Hope; lost in action off Coronel, on the coast of Chili, 1 Nov. 1914.
=FAIRS, ERNEST WILLIAM=, Private, No. 9551, 5th Battn. (London
Rifle Brigade) The London Regt. (T.F.), eldest _s._ of William
Fairs, of 32, Beaconsfield Road, Croydon, Surrey, Joiner, by his wife,
Ellen Sarah, dau. of Skillington Medwell; _b._ Banstead, co.
Surrey, 15 Dec. 1895; educ. Sydenham Road Council Schools, Croydon,
and was employed at Messrs. Giddy & Giddy, Regent Street, Auctioneers
& Estate Agents; joined the London Rifle Brigade in Aug. 1913;
volunteered for foreign service on the outbreak of war, in Aug. 1914;
went to France, 5 Nov. 1914, and was killed in action at Ypres, 3 May,
1915, and buried at Forturn; _unm._
[Illustration: =Ernest William Fairs.=]
=FAIRWEATHER, GEORGE=, Stoker, 1st Class, K. 6889, H.M.S. Aboukir;
lost in action in the North Sea, 22 Sept. 1914.
=FAIRWEATHER, JOHN=, 2nd Engineer, R.N.R., yst. _s._ of
William Fairweather, Gas Engineer to the Corporation of Kilmarnock,
by his wife, Marjory, dau. of Peter Young, of Glamis, Forfarshire;
_b._ Kilmarnock, 25 Jan. 1887; educ. Kilmarnock Academy; served
his apprenticeship with Messrs. Andrew, Barclay, Sons & Co., Ltd.,
taking his second certificate as a marine engineer, and gaining
considerable experience not only in shipbuilding yards on the Clyde,
but in the service of the British India Co. and the Red Star Line;
he was afterwards engaged in transport service between Canada and
Liverpool, and after the outbreak of war joined the Royal Naval Reserve
at the end of Oct. 1914. He was posted to the Clan MacNaughton which
left Birkenhead just after Christmas, 1914, on her first patrol. The
last signal made by her was at an early hour on the morning of 3 Feb.
following, and it is supposed, according to the Admiralty report, that
she was lost during the bad weather which prevailed at that time.
Fairweather was _unm._
[Illustration: =John Fairweather.=]
=KEAY-FALCONER, WILLIAM=, Jun., Lieut., 7th Battn. Princess
Louise’s Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (T.F.), only _s._ of
William Keay-Falconer, Clerk of Lieutenancy and Sheriff-Clerk and
County Clerk of Kinross-shire, by his wife, Margaret More, dau. of
James Thomson Morrison, of Coatbridge; _b._ Kinross, 29 Nov. 1894;
educ. Edinburgh Academy (1907–13), where for the last two years he
served in the O.T.C., and at the Institut Polyglotte, Namur; afterwards
being employed in his father’s office. He was gazetted 2nd Lieut.
Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, 20 Sept. 1913, and was promoted
Lieut. 7 Sept. 1914. On the outbreak of war he immediately volunteered
for service abroad, went to France with his regt. in Dec. following,
and was killed while leading his men in a charge against the enemy, at
Ypres, 25 April, 1915; _unm._ The Brigade of which his battn. was
a unit had been called from a rest camp to help the Canadians whose
flank was exposed through the troops acting with them having fallen
back owing to gas. Col. Craig wrote: “While I was with the battn. in
France I had many conversations with him on the subject of his work and
have frequently remarked to Capt. Murdoch, and others who interested
themselves in him, upon his coolness. He knew his work well, and was
devoted to it. He didn’t know what fear was, and he seemed fully to
realise the responsibility of his men’s comfort that rested upon him
as a platoon commander, and the men were devoted to him.... I will
never forget your son’s interest in his work, and his valuable services
from the time of mobilisation in Aug. last till I left the battn.
on 11 March.” Col. Carden who succeeded Col. Craig, wrote: “During
the short time I have been in command of the battn. I had formed the
highest opinion of your son’s military capabilities. He died bravely
leading his men, and is mourned by all his brother officers”; and
Capt. Murdoch: “Keay fell like a hero in front of his men.” Lieut.
