LCol Francis Douglas Farquhar DSO the husband of Lady Evelyn Farquhar, Montague Place, London West, England and Rideau Cottage, Ottawa. Educated at Eton College, Windsor, England. LCol Farquhar spoke French, Somali and Chinese. He saw action in South Africa 1899-1900 and Somaliland 1903-1904.
As Military Attache to the Belgian Government, Farquhar “knew every road in Belgium.” Awarded the DSO and Mentioned in Despatches during 1901, Farquhar again, twice Mentioned in Despatches during the Great War,
First C/O of the PPCLI
In 1905 he married Lady Evelyn Healy-Hutchinson, sister of the 6th Earl of Donoughmore. Appointed Military Secretary to the Governor-General of Canada, HRH the Duke of Connaught. Appointed LtCol on 6 October 1913 and became the PPCLI’s first commanding officer on 12 August 1914. Farquhar planned and executed the Reconnaisance in Force – the trench raid adopted by the British Army.
The PPCLI left Southhampton (U.K.) on 20 December 1914. On 6 January 1915, the PPCLI in shallow ditches filled with mud and water in the Ypres Salient.
The Death of LCol Francis Douglas Farquhar
War Diary for the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (P.P.C.L.I.) recording that Lt. Col. Farquhar mortally wounded at 2:30 am under the date of 20.3.15. That means his actual date of death was 21 March 1915. Buried the same day in the battalion cemetery at Voormezeele.
I was with the Colonel for some time at Headquarters, not long before he was wounded.
We were in the low cellar of a ruined farmhouse immediately behind the firing trenches.
We chatted and discussed the trenches in his cool, humorous way....we separated, and I did not see him again.
I can hardly yet realize the extent of my own personal loss. I had real affection for the Colonel in a way I have felt for very few men. He was always so friendly, so encouraging. I was anxious to do well in order to please him.
In the firing line, his coolness and courage had a great effect on me…I cannot have a higher ideal than to die as he did. – Talbot M. Papineau. Indeed, Papineau would unfortunately achieve this higher ideal.
“He fell by a stray bullet at night, while inspecting some new earthworks.” – Major Hamilton Gault,
Talbot M Papineau
Talbot Papineau wrote to Lady Evelyn following the funeral.
”Last night we paid our respects to the Colonel. It was the first beautiful evening we have had. The lovely sunset still slightly tinged the sky. A new moon and the stars were quiet and clear overhead. A warm stillness and peacefulness seamed with us as we stood by the grave.
There is not a man in the Regiment who does not feel a great and personal loss. No other man in so short a time could have won so much respect and affection. As a Canadian I feel a national debt of gratitude to him.
I owe him a great deal, and if I too must die, I cannot have a higher ideal than to die as he did.”
Have we the right to grieve for the dead, who have lived and died as the Colonel? We can only be sorry for ourselves and each other. His face showed no sign of suffering or regret … He, more than any other, has given us a reputation and a standard which we must strive to maintain. He himself is with us no longer, but his influence and his memory will endure with the life of the Regiment.
Death of Major Talbot M Papineau MC
Just before going over the top, Major Talbot Mercer Papineau spoke his last words to Major Hugh Wilderspin Niven:
You know, Hughie? This is suicide.
Papineau immediately killed by an enemy shell as he exited the trench. The trench comrade who followed him also killed.
Major Hugh W. Niven
Writing of his former commanding officer in 1961, LCol Hugh W. Niven called him “the Greatest Soldier I have ever or ever will know”.
The Dead by Rupert Brooke
“Blow out, you bugles, over the rich Dead!
There’s none of these so lonely and poor of old,
But, dying, has made us rarer gifts than gold.”
Last War Diary Entry
Farquhar’s last war diary entry regarded the actions at St Eloi on the night of March 14/15.
“All ranks behaved very well, but there was no individual sufficiently conspicuous to merit his name being especially put forward for consideration.”
LtCol Farquhar mortally wounded and died at 2:30 am, 21 March 1915. Prior to his death, he requested to be buried with his men and he was buried in the battalion cemetery at Voormezele, on 21 March 1915, Chaplain Percival Comeau officiated.
Citation(s):
Mentioned in Despatches 14 April 1915 and 22 June 1915 in the London Gazette. Legion of Honour (Officer), Coronation Medal 1911, South Africa Medal (Queen’s), General Service Medal (Africa), 1914-1915 Star, Victory Medal, British War Medal.
Honours and Awards:
Distinguished Service Order
Legacy
The province of British Columbia honoured Lieutenant Colonel Francis Douglas Farquhar by naming Mount Farquhar, located on the British Columbia/Alberta boundary, east side of upper Fording River, northeast of Fernie, Kootenay Land District, British Columbia.
Commemorated on the Royal Ottawa Golf Club War Memorial, The East Window and at Mount Farquhar.
ARTHUR, DUKE OF CONNAUGHT,
GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF CANADA
TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND IN
AFFECTIONATE MEMORY OF THE
MEMBERS OF HIS STAFF WHO FELL IN
THE GREAT WAR 1914-1918
THEIR NAME LIVETH FOR EVERMORE
Research
The Princess & The Guardsman & Lt. Col. Farquhar – Matthew K Barrett
