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St Edward’s:
150 Years
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Chapter 6 / St Edward’s and the Wars
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
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
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.
St Bede’s boys in the Quad
c.
1942.
Of Guy Gibson:
‘He was a boy completely devoid of nastiness,
very good natured, a great “joiner in”.’
– Joe McCall (SES, 1934–8).
Of Adrian Warburton:
‘The bravest of them all.’
– Sir Charles Portal,
Marshal of the Air Force, 1945.
James Anthony Leathart
(E, 1925–34) being
decoratedbytheKing,1940.
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.