Keay-Falconer was a keen golfer, and a member of Edinburgh Academical
Golf Club. He was also a prominent and enthusiastic member of Kinross
Club, and held both the gold and silver medals for 1914. He spoke
French fluently, and was consequently of much use to his comrades when
abroad. Memorial brasses were erected to his memory in the Church of
St. John the Evangelist, Princes Street, Edinburgh, and in St. Paul’s
Church, Kinross. The tablet in the former church was placed there by
the children of the church to perpetuate Lieut. Keay-Falconer’s memory,
as he was Warden of their special services during the greater part of
his school days in Edinburgh. The last five words of the inscription
on the brass sum up his character as the subscribers to the memorial
knew it: “Gallant and true and tender.” The brass in St. Paul’s Church,
Kinross, was dedicated by the Bishop of St. Andrews on 1 Feb. 1916.
[Illustration: =W. Keay-Falconer, Jun.=]
=FARDELL, HUBERT GEORGE HENRY=, Lieut., 3rd, att. 2nd, Battn.
East Surrey Regt., only child of Hubert Askew Fardell, of 16, Brechin
Place, S.W., late Capt. 4th East Surrey Regt., by his wife, Henrietta
Alice, dau. of Henry Woods, of Warnford Park, Hants; _b._ London,
7 July, 1895; educ. Eton (R. S. de Havilland’s House), where he was
Sergt. in charge of G Coy. in the O.T.C.; left there on the outbreak
of War to join the Inns of Court O.T.C., and was given a commission as
2nd Lieut. in the 3rd East Surrey Regt., 15 Aug. 1914, and promoted
Lieut., 9 March, 1915; went to the Front, 23 Feb. 1915, and was killed
in action at Zonnebeke during the 2nd Battle of Ypres, 23 April, 1915.
He was killed instantaneously, about 2.30 in the afternoon, whilst
passing through a communication trench to see how one of his brother
officers was faring as the shelling had been heavy. His servant wrote:
“He was a very brave man, one of the bravest I’ve seen out of my seven
months in the trenches.” He was buried in the graveyard by the ruined
church just behind the firing lines. His C.O., Col. Shipley, wrote:
“Your son showed such great promise of being a very capable officer and
leader of men.” He had been intended for the Diplomatic Service, his
strong intellect and quickness in acquiring foreign languages, clearly
marking him out for such a career. “The Eton College Chronicle” of 20
May, 1915, said: “Mr. Fardell did well at Eton, both in school and on
the river. He was in the boats, rowing in the Victory in 1914. He won
Junior Sculling in 1913, and did well in School Sculling the following
year. As a coach he had a wonderful power of getting the utmost out of
a crew, and was an admirable captain of a football team. In fact, as a
coach and as a leader he found the work that suited him. Had he lived
he would undoubtedly have been a very valuable officer and a first-rate
leader.”
=FARMER, HORACE=, Colour-Sergt., R.M.L.I., 6271A., (R.F.R., Ch. A.
640), H.M.S. Cressy; lost in action in the North Sea, 22 Sept. 1914.
=FARMER, HENRY CHARLES MACLEAN=, 2nd Lieut., 6th, attd. 4th,
Battn. King’s Royal Rifle Corps, yr. _s._ of the Rev. James Edmund
Gamul Farmer, Rector of Waddesdon with Upper Winchendon, Aylesbury,
Bucks, by his wife, Margaret, dau. of Captain Charles Bampfield Yule,
R.N.; _b._ Arundel Vicarage, co. Sussex, 8 Aug. 1892; educ.
Summerfields, near Oxford; Eton (Mr. Ramsay’s House), and Trinity
College, Cambridge; volunteered on the outbreak of war, and applied
for a commission, and while waiting for it enlisted in the 3rd Dragoon
Guards, 3 Sept. 1914; gazetted 2nd Lieut. 6th King’s R.R.C., 22 Sept.
following; went to the Front in March, 1915, to join the 4th Battn.
of his regt., and was killed in action near Ypres, 10 May, 1915. He
was buried at the East Boundary of Bellewaarde Wood; _unm._ Col.
