St Edward's, 150 Years

Chapter 6 / St Edward’s and the Wars

THE BOER WAR There was no conscription for this war but many OSE quickly volunteered. Hill tells the story of John Garratt Bussell (B, 1898–1900), who joined up while still a prefect at the School, and as he awaited sailing orders at the end of the Easter Term of 1900 he was wearing full khaki battledress, which he removed to run the School’s Mile Race which, despite technically having left the School, he won by 50 yards. He later died in World War I, in 1915. The Chronicles of the time recorded OSE activities in the war and in March 1900 an unnamed OSE asked ‘Is not the ‘We had a fine gallop of about five miles, then suddenly coming over a rise we saw them (the Boers), and our Pom-Poms and Maxims began to talk to them’. Letter dated 6 October 1900 at Oliphant’s Nek. John Garratt Bussell: ‘I think we are bound to be home by Xmas. I’m going to swim it, other means failing’ Letter dated 8th September 1900 at De Aar.

A Christmas card sent by Noel Hudson during the Great War, 1918.

present a favourable time to start a Cadet Corps at the School? It is sure to be popular and certain to be beneficial.’ Others also pressed for this change. Meanwhile the School, under Warden Hudson, kept abreast of the part OSE were playing in the war, and J.G. Bussell was a particularly good correspondent with news about battles and of other OSE. In total 79 served in this war, and the first death while actually fighting was Alfred Eyton Spurling (D, 1894–6), in 1901. He became a heroic figure due to his involvement in Mafeking, the siege he had described in the Chronicle , including the seven months of deprivation with rations that were ‘one biscuit in the morning and one piece of polony at night’, though there was no shortage of tobacco and coffee. He had returned to England to convalesce from malaria and went back to South Africa in 1901 with the Imperial Light Horse. He died at Rietport shortly after being promoted to Sergeant by Lord Kitchener for conspicuous valour. The Chronicle tribute said ‘He made light of his privations: he shunned applause: he was modest as he was brave.’ A plaque and window by Kempe in his memory are in the School Chapel on the south side of the nave. When the Boer War ended in 1902 Hill says that St Edward’s was sixth in the country’s school lists ‘in proportion of its contribution to the number available for service’. Oak panelling was added to the Chapel walls and the names of the three who died in the war, Alfred Lund (Roll No 274, 1874–8), the first OSE to die in a war (of Enteric Fever), Alfred Spurling and Percy Reginald Agnew (B, 1891–4), on copper plaques. Plaques for those who died in earlier campaigns appear there too – a practice continued in the Great War with wooden plaques. WORLD WAR I J.M. Sing, newly appointed as Warden, was active in getting a Cadet Corps (or Rifle Club) established, and the proposal to the School’s Council was agreed at a meeting on 31 March 1905. The Rifle Club was begun that year with an initial membership

of 66 boys. Drill rifles were obtained from the War Office and National Rifle Association, but despite the enthusiasm the Cadet Corps did not come into existence until 1909. The first Officer Training Corps (OTC) was set up with uniforms provided and the first camp held at Tidworth that year. The Rifle Club was incorporated in the OTC together with its armoury. Malcolm Oxley (former Sub-Warden) writes, ‘the boys’ own reminiscences show that they judged the Classics, the games and the Officers’ Training Corps to be the most important features of the School.’ Nearly all the OTC’s first intake was to enlist and fight in the 1914–18 War. The declaration of war in 1914 did not stop the OTC attending the annual OTC Camp, even though the War Office had ordered that the School armoury be safeguarded, and the guns were deposited in the cellars of Oxford Town Hall. Ninety per cent of them were returned to the armoury soon after the outbreak of war and parades were increased to seven per week. The enthusiasm for volunteering for the war was country- wide, and OSE and older existing pupils were swept up in the patriotic cause. Seven out of ten prefects from the term preceding war were commissioned by the Autumn Term in 1914. Subsequently almost every boy signed up on reaching his 18th birthday, thus leaving before the scheduled end of his school days. Seven of the teaching staff enlisted, four of whom did not return; one of these was Leonard Davies, member of the Common Room, Classical scholar and Leander oarsman. Hill says that his last words to Wilfrid Cowell, the already very long-serving master, were, ‘Remember, in any case, I’m glad I went.’

request of the boys. In the early days of the School, as we have seen, the predominant aim of the Wardens, in addition to giving boys who attended St Edward’s a first-class education, was to ensure that religious teaching should be given special attention. Military matters were certainly not a priority. Nevertheless career servicemen began to appear amongst OSE, probably due to the large size of Victorian families and the need for younger sons to find valued employment. Between 1863 and 1892, one in ten boys went into the services. For example, a naval OSE with a long and distinguished career was Herbert Edward à Court, who joined the Royal Navy in 1890 and retired in 1927 as a Vice Admiral. The School’s foundation came after the Crimean War but over 60 OSE were involved in various military campaigns before the Boer War in 1899. The seventh, 12th and 15th boys to join the School chose the Services and early OSE fought in various campaigns including the Afghan and Mazin Campaigns, the Zulu War and the Boer War. They fought in many distant places with now almost forgotten regiments that included the Cardigan Militia, the Bombay Cavalry, the Cape Mounted Rifles and the Assam and Behar Light Horse. In 1886 a new gym had been opened and Hill says in his History of St Edward’s School that there arrived at the School ‘the splendidly martial figure of Instructor Adams,’ who was to instruct in what the Chronicle referred to as ‘the Noble Art of Self-Defence’, and remained at the School for 27 years. Things were changing.

Above: Percy Reginald Agnew (B, 1891–4). Top left : John Garratt Bussell (B, 1898–1900). Right: Alfred Eyton Spurling (D, 1894–6), the first OSE to die in a major war.

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