiers. They had no professional comforted himself that he was British commanders. It was not a military training, or previous service. unlikely to be executed, since he foregone conclusion that the British No one knew how the mass citizen would have known that most of those Army wou[d be able to continue to armies would withstand the new and who received a capital sentence from withstand the strain of the Western terrible environment of industrialized a Court Martial were soon reprieved. ~ Front. Only a few months later the warfare. Haig and his colleagues were Private Farr was charged with French Army would mutiny, and constantly on the alert for signs of a cowardice. There were 551 Courts remain para[ysed for most of 1917. reducing of morale, or a worsening of Martial for cowardice that resulted in The Italians collapsed at Caporetto, discipline, that might precede a a guilty verdict, but only 18 (3.3 per and the Russian armies disintegrated catastrophic collapse or mutiny. cent) executions. No execution could in the same year. In fact the British Haig, like all his colleagues, take place until it had been confirmed Army did withstand the almost believed that the main reason that by the Commander in Chief (France), unimaginable strain, and in 1918 his men fought was because of their Sir Douglas Haig, and in nine out of would win what many historians patriotism, sense of duty, leadership, ten occasions he did not. Yet Farr was claim to be its finest feat of arms, but and local esprit de corps. But if those one of the unlucky ones, and to that was sti[[ to come. were the carrots, there was also no

61 dissention from the view that knowledge that the battalion was to Nothing was said at the Court Martial occasionally the stick was needed as go into action the following dawn. As about what had happened to the well. If it was to endure, the new indeed it did. And it would be battalion in the hours after Farr's Army required a stern system of common knowledge that this would desertion, but nothing would have discipline much as applied to the pre- be costly. As indeed it was. The needed to have been said. Everyone war regulars. The Regular army was battalion lost 150 casualties out of a knew. There were and are expected to set the example - and total of 600. So Private Farr's refusal considerable differences in military Private Farr, as a regular, would be to go to the trenches on the night of honour and codes of behaviour judged by those standards. 17 September would have been between 'scrimshanking' - breaking Yet even in the testing years of interpreted by his comrades, NCOs the rules, stealing better provisions, 1916 and 1917 it remained the case and officers in the light of the avoiding onerous duties, missing out that despite all the pressures, Haig forthcoming action. The four on parades and so on - and letting still showed clemency to the vast sergeants and privates who gave your mates down and leaving them in majority of those sentenced to death evidence against Farr all took part in danger alone. The former is seen with for military offences. Why was Farr the attack, and survived. And all approval by your comrades, if not the the exception? Part of the answer to would have had friends who did not. NCOs or officers, but the latter is that question lies in the exact It was a very bad night to break not. 2 It may have been for this reason circumstances of the fateful day of down. Usually soldiers facing a capital that Farr's comrades were so 17 September when Farr refused RSM charge would have people to speak reluctant to speak up for him, Haking's orders to go forward. up for them, and give evidence as to testimony which if present would their sound character, previous service normally have led to a reprieve. Fateful Day and so on. Yet in Farr's case this kind None was forthcoming for Farr - The Battle of the Somme had been of testimony is either absent or rather the opposite. And so Rawlinson renewed the day before, in what ambiguous. As the papers of the and then Haig endorsed the sentence, historians now ca[[ the battle of Flers- FGCM processed up the chain of and the last act of the tragedy took Courcelette. The West Yorks were due command, being first reviewed by the place at Carnoy at dawn on 16 to join this battle the following legal section (who found no legal October 1916. morning as part of 6th Division's anomalies, and hence no grounds to assault against the notorious fortified quash the conviction), six different Understanding of German position known as the officers had the opportunity to add Psycho|ogical Disorders Quadrilateral. their comments. Farr's Officer But there is another factor which to Commanding (OC) was the first, and our modern mind seems to sum up wrote: the insensitivity and injustice of Farr's The last act of the fate. Prior to his refusal to join his tragedy took place at I cannot say what has destroyed comrades in the trenches ready for this man's nerves, but he has the attack on the Quadrilateral, Farr Carnoy at dawn on 18 proved himself on many occasions had on at [east three occasions been incapable of keeping his head in invalided with a diagnosis of shell October 7916 action & likely to cause a panic. shock. Even his OC admitted that Apart from his behaviour under fire, Farr's 'nerves' had been destroyed. his conduct & character are very Surely that should have led to a more Farr was moving through what was good. compassionate verdict? Was Farr not known as 'Chimpanzee Valley', where suffering from what contemporary his unit was forming up, and was a This was not very helpful, but it psychiatrists call post traumatic stress particularly unpleasant location would have been the comments from disorder (PTSD), which was the because of the proximity of the General Cavan, GOC 4th division, that opinion of the modern psychiatrists British artillery laying clown the sealed Farr's fate: who wrote in support of Gertrude barrage for the attack the following Farr's plea for pardon for her father? day. It was those guns, not the The charge of 'cowardice'seems to To understand why this did not German guns as some think, that so be clearly proved & the Sergt. happen, we need to think a little disturbed Harry. War diaries for that Major's opinion of the man is more about the concepts of day report intense British artillery fire definitely bad to say the least of it. psychological disorder that existed in for much of 16 September, and then The G. O.C. 6th Div. informs me 1916. Shell shock is not just another again intense fire directed at the that the men know the man is no name for PTSD. Each disorder had Quadrilateral in the evening of the good. I therefore recommend that different symptoms. We, for example, seventeenth. the sentence be carried out. have shown that the 'flashback', It would have been common characteristic of modern PTSD, is

