Armistice Called

Death and the Soldier, oil on canvas, Hans Larwin, 1917

A Day in History - 11 November 1918

On 11th November 1918, the Armistice was signed between the Entente and their last remaining opponent, Germany. Signed in Le Francport, it came into effect at 11 am CET, commonly referred to as "the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month". This moment marked the end of hostilities on the Western Front during World War I, bringing four years of brutal warfare to a close.

The immense cost of this conflict is immortalized in countless graves, including those of John Parr and George Edwin Ellison, whose resting places represent the first and last British soldiers to fall in the Great War. Their graves, situated in the cemetery of St. Symphorien on the outskirts of the Belgian city of Mons, face each other, with the 15 feet of lawn that separates them poignantly symbolizing the 700,000 fellow British servicemen who lost their lives during the conflict.

The adjacent graves situated at St Symphorien Military Cemetary

Private John Parr, who grew up in North Finchley, in London was a reconnaissance cyclist, who gathered vital information on advancing enemy forces. Historians note that Parr was likely killed by rifle fire on the 21st of August whilst searching for a missing British unit. The age given to Parr on his gravestone is 20 but was only 17 at the time of death, having lied at his age to join up.

The only known photograph of Private John Parr

George Ellison, a coal miner from Leeds, had survived four years of trench warfare surrounding Ypres and fought at the Battle of the Somme in 1916. At 40 years of age, Parr was killed as part of a purposeless advance, as it had become clear that peace was on the cusp. He was shot on the outskirts of Mons and died at 9.30 am on November 11th 1918, 90 minutes before the war ended. Ellison’s story seems to capture the sacrifice of many compelled to fight but inescapably, the pointlessness and the waste.

Photograph of Private George Edwin Ellison

The ‘first’ and ‘last’ status of these men was unknown at the time of burial, both buried in St Symphonien having fought in the first and last major battles in the fields surrounding the cemetery. Their graves mark 4 years of endless fighting, a testament to the futility of war, where countless lives were sacrificed for mere inches of ground.