CORPORAL PERCY CHARLES BUFFIN
OXFORDSHIRE AND BUCKINGHAMSHIRE LIGHT INFANTRY
24TH AUGUST 1916 AGE 24
BURIED: DELVILLE WOOD CEMETERY, LONGUEVAL, FRANCE
This inscription has a strange history. It comes from the first verse of a poem written in 1879 by Edward H. Parker for a friend's funeral, He based it on the words from The Epistle of St Paul to the Hebrews 4:9, "There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God". Translated into Latin by another friend, W.H. Crosby, both the English and Latin versions were published in the New York Observer on 13 May 1880. It received no further publicity until over a year later when much to Parker's surprise a slightly amended first verse appeared on the plaque placed on the assassinated US President James Garfield's coffin.
Life's race well run,
Life's work well done,
Life's crown well won,
Now comes rest.
Following a clamour in the newspapers, the author of these lines was eventually traced back to Edward H. Parker. Although Parker's original first verse was slightly different:
Life's race well run,
Life's work all done,
Life's victory won,
Now cometh rest.
The difference was explained by the fact that someone had come across the Latin version first, Not realising it had originally been written in English they had freely translated it, improving the scan, so they thought, as they went. This is the version that was picked up, circulated and became extremely popular all over the world. It's popularity boosted in 1882 by its publicised usage on the headstone of one of Queen Alexandra's faithful servants.
Like many parents, Percy Charles Buffin's thought it an appropriate inscription for their soldier son. Father, Frederick Buffin, owned a grocery business at 455 Kings Road, Chelsea, Percy, one of five children, was an apprentice printer. Aged 17 in 1909 he joined the London Division,Territorial Force, so when war came in 1914 he was a trained soldier. He served with the 5th Battalion the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry and was killed in their attack on Delville Wood on 24 August 1916.