Joseph (Joe) Farnworth was my grandfather's older brother and named after their father. My grandfather David Reginald (Reg) signed up far too young, was gassed, and survived. He remained fascinated and puzzled by the war all his life, reading about it until he died in 1987, and he was a great font of often humorous stories. It took me a long time to realise there was so much he did not share. Although his wife Edna, born in 1909, could not have met Joe, she refrained from celebrating her birthday, which fell on 11th November, as a deep and solemn homage to Joe and to the fallen. Thus Joe was caught in loving, wondering memory and tribute up to Edna’s death 1993, almost eighty years. My dearest father, their son, Roger talked to me about Gallipolli - and Joe’s death – from time to time, captured by the horror of it all.

Edna and Reg, and now Roger, have died. Direct links to Joe are no more. Of Joe personally I know nothing. I am sorry I did not ask my father for some fragments of memory shared by Reg. Today, 4th June 2015, my father Roger would have taken a walk on the wild cliffs of Cornwall, or on the moor, to remember. In his place, and in the place of Reg and Edna, I remember and honour Joe Farnworth today.  In the autumn I will plant a tree at our home in Cornwall, hoping that beyond my time this tree will take Joe’s memory, and the memories of those who cared for and loved him, forth.

Cathy Rozel Farnworth