Brownlow, K.R.R.C., wrote: “He worked hard down here (Sheerness)
and was very keen to get to the Front”; and Capt. Field: “He was in
my company the whole time he was at Sheerness, and King’s Ferry; a
most excellent, cheery fellow, and a very conscientious, good, young
officer.”
[Illustration: =Henry C. M. Farmer.=]
=FARNDON, WILLIAM=, Boy, 1st Class, J. 26735, H.M.S. Hawke; lost
when that ship was torpedoed in the North Sea, 15 Oct. 1914.
=FARNSWORTH, JOHN=, Private, No. 562, 4th Battn. Australian
Imperial Force, 4th _s._ of Henry Farnsworth, of the Buck Hotel,
High Street, Clay Cross, Wine and Spirit Merchant, by his wife,
Margaret, dau. of Joseph Cutts, Builder & Contractor; _b._ High
Street, Clay Cross, co. Derby, 3 Sept. 1880; educ. Board School,
Clay Cross, and Collegiate School, Kettering; emigrated to N.S.W.,
Australia, 25 Sept. 1903, and worked for a year and a half in the
copper mines at Cobar. He then took a position on the G.W. Ry. under
his uncle, Mr. B. Farnsworth, Inspector of Permanent Way, which he
held until war was declared in Aug. 1914. He immediately proceeded to
Sydney, and joined the Australian Imperial Force, and was killed in
action at Gaba Tepe, 2 May, 1915, while repelling an attack by the
Turks on the Australian trenches; _unm._ Sergt.-Major E. H. Stone
wrote the following description of the incident: “I daresay you read in
the papers about our Coy. relieving the marines, and how our Major got
his D.S.O. Well, for the next two days, the Turks were persistent in
their attacks, and it was as much as we could do to beat them back. On
the afternoon of 2 May, they made a very determined attack which lasted
about two hours. We manned the parapet and fired into them as fast as
we could load, and after we had beaten them back turned and found many
of our own lads in the bottom of the trench, and among them, John, shot
through the head--not a moments’ pain, thank God. We took them out to
the back of the trenches and buried them and put up a large wooden
cross over them. I can safely say there is not a man in the Battn. who
is more regretted than John.”
[Illustration: =John Farnsworth.=]
=FARQUHARSON, LEWIS SHAW=, Capt., 1st Battn. Royal Scots, only
_s._ of the Rev. Alexander Farquharson, of Spital, Aberdeenshire,
and 41, Camden Square, London, N.W., by his wife, Mary Walker, dau.
of Lewis Shaw, of Chesterfield; _b._ Chesterfield, co. Derby, 23
April, 1884; educ. Cottesmore, Charterhouse, and Sandhurst; gazetted
2nd Lieut., 10 Oct. 1903, and promoted Lieut. 5 April, 1906, and Capt.
31 Aug. 1914; served in India successively as Station Staff Officer
at Kamptee, and as A.D.C. to General Keir, and was Adjutant of the
1st Battn. from 28 Aug. 1911 to 28 Aug. 1914. He also had the honour,
with Col. D. G. Wemyss, of being selected to represent the regt. as
extra A.D.C. to the King in Calcutta, during the Durbar tour. On the
outbreak of war Capt. Farquharson was in India, and he went to the
Front with his Battn. early in 1915. He saw much fighting, went through
the varying phases of the long and severely contested Second Battle
of Ypres, and had different narrow escapes. On 11 May, 1915, when
the British line had been broken and a trench captured, on his own
initiative Capt. Farquharson led forward his company, from the reserve
line, drove back the enemy, and regained and held the lost ground.
For his promptness and gallantry on this occasion he received the
special thanks of his C.O., and Gen. Allenby sent his congratulations
for what he described as “a splendid and successful counter attack.”
