Roll of Honour 2023

P AGE 155

W ORLD W AR II

S T . E DWARD ’ S S CHOOL , O XFORD R OLL OF H ONOUR

Name ALAN DEWETT CUNLIFFE (Lt)

Lef SES 1938

Arrive SES 1932

Roll Number 2749 Died 16:04:1941

Set / House B

Where BIRMINGHAM ENGLAND

Age 23

Serving with 3 BOMB DISPOSAL, RYL ENGINEERS

Buried No Known Grave

Remembered Brookswood 1939-45 Memorial, Pirbright and The St. Edward’s School WW2 Memorial

Born Bootle, Lancs 1918, the older of two SES brothers, the sons of an Oxford Don. He was a School Prefect, a member of the School’s Rowing VIII of 1937/8, Sergeant OTC, Maths VIth Form. He went up to Glasgow University to study Naval Architectural Engineering but when war broke out he joined the Royal Engineers as a Sapper in 1940, later accepted on their Officer Cadet Training Unit. Commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in 1941 and allocated to the 3rd Bomb Disposal Company later that year. Soon afterwards he was killed defusing a bomb in a Birmingham factory in mid-April. ‘Scholastic achievement and skill at games did not come easily, but he applied himself to such purpose that he became no mean player, a Henley oar, and seemed on the verge of a congenial career in Naval Architecture - an ambitious career. He inspired respect’ (Chronicle).