St Edward's 150 Years - by Nicola Hunter

St Edward’s: 150 Years

Chapter 6 / St Edward’s and the Wars

SQUADRON LEADER GEOFFREY DOUGLAS LEYLAND (B, 1928–33) Prisoners of War were sometimes able to take exams while incarcerated, and the results were listed in the Chronicle . An example was Squadron Leader Geoffrey Douglas Leyland (B, 1928–33), who passed his Final Examination of theLawSocietywithdistinction under these circumstances. This made him eligible to sit the Honours Examination two years after the war ended, and he later became a solicitor.

Of Guy Gibson: ‘He was a boy completely devoid of nastiness, very good natured, a great “joiner in”.’ – Joe McCall (SES, 1934–8).

James Anthony Leathart (E, 1925–34) being decoratedbytheKing,1940.

Of Adrian Warburton: ‘The bravest of them all.’

– Sir Charles Portal, Marshal of the Air Force, 1945.

as a Pilot Officer, the lowest commissioned rank, as he had only just re-enlisted. He had repaired damaged aircraft under fire and then personally flew out the last of them, dodging enemy fire despite having no guns of his own. A note was added that he had never before flown this particular type of aircraft! In July 1940 Guy Gibson (A, 1932–6) appeared in the Chronicle for the first time when he was awarded the DFC for his work as a bomber pilot with 83 Squadron flying Handley Page Hampden aircraft. In October 1940 Douglas Bader (A, 1923–8), who was flying with two artificial legs, was mentioned for his award of a DSO in recognition of his leading his squadron ‘with such skill and ability that thirty-three enemy planes had been destroyed’. He was now leading a squadron of Canadian pilots and had been involved in an attack against 100 enemy bombers and fighter-bombers, downing 11 without so much as taking a bullet hole himself.

which had somehow gone unnoticed by the School’s Local Defence Volunteers (LDV) patrol on the lookout for enemy parachutists. The camp was to house a portion of the returned Expeditionary Force from France. The returning servicemen were exhausted and many were wounded. At this time, with the potential danger of invasion, there was a need for those schools which were in vulnerable locations to be re-housed. Warden Kendall offered Kenneth Harding, OSE and veteran of the Great War, now Headmaster of St Bede’s Prep School in Eastbourne, a ‘haven if it was necessary’ (Hill). In June 1940 St Bede’s arrived in Oxford and for the next five years shared the premises with the boys of St Edward’s. This arrangement worked very well and, when peace came, 35 of the older St Bede’s boys stayed in Oxford to finish their education here. Similarly Malvern College had evacuated to Blenheim when their school was requisitioned, and they used the St Edward’s labs for two years at times when the School did not need them. By 1942 a total of 24 acres of the grounds were ploughed up and sown with wheat. Each House had an allotment beyond the pigsties and these were worked on before and after games. In the carpentry shop the boys worked for the war effort by shaping metal aero parts and paying into the War Memorial Fund, at their request, the not inconsiderable £360 they earned. There were few domestic staff due to the requirements of the war and necessary munitions work, so the boys made up the difference, making beds, serving food, washing up, preparing vegetables, mowing the Quad and stoking the boilers. While historians endlessly argue about the extent to which the home front worked together for the war

St Bede’s boys in the Quad c. 1942.

effort, perhaps this is a good illustration of an institution and individuals actually doing so. During the war the nearest to the School that bombs fell was at Kidlington to the north and Nuneham Courtenay to the south. During the threat of raids one Housemaster said ‘I wish that Pavilion weren’t so white.’ While there was a threat of a blitz in Oxford, Warden Kendall made sure of protection and food for the School by arranging for the police to have their headquarters in the Work Block should the worst happen (a telephone exchange had been installed there, just in case, in Room 3), and the National Fire Service would come from nearby cities and be fed in the School kitchens. The position of the School, outside the city but close to it and with so many amenities, made it a good option for these groups to use as their headquarters. The first mention of an OSE in the Chronicle under ‘Awards and Decorations’ in this war was in July 1940: James Anthony Leathart (E, 1928-34), a Flight Lieutenant in the RAF who was awarded the DSO for gallantry in flying operations. Amongst other feats he had rescued his squadron commander, who had been shot down, and led a large number of offensive patrols over Northern France. In the same Chronicle was an announcement of Louis Strange’s (see page 113) first decoration of this war, a Bar to his DFC won in the Great War. He was now 50 years old, serving

Above: The surviving Dambusters taken the morning after the famous mission, Gibson sixth from the right. Left:WardenKendallhadinvitedGuyGibson to the School after the extraordinary raid of 16/17 May 1943. Here is his reply of 30 May, in the School archive.

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