Early the following morning (12 May) while superintending fresh
protections for the shattered trench, he was shot through the head
and killed instantly. He was subsequently mentioned in F.M. Sir John
(now Lord) French’s Despatch [London Gazette, 1 Jan. 1916] for gallant
and distinguished service in the field. He was buried in Valmertinghe
Cemetery, near Ypres. Col. Callander wrote that the whole regt. mourned
his loss and that Capt. Farquharson was in every sense, one of the
best of the younger officers in the Army and the most sterling good
fellow he had ever known. Gen. Sir John Keir also wrote saying that
“his future as a soldier had been assured, and that his name would
be honoured for all time.” At school and college he took many prizes
and represented each of them at both cricket and football. He played
cricket twice for All India.
[Illustration: =Lewis Shaw Farquharson.=]
=FARR, JOHN=, Seaman, R.N.R., 3525C, H.M.S. Aboukir; lost in
action in the North Sea, 22 Sept. 1914.
=FARRAR, SIR GEORGE HERBERT=, 1st Bart., D.S.O., Col. and
Assistant Q.M.-General, Central Force, Union Defence Forces, late
Hon. Col. South African Light Horse, _s._ of the late Charles
Farrar, of Chatteris, co. Cambridge, M.D., by his wife, Helen (The
Crescent Lodge, Bedford), sister of Sir Frederick Howard, and dau.
of John Howard; _b._ Chatteris, 17 June, 1859; educ. Bedford
Modern School, and on leaving there entered the engineering business
of his uncle Sir Frederick Howard, going in 1879 to South Africa to
the Port Elizabeth and East London Branches. Eight years later he and
his brothers established themselves at Johannesburg, where in a few
years he became one of the leading men in the mining industry of the
Witwatersrand. His chief enterprise was the formation of the East Rand
Proprietary Mines, of which he was chairman from its inception to the
day of his death. He was for some time a Member of the Legislative
Assembly of the Transvaal and Leader of the Opposition. For his share
in the Jameson Raid he was tried for treason and sentenced to death,
but the sentence was remitted on payment of a fine of £25,000. When
the South African War broke out he raised two regts. of South African
Horse, and was appointed Major, Kaffrarian Rifles, 1 Dec. 1900, and
served in this campaign as Major on the Staff of the Colonial Division,
1899–1900. He took part in the operations in the Orange Free State,
including the defence of Wepener; operations in the Transvaal, west of
Pretoria, Aug. to Sept. 1900; operations in Orange River Colony 1900,
including actions at Wittebergen (1–29 July), and in Cape Colony,
south of the Orange River. His services were mentioned in Despatches
[London Gazette, 16 April, 1901], and he was awarded the Queen’s
medal with four clasps and the D.S.O. (1900). After the conclusion of
peace in 1902 he took an active part in the work of re-organisation,
and when Responsible Government was granted to the Transvaal, he was
unanimously elected leader of the Progressive Party in the House of
Assembly, in opposition to the Ministry of General Botha. In 1903 was
elected President of the Witwatersrand Chamber of Mines, and took a
leading part in the negotiations which led up to formation of the Union
of South Africa. He had been knighted in 1902, and on 2 Feb. 1911
was created a Baronet for his services on this occasion. He was M.P.
for Georgetown in the first Parliament of the Union of South Africa,
1910–11, but in Dec. 1911 business demands in connection with the
East Rand Co. compelled him to retire from political work in order to
devote his whole energies to the re-organisation of that enterprise.
When the European War broke out he was in England on a visit and was
about to join General Sir Hubert Hamilton’s Staff with the Army in
Belgium, but the day before he was to have left he was ordered by the
authorities to South Africa. On arrival he was appointed to General
McKenzie’s Force with the rank of Col., and was despatched to German
South-West Africa as Assistant Q.M.-General. Proceeding to Luderitz
Bay in advance of the main force he was engaged in the organisation of
the base camp, and subsequently had charge of the restoration of the
railway and of providing the water supply to the force, an operation of
primary importance in that country. On 19 May, 1915, he was returning
from a tour of inspection when the motor trolley in which he was
travelling collided with a construction train at Kuibis, near Gidson,
German South-West Africa, and Sir George succumbed to his injuries
early next morning. Sir George Farrar was one of the best-known men
in South Africa, to whose advancement he had, by legislative work,
by attention to mining progress, and to practical sympathy with
agriculture, powerfully contributed. He m. at Johannesburg, 3 June,
1893, Ella Mabel (Chicheley Hall, Newport Pagnell, Bucks; Bedford
Farm, near Johannesburg, Transvaal), dau. of the late Charles William
Waylen, I.M.S., and had six daus.: Helen Mabel, _b._ 2 Oct. 1894;
Muriel Frances, _b._ 6 April, 1896; Gwendoline, _b._ 14 July,
1897; Georgina Marjorie, _b._ 17 Aug. 1901; Kathleen Elizabeth,
_b._ 9 May, 1907; and Ella Marguerite, _b._ 28 April, 1911.
