Never to Return: Brighton College's Fallen 1914–18
By Max Usher
()
About this ebook
By November 1918, of the 280 boys in the Chapel that day, 149 of them lay dead, casualties of the Great War. Ten of them were still teenagers. This book presents mini biographies of the School's former students killed in the First World War and serves as a fitting tribute to their bravery and fortitude.
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Never to Return - Max Usher
Contents
Roll of Honour
Preface
Introduction
1914
1915
1916
1917
1918
Aftermath
Acknowledgements
Copyright Information
Brighton College Centennial Remembrance Statue 2016, by Philip Jackson CVO DL MA FRBS.
Roll of Honour
Vincent Waterfall, killed in action, 22nd August 1914, Belgium, aged 22
John Whish, died of wounds, 8th September 1914, France, aged 37
Geoffrey White, killed in action, 10th September 1914, Belgium, aged 23
Neil Wright, killed in action, 15th September 1914, France, aged 20
Paul Veyrier-Montagnères, killed in action, 18th September 1914, France, aged 23
Hargrave Curtis-Raleigh, died of illness, 27th September 1914, India, aged 29
Rodolphe Armbruster, killed in action, 23rd October 1914, France, aged 21
Charles King, killed in action, 30th October 1914, Belgium, aged 51
Harley Duff, killed in action, 1st November 1914, Belgium, aged 18
Ernest Lane-Anderson, killed in action, 10th November 1914, Belgium, aged 20
Lionel Gaisford, died of wounds, 23rd November 1914, France, aged 26
Reginald Pope, killed in action, 16th February 1915, Belgium, aged 23
William Coxon, killed in action, 11th March 1915, France, aged 21
Henry Etlinger, died of wounds, 27th April 1915, Belgium, aged 35
Edward Baddeley, killed in action, 8th May 1915, Belgium, aged 38
Leonard Walford, killed in action, 8th May 1915, Belgium, aged 19
Val Lander, killed in action, 9th May 1915, France, aged 21
Isaac Ridgway, died of wounds, 12th May 1915, Turkey, aged 28
Gordon Belcher, killed in action, 16th May 1915, Belgium, aged 29
Albert Holmes, died of pneumonia, 19th May 1915, Great Britain, aged 43
John Stollery, killed in action, 24th May 1915, Belgium, aged 28
Eric Garner-Smith, killed in action, 25th May 1915, France, aged 23
Frank Keddell, killed in action, 8th June 1915, France, aged 23
Henry Hatton, killed in action, 16th June 1915, Belgium, aged 28
John Wickham, died of wounds, 22nd June 1915, Belgium, aged 30
Hubert Nunn, killed in action, 23rd June 1915, Turkey, aged 24
Edward Dyer, killed in action, 28th June 1915, Turkey, aged 41
Alexander Glenday, died of wounds, 8th August 1915, France, aged 27
Aubrey Fyldes, killed in action, 9th August 1915, Turkey, aged 18
Philip Williams, killed in action, 10th August 1915, Turkey, aged 21
Henry Watkin, died of wounds, 21st August 1915, Turkey, aged 41
Dennis Blyth, killed in action, 28th August 1915, Belgium, aged 22
Walter Martin, killed in action, 13th September 1915, France, aged 22
Alan Ventris, killed in action, 14th September 1915, Belgium, aged 18
Alan Young, killed in action, 25th September 1915, France, aged 20
Bryan Cubitt, killed in action, 26th September 1915, France, aged 23
Kenneth Goodyear, killed in action, 28th September 1915, France, aged 25
Edward Vaile, killed in action, 5th October 1915, Belgium, aged 24
Walter Stewart, died of wounds, 3rd November 1915, Great Britain, aged 42
Herbert Lewis, killed in action, 4th November 1915, Turkey, aged 20
Edward Welch, killed in action, 22nd December 1915, Mesopotamia, aged 26
Charles Turton accidentally, killed, 4th February 1916, Great Britain, aged 21
Leslie Evans, died of wounds, 16th March 1916, Belgium, aged 19
Reginald Reade, killed in action, 5th April 1916, Mesopotamia, aged 24
