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St Edward’s:
150 Years
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Chapter 6 / St Edward’s and the Wars
WORLD WAR II
The Warden during this terrible world war, which of course
affected civilians as well as those in the Forces, was the Revd
Henry Ewing Kendall, who arrived in the Summer Term of
1925 and became the longest-serving Warden in the School’s
history by staying in post until 1954. During the war the Officers’
Training Corps (from 1939 the Junior Training Corps) obviously
became more prominent. A group within it became the ‘Air
Training Corps’ and
the
Chronicle
of March 1944 mentions the
new ‘Naval Section’, with 16 ‘very keen’ members.
By the Autumn Term 1939 each House had its own
shelter, trenches had been cut in the playing fields and all
the windows had been ‘blacked out’. The older boys paraded
with the OTC three times a week and the emphasis on Corps
activities was more intense. By the end of the term there had
been two fatalities among the 600 OSE already in uniform.
Throughout the war, Warden Kendall read out the list of losses
to the congregation in Chapel, with a personal recollection of
each OSE lost. Obviously these losses affected everyone in the
School community hugely.
The retreat to Dunkirk brought the news of the death
of Paul Cooke (G, 1929–34), whom Hill refers to as ‘athlete
extraordinary, and leader of men’. He had indeed been a
great athlete at School and went on to play rugby for Oxford
University and Richmond RFC, as well as playing twice for
England in 1939. He was shot while observing and directing
the fire of a Bren gun section in Belgium serving with the
Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry.
After Dunkirk a large camp of tents appeared overnight
on Port Meadow, not far from the School, the arrival of
‘There it was, beyond the gap, in the distance lay the calm and silvery
sea, and freedom. It looked beautiful to us then – perhaps the most
wonderful thing in the world.’
–WingCommander GuyGibson, 17May 1943, returning fromthe
Dambusters Raid.
Gibsonwas decorated at BuckinghamPalace by the Queen acting
as deputy for the King. As stated in the
Chronicle
: ‘Throughout his
operational career, prolongedexceptionally at his own request, he
hasshownleadership,determinationandvalourofthehighestorder.’
On his death, in September 1944, Churchill told his widow
that ‘We have lost in this officer one of the most splendid of all
our fightingmen. His namewill not be forgotten; it will forever be
enshrined in the most wonderful records of our country.’Warden
Kendall added, in the
Chronicle
, that ‘He shared to the full all the
strength and the virility andmodesty of English boys of all ranks,
withtheiramazinggoodhumourintryingconditions;hewouldnot
have wanted to claim more than this.’
WING COMMANDER GUY GIBSON
Right: Pupils digging air-raid shelters in the Quad, 1940. Warden Kendall had to
contend with the dreadful losses of OSE during the SecondWorldWar, as well
as having to manage such everyday matters as blackouts and shelters. Theodor
Abrahamsen, one of the oldest surviving OSE, is the figure on the far right.
Below right: Paul Cooke (G, 1929–34).
Below left:Plaques intheChapelcommemoratingthosewhofell intheGreatWar.
Top right: A scarf in the Archive manufactured by Jacquard
after the Dambusters Raid and presented to Guy Gibson.
Above: Guy Gibson’s medals.
Right: Drawing of Guy Gibson by Michael Rothenstein
currently hanging in the Warden’s House.