Roll of Honour 2023

P AGE 3

B OER W AR (1900 - 1902)

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

N AME HERMAN MAITLAND AGNEW (L T )

L EFT SES 1892

R OLL N UMBER 795

S ET / H OUSE NA

A RRIVE SES 1891

D IED 25:12:1901

W HERE TWEEFONTEIN, SOUTH AFRICA S ERVING WITH IMPERIAL YEOMANRY

A GE 25

Buried Harrismith Military Cemetery, Thabo, South Africa Remembered Harrismith Military Cemetery, Memorial, Thabo, South Africa and The St. Edward’s School Chapel (Brass Plaque)

Born Liverpool in 1876, the eldest of three SES brothers, all of whom joined the School in the same term. While at the School he rowed in the School IV of 1892 and later returned as part of the OSE VIII against the School in 1899. Herman only stayed at St. Edward’s for a short time before leaving to join the Bank of England in 1893, where he remained for six years. In 1899 he left the banking world and joined the Imperial Yeomanry as a Private in order to fight in the first Boer War as a volunteer. As with the seventy or so other OSE who bought in these wars, Agnew corresponded regularly with the ‘Chronicle’ giving updates of his experiences and progress. In one letter he stated “I wish that I could get a good smack at the Boers some day, but they play their game to perfection and never give us a chance”. Early in the war he suffered from fever and was also wounded, and was awarded the DSM (although he protested he had no idea why!) and in 1901 was made up to Lieutenant. He was killed on Christmas Day 1901 in a surprise attack early in the morning when the Boers over-ran the camp he was in and he was shot dead trying to organise its defences. A fellow officer commented ‘he was a very quiet plucky chap, he fell as every soldier would wish when his time came’. His younger OSE brother Percy, (Roll 796) who also served in the Boer War, was severely wounded and discharged in 1901.