[Illustration: =Sir George H. Farrar.=]
=FARRAR, JOHN=, Private, No. 7725, 4th Battn. Durham Light
Infantry, only _s._ of William Farrar, of Southwick-on-Wear, by
his wife, Treaser, dau. of Matthew Crawford, of Sunderland; _b._
Southwick, co. Durham, 12 Aug. 1890; educ. St. Benett’s R.C. School,
Monkwearmouth; enlisted in 1907 in the Special Reserve of the Durhams
and was discharged in 1913, when he rejoined for another term and was
called up on mobilisation, 5 Aug. 1914, went to France with the first
Expeditionary Force, and was killed in France, 5 Dec. 1914, while on
sentry duty; and was buried on a farm, Du-Bix; _unm._
[Illustration: =John Farrar.=]
=FARRAR, LUKE=, Private, No. 10735, 2nd Battn. Durham Light
Infantry, 4th _s._ of Luke Farrar, of Southwick-on-Wear, Shipyard
Labourer, by his wife, Elizabeth, dau. of George Clark, of Southwick;
_b._ Southwick, co. Durham, 25 July, 1884; was employed in
Pickersgill’s Yard, Sunderland; enlisted 26 Sept., 1914; trained at
South Shields; killed in action “somewhere” in France, 6 Feb. 1916,
and was buried in Rotize Cemetery. He _m._ at Sunderland, 22 May,
1906, Mary Jane (4, Stoney Lane, Southwick-on-Wear), dau. of James
Foster, of Sunderland, and had four children: Luke, Burliss, _b._
8 June, 1912; James, _b._ 13 April, 1915; Sarah Elizabeth,
_b._ 19 July, 1905; and Esther Jane, _b._ 13 Sept. 1908.
[Illustration: =Luke Farrar.=]
=FARRER, JOHN EDWARD=, Private, No. 7152, 2nd East Lancashire
Regt., _s._ of John Edward Farrer; _b._ 28 Jan. 1879; educ.
Brunswick Day School, Burnley; was a Weaver; enlisted after the
outbreak of war, 18 Sept. 1914; went to France, 26 Dec. following, and
was killed in action at Neuve Chapelle, 14 March, 1915. He was formerly
a cornet player in the local Volunteers. He _m._ at Gannow,
Burnley, 4 June, 1904, Clara (37, Haslam Street, Burnley), dau. of
William Sagar, and had two children: William Edward, _b._ 5 Nov.
1905; and Hilda, _b._ 4 May, 1914.
=FAUGHNAN, FRANCIS=, Private, No. 2972, 2nd Battn. The Royal
Scots, _s._ of John Faughnan, of Briskillbeg, Farmer, by his wife,
Ellen, dau. of Patrick McAvey; _b._ Briskillbeg, Newtonforbes,
co. Longford; educ. Cloonteagh National School, Newtonforbes; enlisted
after the outbreak of war, and was killed in action on the Western
front, 17 Nov. 1915; _unm._
=FAUGHNAN, PATRICK=, Private, No. 2707, 1st Battn. Argyll and
Sutherland Highlanders, _s._ of John Faughnan, of Briskillbeg,
Farmer, by his wife, Ellen, dau. of Patrick McAvey; _b._
Briskillbeg, Newtonforbes, co. Longford; educ. Cloonteagh National
School, Newtonforbes; enlisted on the outbreak of war, and was killed
in action on the Western front, 10 Oct. 1915; _unm._
=FAULKNER, VICTOR=, Private, R.M.L.I., Ch./16023, H.M.S. Hawke;
lost when that ship was torpedoed in the North Sea, 15 Oct. 1914.
