Harry Patch's Funeral

Harry Patch as we remember him Harry's funeral was held on Thursday, 6 August 2009 at Wells Cathedral.

Martin Hornby, Vice Chairman of the Western Front Association and Chairman of the Somerset Branch of the WFA, said in an interview with the Daily Telegraph that Harry Patch was a private man and a reluctant hero. "He was an ordinary chap but he felt he required finally to speak out. He wanted people to know just how awful war is. He did what he had to do. Not just for his generation but for the widows and damaged young servicemen of today. He realised he couldn't stand back from this. His one remit was: war is terrible."

Here below are some pictures taken by Christine Hindle, a member of the Somerset Branch of the WFA, and a friend of Harry's, and an article by David Seymour, WFA Education Officer. At the foot is a short video from ITN News showing some scenes from this moving day.

1,400 people formed the congregation inside Wells Cathedral for the funeral service of Harry Patch on 6 August 2009. This figure comprised 400 specially-invited guests and 1,000 members of the general public who had applied in person or by post to the cathedral authorities for tickets.

The Western Front Association was well represented in the cathedral by many members from the Somerset Branch, who knew Harry very well from his attendance over several years at their branch meetings. They were joined by contingents from the Dorset and South Wilts Branch and the Suffolk Branch, and by five members of the Executive Committee.

Car parks in Wells filled rapidly from 9.00am and the streets of the smallest city in England gradually saw small groups of people coalesce into crowds lining the route of the funeral procession from Harry's care home, at Fletcher House on the Glastonbury Road, to the cathedral. At the same time people gathered on the Cathedral Green by the West Front of the cathedral. As we arrived in the Close the final rehearsal with soldiers from The Rifles was taking place. Guests were admitted to the cathedral at 10.30am and all were required to be in their seats by 11.40 but long before that time all seats were occupied with the Nave and its side aisles full. The Duchess of Gloucester and the Duchess of Cornwall arrived at 11.45.

Shortly before midday Harry's coffin was borne into the cathedral, through the tiny West Door, by six young Riflemen in a procession headed by the Dean of Wells and the Bishop of Taunton and to the accompaniment of sentences read from the Bible. The introduction was given by the Dean of Wells and this concluded with The Lord's Prayer. The congregation then sang the hymn "O God our help in ages past". The service continued with a reading, by a member of the Belgian Government, from "The Last Fighting Tommy". Many will recall this part of the book where Harry told of the young man whose last word before dying was "Mother". A chorister of Wells Cathedral then performed a song chosen by Harry's grandson to reflect Harry's view of the futility of war: Pete Seeger's "Where have all the flowers gone?". The service continued with a warm personal tribute to Harry from his close friend Jim Ross, who spoke of both the ordinary and extra-ordinary nature of Harry Patch. A violinist from Wells Cathedral School then performed J S Bach's Loure from the Violin Partita No 3 in E Major BWV 1006. The reading from Corinthians 5, v14 - 20, was given by a member of the German Government and the address which followed was by the Dean of Wells. The congregation then stood to sing "Through all the changing scenes of life". Harry's medals were bequeathed to his regimental museum and there followed a brief ceremony in which the representative of the French Government handed them to the President of the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry Museum. Prayers followed and then the choir sang "Justorum Animae" by Gabriel Jackson. The Bishop of Taunton then performed the Commendation and the coffin left the cathedral as the congregation sang "Dear Lord and Father of mankind". The procession stopped outside the West Door for the Last Post, one minute's silence and Reveille. Harry's close friend Nick Fear concluded the service with the exhortation:

"With proud thanksgiving let us remember our brethren who fell.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them."

The congregation listened to the organist play Sir Edward Elgar's Nimrod as the hearse left Cathedral Green for the private service of interment. The retiring collection was for the RNLI.

All were agreed that Harry's life, as a soldier on the Western Front, as a Somersetshire plumber and as an advocate of peace and reconciliation, had been fittingly commemorated in this service.

The funeral cortege

harry patch cortege