ABLE SEAMAN JOHN CARRUTHERS FARQUHARSON
ROYAL NAVAL DIVISION VOLUNTEER RESERVE
13TH NOVEMBER 1916 AGE 19
BURIED: ANCRE BRITISH CEMETERY, BEAUMONT-HAMEL, FRANCE
"When the barrage lifts": for many years The Times carried an In Memoriam notice on 1 July to the 9th and 10th Battalions the Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, which concluded with the words, "Gentlemen, when the barrage lifts". This was the toast the acting adjutant gave on 30 June 1916, the eve of the opening of the Somme offensive, in order to avoid having to toast the Commanding Officer, whom he loathed.
Able Seaman John Farquharson did not serve in the KOYLI but instructions about barrages were just as pertinent to him as they were to any infantryman since that is what he was. Farquharson served with the Nelson Battalion, Royal Naval Division, used as an infantry division throughout the war, first in Gallipoli and then in France. He was killed in action on 13 November 1916 in the assault on Beaumont-Hamel.
And what were the instructions about barrages?
The object of the artillery barrage is to prevent the enemy from manning his parapets and installing his machine guns in time to arrest the advance of our infantry. ... The barrage must, therefore, be sufficiently heavy to keep the enemy in his dug-outs and shelters as long as possible, and sufficiently accurate to allow the infantry to get so close to the trench attacked that, when the barrage lifts, they can cover the remaining distance before the enemy can prepare to receive them.
[Artillery in Offensive Operations April 1916]
When the barrage lifts is therefore the final signal to rush the enemy trenches. In this inscription does it mean when the war is over, when life is over, is it connected to 'We'll meet again'? Whatever the answer, the idea of meeting again was a great comfort to bereaved relations, especially when, as is the case with the Farquharsons, two of their sons were killed.