RUSI JOURNAL OCTOBER 2006 absent from medical files of shell who told them shell shock was a to our modern mind is synonymous shock victims of the First World War, regrettable weakness, and was not with psychiatric disorder, and should but this is not a significant point. found in good units. The Commission automatically have meant mercy for More importantly, it is not true to concluded that good soldiers, properly Farr, was more ambiguous to the say, as many do, that the military and led, with good morale and good people of 1916. It was already falling medical authorities were blind to the training, should not break down) All into disrepute, and was being psychiatric consequences of war. The their witnesses also told them that increasingly seen on both sides of the sheer scale of the psychiatric shell shock was contagious and hence Trenches as a convenient medical casualties meant that this was a threat to fighting spirit - so Farr's label for people to avoid their duties, impossible. But what was different OC's comments that he was 'liable to and would be banned completely as a was their understanding of why men cause a panic' awakened every diagnosis in 1917. 7 It was not, broke down in battle, or more however, the case that mental illness particularly, why they did not get could never be a defence to a capital better) Modern psychiatrists like charge. Lt Sidney Stuart Hume, for By 1916 it was accepted that example, shot an orderly in 1918, but many men could break down if myself can count was found insane by the same rules pushed long and hard enough. But if a themselves lucky that we that still apply today, and was person was fundamentally 'sound' committed to Broadmoor, where he then this condition ought to be short will never be placed in remained until 1976. But Harry Farr lived, provided that he was managed the situation ofjudging was not insane. Others were correctly, and in particular not given a sometimes reprieved because they medical label nor sent to a rear Harry Farr's behaviour had obvious signs of other mental hospital for a prolonged period of disorders - but at his trial Farr was time. But if a person did not recover, and those of his comrades found to be in a 'satisfactory' mental despite good management, then the condition by the MO, even if we do war was only the trigger, the real not know what that meant. More causes of the prolonged breakdown suspicion about shell shock in the importantly, Farr himself had lying elsewhere. The true cause was military mind, and did not help him. unwisely told the President of the either inheritance, some form of So how could one separate out those Court Martial that away from the constitutional weakness, or genetics who refused to fight for legitimate guns he was now better, which would as we would say now; or alternatively, reasons, and deserved sympathy, from have been seen as incompatible with if the doctor was more aware of those who refused to fight because a total nervous collapse. MOs did Freud and his theories, then it was they were cowards? It was not easy. frequently send soldiers back down the soldier's early life and upbringing. What does modern psychiatry say? the line for nervous problems - it had Either way one's card was marked Nothing. I searched in vain every happened to Farr on three previous long before the person joined the contemporary textbook of psychiatry occasions - but not the night before Army. A short term breakdown could that the Maudsley Hospital possesses a big attack. Only two months before be the result of the war, but the for any mention of the word Farr's fateful day, Lt Kirkwood RAMC, longer the condition persisted, the cowardice, but it is entirely absent. a medical officer with the 1 lth more likely it was to be the result of We are never called on to even Border Regiment, had certified that a defect in character. The officers and consider the question, thankfully. But one-third of his battalion were unfit MOs of the First World War were back in 1916 they did not have that to take part in a planned trench raid Victorians and Edwardians, to whom luxury, and the distinction was, because they were suffering from character mattered, and mattered literally for Private Farr, a matter of 'some degree of shell shock'. He was immensely. life and death. Eventually the best relieved of his post the following At the end of the War a Royal guidance that the Shell Shock morning. ~When the needs of the Commission was formed to try and Commission could give was that if a military conflicted with the needs of understand exactly what was shell man had previously shown courage, the individual, there was no doubt on shock, and why had it become such a then he should not be considered a whose side was the Medical officer. problem. Rather than accepting that coward.O A man who had 'done his bit' We can be sure that on the night psychiatric breakdown was the should, and indeed did, receive more of 17 September 1916 Harry Farr was inevitable result of modern war, and sympathy and understanding than in a state of intense fear. There were that 'every man has his breaking one who had not. It was a moral no psychiatrists available on the point' (a conclusion that was reached matter. Even in the modern army it Western Front (psychiatrists were only after the Second, not the First, helps to have 'earned' your mainly asylum doctors anyway who World War4), they instead preferred breakdown. looked after the insane), but if a views such as those of Lord Gort, VC, So the label of shell shock, which modern psychiatrist had made the

