In Memory of Alfred Farrar
ALFRED FARRAR (1876–1917): Alfred was born at St. Paul’s Rectory, Sparendaam (Plaisance), East Coast Demerara (in British Guiana, now Guyana), on October 10th, 1876. He was educated at Queen’s College, Georgetown. Alfred was a law student of the Middle Temple before returning to British Guiana in 1893 where he entered the Colonial Civil Service as a clerk in the Police Department. Alfred was also an officer in the British Guiana Militia.
In 1900, Alfred was posted to Sierra Leone, as an Assistant Inspector with the Sierra Leone Frontier Force. In the same year, he was seconded to the West African Frontier Force (W.A.F.F.) and received a commission in the Sierra Leone Battalion with the local rank of lieutenant. He was subsequently promoted to the rank of captain. Alfred commanded a company of the W.A.F.F. in the successful Kissi Expedition of 1905 to deal with raids by the Kissi tribes in the Pangama district of Sierra Leone, led by the principal instigator, Chief Kafura. For this service, Alfred received the Kissi campaign medal with clasp. Later in the same year, he was appointed Assistant Colonial Secretary, Sierra Leone, acting as Colonial Secretary in 1909, 1910 and 1912. In 1913, he was transferred to the Gold Coast (now Ghana) becoming Assistant (Senior) Colonial Secretary.
Capt. Alfred Farrar, West Africa Frontier Force, 1905.
Alfred’s military experience qualified him for service at the outbreak of World War I in the training of men for the army. In 1915, after completing courses in England at Hythe and Aldershot in drill, signalling, musketry telegraphy and surveying, Alfred received a commission in the 3rd Battalion Essex Regiment with the rank of 2nd Lieutenant, and was seconded once again to the West African Frontier Force. Alfred seemed destined to climb to the top of the ladder of the Colonial Service, but tragically the ship in which he was travelling to join his family on leave in England, the S.S Apapa, [1] was torpedoed at 4 am on Wednesday 28th November, 1917 by U-boat U-96, three miles North by East from Lynes Point, Anglesey. Seventy-seven passengers and crew were lost. The family were told afterwards that Alfred had given his life preserver to a 23 year old nurse, Miss Esther Doris Soward (daughter of Sir Alfred Walter Soward), and was himself lost. Unfortunately, this brave act was not enough to save Miss Soward, who also perished. Alfred and Miss Soward’s names appear on the War Memorial in Accra, which was erected after the war and officially unveiled on November 11th, 1924 by the Governor of the Gold Coast, Brigadier-General Sir Frederick Gordon Guggisberg K.C.M.G., D.S.O. (1869–1930). [2] The inscription on the War Memorial commemorating those passengers from the Gold Coast that perished on SS ‘Apapa’ reads: Drowned S.S “Apapa” 28th November, 1917, A. Farrar, C.H. Holtermann,, Miss E.D. Soward, C.A.Harragin, W.P. Townsend.
The Second Engineer of S.S. Apapa provided the following account of the disaster: I had just gone on watch and was on the bottom platform on the engine-room when an explosive body came through the starboard side about just level with the bottom platform, and exploded, immediately on which the engine-room flooded. I at once stopped the engine and the circulating pumps and, meeting the fourth engineer during my look round the engines, I told him to get on deck as there was nothing more necessary. I was carried off my feet by the rush of water, but succeeded in getting to the ladder, and reached the middle grating, from which I pulled J. McMillan, a greaser, from the lower platform. We then both got on deck. I do not think any of my watch remained in the engine-room when I left. On reaching the deck, I found the vessel slowly sinking on a fairly even keel, and I proceeded to my appointed boat, which was then in the water with its appointed crew and 11 male adult passengers.
About two minutes after reaching the deck four or five explosions in quick succession took place, and the vessel immediately listed to starboard, and, not seeing anybody about near our boat, I went over the side and jumped into the water. I swam to the boat, seized the life–line, and was pulled into the boat. We drifted about until daybreak, probably about 6:30 a.m., when we were picked up by the S.S. [censored] and landed at [censored]. About five ships’ boats each side were either in the water or being launched when the second firing occurred. My impressions were that measures for safety were proceeding rapidly and no excitement prevailed. I did not see the attacking vessel nor any torpedo, either during or after the attack.