=FAULKS, PHILIP ALBERT=, Boy, 1st Class, J. 27543 (Ports.), H.M.S.
Hawke, s. of John Thomas Faulks, of 4, Cobden Street, Loughboro’; lost
when that ship was torpedoed in the North Sea, 15 Oct. 1914.
=FAWCETT, ROBERT HEATH=, 2nd Lieut., 4th (Special Reserve),
attached 1st, Battn. Bedfordshire Regt., eldest _s._ of Henry
Heath Fawcett, of Berkhampsted, and of the War Office, by his wife,
Colina, dau. of John Colin Sharp; _b._ Wimbledon, co. Surrey,
5 March, 1893; educ. Hillside, Godalming; Uppingham, and Emmanuel
College, Cambridge (where he was an Exhibitioner, and a member of
the O.T.C.); gazetted 2nd Lieut., 4th Battn. Bedfordshire Regt., 15
Aug. 1914; went to Flanders 10 April, 1915, where he was attached to
the 1st Battn., and was killed in action near Ypres, 26 April, 1915;
_unm._ He was buried at Zillebeke, near Ypres.
=FAWLEY, FRANCIS HENRY BUCKLEY=, Private, No. 1862, Honourable
Artillery Company, _s._ of Henry John Buckley Fawley, of 35, Queen
Elizabeth’s Walk, Stoke Newington, N., Journalist, by his wife, Emily,
dau. of the late James (and Eliza) Smith, of Lordship Lane, Wood Green,
N., formerly of Sittingbourne, Kent; _b._ Harringay, London, 16
Aug. 1895; educ. Finsbury Park College, London, was on the clerical
staff of the Metropolitan Electric Tramways Company; joined the H.A.C.
after the outbreak of the war in the beginning of Sept. 1914, went to
France, 23 Jan. 1915, and was killed in action near Ypres, 15 May,
1915. He was buried in the grounds of the Chateau of Elzenwalle, near
Voormezeele; _unm._ His Sergt. wrote: “He was killed on the night
of the 15th inst. He lived for some hours after he was struck, and was
quite conscious when I last saw him.... His pluck was wonderful; he
knew he was mortally wounded yet possessed himself like the gentleman
and man he was; never giving a sign of any pain--his main concern being
for the safety of his comrades.... We all liked him and shall miss him
greatly.”
[Illustration: =Francis H. B. Fawley.=]
=FAY, WALTER EDWARD=, Rifleman, No. 2407, 18th Battn. (London
Irish Rifles) The London Regt. (T.F.), _s._ of the late James
Charles Fay (died 13 Nov. 1915), by his wife, (--) (79, Limerstone
Road, King’s Road, Chelsea, S.W.); _b._ Fulham, S.W., 24 July,
1894; educ. St. Mark’s College, Chelsea; enlisted after the outbreak of
war 2 Sept. 1914, and died of wounds received in action at the Battle
of Loos, 27 Sept. 1915; _unm._
=FEATHERSTONE, ALFRED CHARLES=, Rifleman, No. 2472, 1/8th (Leeds
Rifles) Battn. West Yorkshire Regt. (T.F.), eldest _s._ of Alfred
Charles Featherstone, of West Normans, Park Avenue, Castleford, by his
wife, Jane Harriet, dau. of Alfred Watson, of East Hardwicks, Yorks; b.
Castleford, co. York, 30 April, 1891; educ. King’s School, Pontefract;
entered the employ of the London City and Midland Bank at Morley,
Yorkshire, when 16, and at the outbreak of the war was holding the post
of Assistant Cashier. He enlisted 21 Sept. 1914; sailed for France, 15
April, 1915, and was killed in action at Neuve Chapelle, 12 May, 1915,
and was buried in Rue de Bacquerot, France; _unm._ His officer
wrote: “He was one of the most popular men in the company, and we all
feel his loss very keenly.”
[Illustration: =Alfred C. Featherstone.=]