St Edward's 150 Years - by Nicola Hunter

Chapter 6

ST EDWARD’S AND THE WARS

Above: An impression of the Anglo-German front line as painted by OSE Richard Carline (A, 1910– 12). Carline was a war artist and examples of his work are in the Imperial War Museum, including this, reproduced with their kind permission.

F rom its earliest days, St Edward’s has seen young OSE, and sometimes older ones, go to the major wars,where they have been a credit to the School, and many outstandingly so.TheArchive and R.D.Hill’s History of St Edward’s School abound with material telling the many, and often tragic, stories connected with these men.The School has much to be proud of in these individual contributions to the wars. Chris Nathan, our Archivist, has written a book on this subject, Cometh the Hour… Cometh the School…, which gives a clear summary of what part the community of St Edward’s played in these wars, and how the School managed during the First and SecondWorldWars.This chapter is dedicated to all those who were lost, and indeed all those who fought in these wars – whether they served in theArmy, Navy or Air Force. As with much of this book the character of the chapter depends to a great extent on the material we have in the Archive, and we have many letters from those fighting, inWorld War I in particular, so extracts from some of these are included and I think readers will find them interesting as well as very moving, even after all this time. I have relied very heavily on Chris Nathan’s writings for this chapter and readers should certainly consult his book for greater detail. I have taught bothWorldWars to Shell classes in History for some years now and often tell pupils about the School’s involvement, a subject I feel strongly about. Chris Nathan writes ‘I simply had no idea that the School, which I attended in the mid-1950s … had such a heritage of very brave men who didn’t hesitate to go to war, and then to excel, when the nation called. Of course, like any Teddies boy,

Left: Copper plaques commemorating those who fell in the Boer War.

Above: The Air Council gave this memorial window in recognition of men from the School who fought in the RAF. It was dedicated in 1955 and is by Hugh Easton.

I knew of Gibson and Bader who were, and still remain, two of the Second World War’s most notable servicemen. Then, more recently, the names of Adrian Warburton, Louis Strange and Arthur Banks have been the subjects of the written word and even films, as Gibson and Bader had been earlier. I think it is partly true that the School’s reputation for being unpretentious but whose education has produced so many who contribute a great deal, is in no small way due to the remarkable part that so many OSE played in the wars.’ No military education or training took place at the School until a low-key ‘Rifle Club’ came into being in 1905, at the

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