Alfred Webb, died of wounds, 4th May 1916, Mesopotamia, aged 22
Leslie Young, killed in action, 21st May 1916, France, aged 25
William Griffith, killed in action, 31st May 1916, Battle of Jutland, aged 18
Leslie Woodroffe, died of wounds, 4th June 1916, France, aged 30
Hubert Garbett, killed in action, 30th June 1916, France, aged 28
Basil Belcher, killed in action, 1st July 1916, France, aged 22
George Guyon, killed in action, 1st July 1916, France, aged 41
Spencer Jeudwine, killed in action, 1st July 1916, France, aged 20
Gerald Neame, killed in action, 1st July 1916, France, aged 31
Theodore Chalk, killed in action, 3rd July 1916, France, aged 30
Lister Wickham, killed in action, 3rd July 1916, France, aged 21
Gilfrid Reeve, killed in action, 8th July 1916, France, aged 27
George Venner, killed in action, 8th July 1916, France, aged 24
Ralph Wickham, killed in action, 9th July 1916, Belgium, aged 41
John Scobie, killed in action, 29th July 1916, France, aged 21
David Gaussen, killed in action, 31st July 1916, France, aged 23
George Ross, killed in action, 9th August 1916, France, aged 31
Maurice Frisch, killed in action, 25th August 1916, France, aged 22
Charlton Reade, killed in action, 9th September 1916, France, aged 18
Walter Bartlett, killed in action, 14th September 1916, France, aged 38
John Webb, killed in action, 14th September 1916, France, aged 21
Ferdinand Glenday, killed in action, 15th September 1916, France, aged 24
John Mackreth, killed in action, 15th September 1916, France, aged 23
Robert Mitchell, killed in action, 10th October 1916, Belgium, aged 41
Herbert Sawyer, killed in action, 12th October 1916, France, aged 27
Philip Vaile accidentally, killed, 14th October 1916, France, aged 22
Frederick Brown, killed in action, 13th November 1916, France, aged 25
Derrick Johnson, killed in action, 4th December 1916, France, aged 21
Harold Body, killed in action, 15th December 1916, Belgium, aged 26
Robert Odell, died of wounds, 20th December 1916, France, aged 22
Harold Surgey, killed in action, 3rd January 1917, East Africa, aged 23
William Kemp, killed in action, 28th February 1917, France, aged 20
John Buckland, killed in action, 1st March 1917, France, aged 20
Ronald Ross, killed in action, 4th March 1917, France, aged 21
Bertram Hazlehurst, died of wounds, 16th March 1917, France, aged 20
Frederick Bartley, killed in action, 26th March 1917, Palestine, aged 30
Sidney Stretton accidentally, killed, 27th March 1917, Great Britain, aged 28
Alfred Schiff, killed in action, 9th April 1917, France, aged 19
Edmund Childe-Pemberton, died of wounds, 13th April 1917, France, aged 21
Foster Thorne, killed in action, 18th April 1917, Mesopotamia, aged 36
William Jay, killed in action, 25th April 1917, France, aged 22
William Clapp, died of wounds, 29th April 1917, France, aged 23
George Archdale, died of wounds, 30th April 1917, France, aged 20
Leonard Gandar-Dower, killed in action, 3rd May 1917, France, aged 26
John Ainslie, killed in action, 19th May 1917, France, aged 29
Francis Morris, died of wounds, 29th May 1917, France, aged 21
Raymond Belemore, died of wounds, 8th June 1917, France, aged 31
George Knowles, died of wounds, 10th June 1917, France, aged 19
Arthur Hodge, killed in action, 13th June 1917, France, aged 20
George Harvey, killed in action, 21th June 1917, France, aged 38
Archer Richardson, killed in action, 25th June 1917, Belgium, aged 24
Edgar Uridge, killed in action, 26th June 1917, France, aged 20
Harold Belcher, killed in action, 8th July 1917, Belgium, aged 42
John Akers, killed in action, 20th July 1917, Belgium, aged 19
William Ross, killed in action, 23rd July 1917, Belgium, aged 25
