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S
T
. E
DWARD
’
S
S
CHOOL
O
XFORD
AND THE
G
REAT
W
AR
The realisation that the war
wouldn’t be over by Christmas
as had been
thought at first and might extend into years had an impact on
everyone associated with the School, whether in uniform or in
Oxford.
Warden Ferguson continued to be both resilient and ingenious in
finding replacements for his depleted Common Room. Bruce
Goldie, Walter Stanton and Nicholas Hammond all arrived in this
year, providing invaluable later service in Set Tutorship, music and
singing and command of the O.T.C. respectively.
The war was now extending around the world and included the ill-
fated campaign in the Dardanelles which commenced in April and
would take the lives of six of the twenty five ex members of the
School killed in action this year, Included in this count were two
revered teachers, the Reverend John Bussell and Leonard Cass,
both lost in exactly the same trenches in Flanders, fighting for the
same regiment and felled by snipers.
At the School the O.T.C. numbered ninety six out of a total roll of
one hundred and thirty one, with only the very youngest members
excluded. Included in their activities was the loading of trains at
Didcot, necessitating a seven mile march in each direction. Sport
continued in a very limited fashion with the average age of the first
teams being sixteen years. Opponents included strong teams
based at the University where soldiers were being trained and
usually made for rather unequal contests. Fixtures against other
schools were rare due to travel restrictions and having only the use
of horse-drawn transport to access away matches.
The continued drip-feed of dreadful news coming from the battle
fronts meant that every Friday a special service was held in Chapel
when an often emotional Warden read out the names of the latest
casualties, sometimes with younger siblings in the congregation.
Despite all the privations the School was growing (as it would
continue to do so throughout the war) with intakes being even
greater than the continual departure of staff and boys as they
became eligible for service.
A
RTHUR
G
EORGE
C
ONNINGSBY
CAPELL
12 M
ARCH
1915
A
LEXANDER
M
OULTRIE
WALLACE
12 M
ARCH
1915
F
RANK
H
ENRY
M
AY
ROBERTSON
12 A
PRIL
1915
J
OHN
C
OKE
M
C
MURDO
25 A
PRIL
1915
W
ALTER
H
AYNES
P
ICKERING
RICHARDS
3 M
AY
1915
W
ALTER
J
OHN
FRAMPTON
5 M
AY
1915
1915
ROLL OF HONOUR