Gerard Eyre was the eldest son of Layton Eyre, and nephew to Charles Lewis Eyre, who was himself an OW. He was born on the 5th October 1890, and joined Westminster School in 1904. He was admitted to Grant’s, where he remained until he left the school four years later. There are limited records pertaining to his life before he joined the army, and we do not know his whereabouts during this interim period.
In June 1916, he became Lieutenant in the 59th Division of the Royal Field Artillery, and was sent almost immediately to the Western Front. Here he remained until 1918, when he was victim of a gas attacks. The injuries he sustained as a result of gas attacks were so severe that he was permanently discharged in July 1919. Although we do not know the exact nature of these injuries, they continued to haunt him throughout his life, and in 1921 he passed away as a direct result of exposure to poison gas.
George Sumpter was born in 1891, the only son of Thomas George Sumpter. He was admitted to Westminster in 1905 and joined Homeboarders, before becoming a King’s Scholar in September 1906. He remained at the school until 1909, before enrolling at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich. Almost all accounts and records of his life have reached us through his wife, who wrote an extensive article to the Elizabethan following Sumpter’s death.
Upon completing his training at the Woolwich Military Academy he was sent immediately to the Western Front with the 7th Divisional Artillery. He was injured and returned to England, before joining the 25th Divisional Artillery at Frome in December, still suffering the effects of his earlier injuries. He joined the division as a Major, and was heralded as a popular and well-liked officer. In September 1915, he returned to France, and was the youngest Battery Commander in his Division. He remained at the Western Front until wounded in 1916, while reconnoitring positions in preparation for the Battle of the Somme. Although the wound was serious and Sumpter had to return home, he made a speedy recovery. In March 1917, he took command of the D112 Battery, Royal Field Artillery, and went with them to the Battle of Messines Ridge. It was during this battle that Sumpter earned the Military Cross, awarded for bravery under fire.
In June of that year, Sumpter took part in the Battle of Ypres, losing sixty men in two days. In the German offensive of March 1918, Sumpter was forced to retreat, but was awarded a bar on his military cross for skilful rearguard action. He was awarded a D.S.O in May 1918, and in August 1918 took command of B Battery, Royal Horse Artillery. He remained with this battery until the armistice, and was then moved to Russia where he remained for many months, and then Asia Minor, in modern day Turkey. It is here that he lost his life, killed in action at Ismidt, Turkey on the 20th August 1920.
George Stack was the son of Richard Stack, an Irish physician. He was born in 1879 and joined Westminster School in 1893. He was admitted as a Queen’s Scholar and remained with the school for a year, before leaving in April 1894. Little is known of his time at the school, and it is not until he joined the military in 1898 do firm records of his life begin.
He enrolled in the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, and remained there for three years, finishing his military training and leaving in 1901. Stack became Lieutenant in 1901, and served in South Africa for two years. He was then involved in fighting during the Great War, having gained the rank of Captain in June 1907.
Throughout his time on the front he continued to climb the ranks for the British Forces, becoming Major in 1915 and Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel in 1917. This final rank was awarded to him only partially, the word ‘Brevet’ signalling that he had earned the rank through gallantry and bravery in the field, but did not have the authority of a Lieutenant-Colonel.
Stack is mentioned several times in despatches, primarily during 1916 and 1917. In 1917 he was wounded, yet no records indicate whether he was invalided home or rested at a military field hospital.
Once more there is a gap in the records, and tragically we hear no more of George Stack until 1919. It was this year that he passed away, losing his life in Gaza in September 1919. How he came to be there, and what his role was in this capacity is unknown, as is the manner in which he died.
‘’Ruins of Gaza’ painted in 1919 by Sydney W. Carline.
Archibald Hogarth was born in June 1877, and had a medical career spanning many decades, both as part of the British military and as a civilian. He attended Westminster School 1891-1896, and although he began his school life as a Town Boy in Ashburnham, Hogarth became a Queen’s Scholar just one year after joining Westminster. He was a keen footballer, and took an active role in the Football Eleven. He attended Christ Church after leaving Westminster, studying psychology.
Undated photograph, Left: Surg. Lt. (Surgeon Lieutenant) Hogarth. Image used courtesy of Oxfordshire Yeomanry Trust.
From here he undertook a Doctor of Medicine and completed his studies in 1908. He worked extensively in the public field, working for Lancashire County Council in the Education Department, the Port of London Sanitary Authority and Buckinghamshire Council, where he was Medical Officer of Health.
While an undergraduate he served with the the Buckinghamshire Imperial Yeomanry during the South African War, during which he earned the D.S.O (Distinguished Service Medal). Returning home, he then joined the Oxfordshire Yeomanry and sailed with them to France on September 20th 1914 at the outbreak of World War 1 as a Surgeon-Captain and Medical Officer. He took part in the Battle of Ypres, and remained in the trenches until invalided in 1915.
