Roll of Honour 2023

P AGE 10

W ORLD W AR O NE (1914 - 1918) INCLUDING THOSE WHO DIED LATER AS A RESULT OF THIS WAR

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

S ET / H OUSE E N AME OSWALD CHARLES BLENCOWE (S EC L T ) A RRIVE SES 1902

L EFT SES 1908

R OLL N UMBER 1130 D IED 7:10:1916

W HERE GUEUDECOURT, SOMME, FRANCE S ERVING WITH OXFORD & BUCKS LIGHT INFANTRY

A GE 26

B URIED Marston St. Lawrence, South Northamptonshire R EMEMBERED

Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France; Marston St. Lawrence Memorials, Northants, and The St. Edward’s School Chapel (Wooden Plaque) and Cloisters Stone Memorial

Born 1890 in Brackley, Northants, he was the youngest of two SES brothers, both killed in The Great War and a member of a greater family who lost many other members in this conflict. He could have easily been in the shadow of his highly successful brother Lawrence, but forged his own path at St. Edward’s. Head Boy in 1908, he was a member of the School Cricket XI and Rugby Football XV from 1904 until he left (Captain of Cricket in 1907 and 1908), often playing in the same teams as his older brother. In 1908 he also won the School’s Boxing Cup. A keen early member of the School’s Rifle Cup (pre OTC) he won the Gold Medal of the National Service League for Section Commanders in 1907. On leaving School he helped his elder brother set up the Orleton School in Scarborough 1911, working as an Assistant Master. When war broke out , in agreement with his brother he enlisted first so that the school could survive and became a Sergeant in the London Regiment (The Royal Fusiliers) by late 1914. In December 1915 he was in France with his regiment, later transferring and being commissioned in the Second Reserve of the Oxford & Bucks Light Infantry during 1916. He was killed ‘going forward’ during the Somme Offensive at Gueudecourt, Northern France - a particularly hazardous part of the front.