Two torpedoes struck the Apapa, and some survivors maintained that the second one was designed to exact the maximum number of casualties, since by that time the vessel was already doomed. Had the second torpedo not been fired there would have been, in all probability, little or no loss of life. The officer on watch at the time of the attack reported that: … the first torpedo struck the vessel amidships. The boats were at once lowered, but all of them had not been launched when the ship was struck by a second torpedo, which took effect in the stern, causing her to heave up. Not many minutes passed before she turned over. One of the funnels fell on some of the lowered boats. The cries of the women and children were pitiful. Everything possible was done to save them.
Alfred’s brother PIERCY AUSTIN FARRAR, then in Barbados, was the first member of the Farrar family in the West Indies to receive the news of Alfred’s death. The telegram simply said: ‘Fred lost; torpedoed 28th’. Alfred has been described as a fine man, with the physique and build typical of his Austin mother’s family, standing six feet four inches in his socks. He played an active role in Holy Trinity Church, Accra, where he was a churchwarden during what was apparently a difficult period in its existence. In a letter to Celia shortly after Alfred was killed, the Priest-in-Charge, the Reverend John Beggis, wrote: …He had for some time past been giving my predecessor and myself the greatest possible help in the government of the church here, and neither Colbeck nor I could possibly have steered matters through a somewhat stormy period without the able and cheerful assistance which he was so ready to give, and we shall never find another incumbent’s warden to surpass him…
In a speech by the Governor of the Gold Coast, Sir Hugh Charles Clifford, V.C., C.B. (1866–1941), at a special meeting of Council to pass a resolution of regret and condolence on the loss of life on the sinking of S.S. Apapa, Alfred was singled out for special mention: …Mr Farrar I had the privilege of counting as one of my official colleagues from the beginning of the year 1914, and I have always noted in him, a certain grave concentration upon all duties entrusted to him, both in his office work and as Clerk of this Council. In private life he had many friends and his generosity and kindness of disposition endeared him to all.
Accra War Memorial opening ceremony, November 11, 1924
While Alfred was in Sierra Leone he met his future wife, Edith Celia Packard (1871–1962), daughter of Sir Edward and Lady (Ellen) Packard (née Turner) (d. 1927), who was staying with her elder brother, Judge Edward Packard.
Alfred and Celia were married in St. Mary’s Church, Bramford, near Ipswich, on May 4th, 1906.
Sir Edward Packard K.C.B (1843–1932) was High Steward of Ipswich, and Freeman of the Borough. The Packard family can be traced back many generations in Suffolk. An ancestor, Thomas Packard, was Prior of the Priory of Woodbridge in 1467.
Celia, like many of her family, was a passionate sailor, and for many years raced competitively, often with her sister, Nina. She was a noted helm in the Orwell Corinthian class. In 1895, Celia and her father, also a noted yachtsman, sailed round Britain in a 40 ton schooner named Britannia.
Edith Celia Farrar (nee Packard)
In 1920, Celia took her sons to British Guiana to meet other members of the Farrar family and to see the country. They stayed with Alfred’s brother, CECIL FARRAR and his wife Leila (Richard Farrar’s grandparents). In 1935, Celia returned there on her own for another visit. Celia had many interests, and after her children were settled in school, she became very involved in the local Women’s Institute, becoming President, twice; and representing the organization in America on international conventions—not at all bothered at travelling on her own.
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[1] The S.S. Apapa was a 7,832 tonne merchant ship from the Elder, Dempster & Co. line. She was armed only for defence.
[2] By odd coincidence after his term as Governor of the Gold Coast ended in 1927, Sir Frederick was transferred to British Guiana, where he was Governor from 1928 to 1930. He was born in the city of Galt (now Cambridge), Ontario, Canada.