Roll of Honour 2023

P AGE 235

W ORLD W AR II

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

Name WILLIAM HOWARD PAGET (Eng Artificer)

Lef SES 1936

Roll Number 2779 Died 11:12:1941

Set / House A

Arrive SES 1932

Where OFF KUANTAN, SOUTH CHINA SEA

Age 23

Serving with R.N.V.R.

Buried No Known Grave Remembered Naval Memorial, Chatham (Part V), St. Peter’s Churchyard, Elford, Staffs (Shared Tombstone), and The St. Edward’s School WW2 Memorial Born Queensland, Australia 1919, the son of an OSE. ‘He was of a quiet disposition, remarkably keen on his School and House, where he had been preceded by his father and several uncles. He was liked by all at SES’ (Chronicle). He was in the ‘Special’ Form when he left. He joined the R.N.V.R. in 1939. By 1941 he was an Engine Room Artificer Fifth Class on HMS ‘Repulse’ when he was killed in action, his vessel together with HMS ‘Prince of Wales’ were both sunk by land-based torpedo-bombers and aircraft from the Japanese Imperial Fleet in the South China Sea, north of Singapore, off the east coast of Malaya, near Kuantan, Pahang. This major action was referred to as the Naval Battle of Malaya and turned out to be a significant defeat for the British Navy, severely weakening the British Eastern Fleet in Singapore. Eight hundred and forty British crewmen were lost from both vessels.