Harry Farr

World War I At the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, Farr was mobilized with the 2nd Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment. During his time serving in the war, Farr was hospitalised multiple times for shell shock and related symptoms. On 9 May 1915, shortly after Farr's battalion fought in the Battle of Aubers Ridge, Farr was discharged from hospital and sent back to the front; he was transferred to the 1st Battalion in October. Farr reported himself to the medical station several times over the following months. In April 1916, he suffered a "nervous collapse"

Execution alt=War memorial with French and United Kingdom flags on top. Harry Farr's name appears on the Mémorial de Thiepval, which commemorates men who died in the Battle of the Somme. At 6.00 A.M on 18 October 1916, Farr was shot at Carnoy by a firing squad made up of 12 men from his own regiment. The location of Farr's grave is unknown, but his name is included on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing.

Legacy

Farr's family after his execution The historian William Philpott describes Farr's death as "Britain's most notorious military execution". After Farr was executed, his widow Gertrude received a telegraph notifying her of his death. It read "Dear Madam, we regret to inform you that your husband has died. He was sentenced for cowardice and was shot at dawn on 18th October". Gertrude and her daughter Gertie could no longer receive a military pension and they were made homeless. Gertrude remarried; her second husband was killed during World War II. She suffered from shame at the reason for Farr's execution and she did not reveal the circumstance of his death for decades. She claimed she had hidden the telegraph informing her of his death due to the embarrassment. Farr's father was so ashamed that he refused to say his son's name for the rest of his life. However, in 2005 a High Court judge—Justice Stanley Burnton—said he believed that the family may have been incorrectly denied a pardon for Farr.

The family brought a legal case against the Ministry of Defence in May 2006. Gertie Harris, Farr's daughter, was invited to speak to Tom Watson, the Minister for Veteran's Affairs at the Ministry of Defence. He was so moved by the story of her father that he committed to finding a solution for the family.

In August 2006, Harris was notified by the Secretary of State for Defence, Des Browne, that the Armed Forces Bill currently going through parliamentary scrutiny would bring about pardons for WWI soldiers. At the time, Harris was 93. The Labour MP Andrew MacKinlay, who had been a campaigner for posthumous pardons, said that it was likely that the government recognised they were going to lose the Farr case, and therefore decided to pardon all soldiers who were executed for cowardice, desertion and related crimes. An official pardon for 306 WWI soldiers was announced by Browne on 16 August.

The general understanding of shell shock at the time of World War I and Farr's death was that it was a weakness of the soldier and could spread between men; following Farr's trial, his commanding officer had written something to his effect, saying Farr was "likely to cause a panic". At his court martial, shell shock was not treated any differently from cowardice. Wessely writes that Farr was very likely experiencing "intense fear" on 17 September 1916, and was probably suffering from an illness like anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder. Additionally, neurological research since the beginning of the 21st century has suggested that explosions can lead to brain injury, suggesting that Farr might have been suffering from injury and was not fit to fight. Contemporary understandings of shell shock contributed to the posthumous pardons of WWI soldiers executed for crimes including cowardice and desertion, including Farr, although it is not possible to prove that all 306 men were suffering from the condition.

Art and popular culture In June 2001, Farr's daughter Gertie Harris was invited to the opening of the Shot at Dawn Memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, which was built to commemorate the WWI soldiers executed by firing squad. From February to June 2014, the National Portrait Gallery in London held an exhibition of portraits of people from WWI. The curator, Paul Moorhouse, chose to include a portrait of Farr to resemble one of the many human experiences of the war, calling Farr "a courageous man". The book Shell Shock by Steve Stahl is in part inspired by the story of Harry Farr.