Edward Nunn, died of fever, 24th July 1917, Mesopotamia, aged 20
Colin Wise, killed in action, 31st July 1917, Belgium, aged 25
Guy Hamilton, killed in action, 1st August 1917, Belgium, aged 19
Eric Halliwell, killed in action, 11th September 1917, Belgium, aged 20
William Botting, killed in action, 25th September 1917, Belgium, aged 22
Bertram Kilner, killed in action, 25th September 1917, Over the North Sea, aged 22
Bernard Powers, killed in action, 25th September 1917, France, aged 20
Francis Thompson, died of wounds, 3rd October 1917, Belgium, aged 28
Leslie Scott, killed in action, 12th October 1917, Belgium, aged 33
Hugo Bazett, killed in action, 14th October 1917, Belgium, aged 38
Richard Groves, died of wounds, 24th October 1917, Belgium, aged 20
Charles Homer accidentally, killed while flying, 27th October 1917, Great Britain, aged 23
Harold Wright, killed in action, 30th October 1917, Belgium, aged 27
Henry Griffith accidentally, killed while flying, 2nd November 1917, Great Britain, aged 26
Ewart Mackintosh, killed in action, 21st November 1917, France, aged 24
Leonard Lee, killed in action, 30th November 1917, France, aged 19
George Tolson, died of wounds, 1st December 1917, Palestine, aged 28
Raymond Belcher, died of wounds, 7th December 1917, France, aged 34
Robert Harvey, killed in action, 25th December 1917, France, aged 22
Frederick Hobson, killed in action, 19th March 1918, Belgium, aged 35
Roger King, invalided from the army and died, 19th March 1918, Great Britain, aged 43
Eric Williams, killed in action, 27th March 1918, France, aged 23
Geoffrey Neame, killed in action, 2nd April 1918, France, aged 34
George King, died of wounds, 30th April 1918, France, aged 22
Egbert Hulbert, killed in action, 25th May 1918, France, aged 19
Francis Butt, killed in action, 26th May 1918, France, aged 18
William Silver, killed in action, 8th June 1918, France, aged 36
Roy Field, died of wounds, 29th June 1918, France, aged 19
Robert Horton, died of wounds, 13th August 1918, France, aged 20
Victor Bone, killed in action, 18th September 1918, Macedonia, aged 21
Richard Norton, killed in action, 18th September 1918, France, aged 19
William Price, killed in action, 21st September 1918, Palestine, aged 28
Alfred Westwood, killed in action, 21st September 1918, France, aged 28
Cyril West, killed in action, 28th September 1918, Belgium, aged 19
Geoffrey Bonser, killed in action, 29th September 1918, Belgium, aged 29
Frederic Hedgcock, killed in action, 29th September 1918, France, aged 20
Colin Campbell, died of wounds, 30th September 1918, France, aged 21
Charles Burt, died of illness, 27th October 1918, Ireland, aged 32
Keith Scobie accidentally, killed, 27th October 1918, Great Britain, aged 21
Nikolai de Plaoutine, died of smallpox, 31st October 1918, Poland/Ukraine, aged 50
Herman Oxley, killed in action, 4th November 1918, France, aged 25
Arthur Cave, died of pneumonia, 10th November 1918, Great Britain, aged 22
Gilbert Parkinson, died of pneumonia, 14th November 1918, Italy, aged 22
Reginald Grant, unknown, 26th November 1918, Great Britain, aged 42
Sidney Pearce, died of pneumonia, 6th December 1918, Great Britain, aged 28
Godfrey Thomas, died of exhaustion, 17th February 1919, Great Britain, aged 62
John Burstall, died of wounds, 12th April 1919, France, aged 42
Christopher Trafford, died of tuberculosis, 14th September 1919, Great Britain, aged 19
Samuel Newton, died of wounds, 13th December 1919, Great Britain, aged 22
Hector Crosley, died of malaria contracted during military service, 13th August 1921, Madeira, aged 33
Preface
Richard Cairns, Remembrance Day Ceremony, 11 November 2014.