63 journey back in time to interview continued to risk their lives in head [rom heart and if my head Farr, it is probable the diagnosis combat. They believed that this applauds the logic of capital would be of some form of anxiety, required sanctions up to the supreme sentences, they still break my phobic or post traumatic stress penalty if people tried to avoid those heart. • disorder (the diagnoses are not duties. It was always a balance exclusive). A phobic disorder is when between showing mercy and Acknowledgements a person experiences severe irrational enforcing discipline. Although the I wish to thank Corporate Memory at disabling symptoms out of proportion usual outcome was the former, for the Ministry of Defence for obtaining to any actual risk. There is no rational Private Farr they chose the latter. the relevant War Diaries. I am also reason to be crippled with anxiety Speaking now, personally, I wish grateful to Cathryn Corns, Ben when confronted with a spider, nor to they hadn't. It seems very probable Shephard, Edgar Jones, Peter Barham, have panic attacks inside a that Farr was suffering from a Paul Lerner and Tim Finnegan for supermarket. But even our increased psychiatric disorder, even if we do not comments. knowledge of the nature and know which one. It is also probable mechanisms of anxiety might not that if he had been an officer, more have been as helpful as one might note might have been taken of his Between August 1914 and October 1918 think. There was little that was mental state before the fateful day of there were around 240,000 Courts Martial, irrational about Farr's fears that night 17 September. We are more of which 3080 resulted in a death sentence. Of these 3080, 346 (11 per cent) were - indeed, one might argue that sympathetic towards psychiatric carried out, 2734 were not. Cathryn Corns refusing to go 'over the top' was the breakdown now, although perhaps not and John Hughes-Wilson, Blindfold and most rational response to the as much as we think we are. Anyway, Alone: British Military Executions in the situation, a veritable Catch 22. And irrespective of Private Farr's mental Great War ( London: Cassell, 2001). that night Farr would not have been state, I remain utterly opposed to the lan Palmer, 'The emotion that dare not alone in experiencing intense fear - death penalty for any reason. But speak its name?', British Army Review (No. there were probably few around him that was not the view in 1916, either 132, 2003), pp. 31-37. who did not feel something similar as in the military or in civil society. Our 3. Edgar Jones and Simon Wessely, From Shell they faced the prospect of attacking social climate has changed, both Shock to PTSD: A History of Military Psychiatry (London: Psychology Press, the notorious Quadrilateral the towards the death penalty and zoos). towards psychiatric illness, and thank goodness for that. 4. Edgar Jones and Simon Wessely, The impact of total war on the practice of psychiatry. In: Greater compassion is But greater compassion is not Chickering and Forster (eds.), Shadows of necessarily the same as greater Total War: 1919-1939 (Cambridge: not necessarily the same understanding. We should be careful Cambridge University Press, 2001), pp. 129- as greater understanding. of viewing the past through our 148. modern sensibilities. The best we can 5. Ted Bogacz, War neurosis and cultural We should be careful of do is to try and understand the change in England, 1914-1922: the work of the war office committee of enquiry into viewing the past through actions of all the men of 1916, shellshock. Journal of Contemporary History including Private Farr and those who (No. 24, 1989), pp. 227-256. our modern sensibilities judged him, and not to make 6. Anon. Report of the War Office Committee apologies for either. Nor should we of Enquiry into "Shell-Shock'. London: succumb to the temptation to rewrite HMSO, 1922. following morning. What the Court history to make ourselves feel more 7. Peter Leese, Shell Shock: Traumatic Neurosis Martial had to consider was that Farr comfortable about the past. and the British Soldiers of the First World did not control his fears, whilst his In his recent social history of the War (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2002); Paul comrades did. British soldier in the First World War, Lerner, Hysterical Men: War, Psychiatry and the Politics of Trauma in Germany, 1890- Modern psychiatrists like myself Richard Holmes 9 probably got it 1930 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, can count themselves lucky that we about right when he gave his 2003). will never be placed in the situation thoughts on the subject of military Ben Shephard, A War of Nerves, Soldiers and of judging Harry Farr's behaviour and executions in the First World War: Psychiatrists 1914-1994 (London:Jonathan those of his comrades. Instead, those Cape, 2000). who did have the task of judging The most that one can say is that Richard Holmes, Tommy: The British Soldier Farr's actions were faced with a the overwhelming majority were on the Western Front, 1914-1918 (London: dilemma. They wished and usually did justly convicted by the law as it Harper Perennial, 2005). show concern for the welfare of the then stood ...... it was indeed a hard individual soldier. But they also law but it was, in general, fairly wished to promote order and applied. But like so much else discipline and to ensure that people about the war, the issue divides

RUSI JOURNAl. OCTOBER 2006