This book is a memorial and a warning.
It is a memorial to the lives of 149 Brighton College pupils who lost all that they had to give. Here we catch glimpses of the schoolboys they once were. The cricketer. The actor. The school prefect. The recognised and the unrecognised. We get a sense of what they might have become. A lawyer. A vicar. A colonial administrator. And we learn something of their families. Parents. Brothers and sisters. Wives and children. In some cases we see pictures of their homes. An Edwardian terrace in Hove. A vicarage in Lincolnshire. A palace in St Petersburg. Each boy, each man, has his own story. Yet theirs was a common destiny. Death before their time. And it is about their deaths that we know most. We might argue about the virtues of the cause for which they died but we cannot argue with the virtue of their sacrifice. They died believing that they were defending our country, its values and its traditions. And for that, we owe thanks and respect.
But this book is also a warning. This island has been untouched by war for 71 years. We have grown accustomed to peace and we take it for granted. We cannot imagine a day when a whole generation will be called upon once again to make the ultimate sacrifice. But we must be vigilant. Freedom is not free.
Richard Cairns,
Head Master,
Brighton College,
July 2016
Scottish American War Memorial in West Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh. On the frieze at the back of the memorial are the words ‘If it be life that waits I shall live forever unconquered; if death I shall die at last strong in my pride and free’, from the poem ‘The Creed’ by Lt Ewart Mackintosh MC OB (1893–1917). (see here).
Introduction
Portrait of Canon W. R. Dawson by Finch, date unknown. In summer 1914 he addressed the school in Chapel, calling on every boy present to stand ready to sacrifice his life in defence of his country. Though the events that sparked the war had not yet unfolded, he clearly sensed the underlying volatility.
The origins of this book lie in the ‘Lest We Forget’ project undertaken by all 214 members of the Brighton College Fourth Form in the academic year 2014–15. All were asked, together with their families, to research and write up a particular Old Brightonian killed in the First World War, using such resources as were available, for example the 1911 Census and the College’s own reports and records. Many of the projects were excellent; others ran up against the problem familiar to historians of conflicting or incomplete information. Nonetheless, in their entirety the projects provide a substantial body of knowledge about the lives and deaths of those 149 Old Brightonians, whose names were listed in the College records but about whom very little else was known. Accordingly, the Head Master, Richard Cairns, asked me to use the projects to create a biographical guide to the names on the War Memorial outside the north door of the chapel. It should be added that the 149 listed there do not represent the sum total of the Brightonians who served in the Great War, indeed the total number was recorded as being 976, and that, furthermore, the school was much smaller than it is now, the annual roll in 1914 being 233. In that context the scale of the losses suffered and the commitment to the war effort made by pupils of the school is much larger than it might first appear and the need to record their lives and deaths much greater.
When investigating the lives of so many individuals it is inevitably easier to find out more about some than others. If, therefore, certain entries are occasionally surprisingly slender or couched in frustratingly conditional words such as ‘may’, ‘appears’ or ‘probably’, please be assured that such entries are as frustrating, if not more so, to the author as they are to the reader. Faced by these obstacles, the Head Master and I agreed that it was better to include something about everyone, including those we were least sure about, than to exclude them altogether because it would be wrong to diminish the memory of those about whom less is known. Readers may also be surprised that a few of the 149 do not appear to have died while on active service, but instead due to either disease or accidental