After a further period of service in France, he was appointed Deputy Assistant Director Medical Services in England, and was swiftly promoted to the rank of Major. He returned to active duty and worked with prisoners of war in Switzerland during 1917, before joining the Royal Air Force in 1918. As part of the Royal Air Force medical team he was sent across the globe, working in the Mediterranean, Egypt, Salonica, and Palestine. At Lemnos he fought for a time almost singlehanded against a devastating outbreak of influenza, and was awarded a Military O.B.E for his work.
He returned to Buckinghamshire in April 1919, but fell ill shortly afterwards. After a lengthy battle with illness, attributed to both fatigue and constant exposure to disease during World War 1, he died on 5th September, 1919.
The Distinguished Conduct Medal, earned by Hogarth in 1919.
Charles Cooper Schlotel was the eldest son of Charles Frank Schlotel and Sophia Cooper, and was born 2nd December 1895. He joined Westminster in January 1910, as a member of Ashburnham House. Little is known of his school life, and records begin in more detail once he left the school in 1913.
He joined the Inns of Court O.T.C in April 1915, and was made temporary 2nd Lieutenant in September that same year. He joined the 10th Battalion of the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry, and by June 1916 had been made Lieutenant. It was this month that he was sent to the Western Front, where he remained fighting for a prolonged period of time. He became a Captain in February 1917, and was awarded the Military Cross for bravery in July 1918.
He died of an unknown illness, likely influenza, on 23rd March 1919, in Cologne, Germany.
Austin Woodbridge was the son of solicitor Thomas Woodbridge, and the seventh member of his immediate family to study at Westminster School. He was born 18th May 1876, and arrived at the school in 1891, joining Grant’s House. While at the school, he participated in football and cricket to a significant degree, earning his pink-and-whites in 1894. He left the school that same year.
He is recorded in the Elizabethan several times as an Old Westminster participating in sporting events, and, interestingly, as a member of the Freemasons. He became a member of the London Stock Exchange in 1900, and continued to work on the stock exchange thereafter. In 1905, he married Ethel Mary, the third daughter of George Sunday.
The next surviving records of Woodbridge emerge in military documents, allowing us to identify his military progress. Here he served as a member of the 8th Battalion Middlesex Regiment from 1912, before becoming a Major in April 1915. He held a special appointment in 1917, and was subsequently awarded the Military Cross.
At the end of the war he married his second wife, Norah Woodbridge. The fate of Mary Ethel is unknown. Austin Woodbridge continued working active service after the ceasefire, remaining in France and the Western Front. It was here that he passed away, dying of influenza on 28th February 1919.
Hugh Logan was born in 1885, the son of a Labour politician. He was born in Leicester, and was admitted to Westminster School in 1897, joining Grant’s. While at Westminster he was a double pink and Captain of Cricket, and as a right-handed batsman made an impression on many at the school.
Upon leaving Westminster in 1903, he studied at Trinity Hall Cambridge. Following his graduation from Cambridge, Logan pursued a career as a professional cricketer, appearing for Leicester in a first-class match against The Gentlemen of Philadelphia in 1903. In 1911, he married Phyllis Hemingway, who would go on to survive him by many years.
In 1915, Logan joined the Leicestershire Yeomanry, attaining the rank of 2nd Lieutenant. He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant in 1917, prior to being sent to the Western Front. Although he survived active service, remaining on the Western Front throughout 1917, he contracted influenza as a result of living conditions in the active war-zone. He died of pneumonia at the 51st Clearing Station at Tournai, Belgium, three months after the armistice was declared. A memorial plaque was erected for him in Church Langton, Market Harborough.
Eric Hicks was born in 1897, the second son of Charles Oliver Hicks. He joined Westminster School in 1911 and was admitted to Ashburnham. He actively partook in football fixtures, including a crucial game against King’s College, which is recorded in the April 1914 edition of the Elizabethan. He left the school that same year.
In 1915, he joined the Inns of Court O.T.C, before transferring to the Royal Field Artillery and earning the rank of Lieutenant on 26th November 1915. With this regiment he served on the Western Front, before seeing active service with the Salonika Expedition November 1916-May 1917. From here, he was transferred to Palestine, where he acted as an Intelligence Officer and as an Aide-de-Camp to many high-ranking military officials.
He was awarded the Military Cross while serving in Palestine. Tragically, it was here that he fell ill, contracting influenza after the Armistice. He died at the British Military Hospital of Alexandria on 26th December 1918.
Eric Raymond Hicks with General Allenby, kindly supplied by Nigel Hicks
Manley Frederic Ashwin, taken from his years as a vicar.
Manley Frederic Ashwin was born on 2nd July 1887 and was the son of a vicar. He attended Dulwich School prior to studying at Westminster, and successfully undertook the Challenge. He was admitted as a Queen’s Scholar in 1901. He left the school three years later, joining Pembroke College Cambridge and remaining there until 1909. In 1910, he followed in his father’s footsteps and was ordained, becoming Curate to the Pembroke College Mission in Surrey. In 1913, he married Marjorie Edith Morgan, who remained with him throughout his life.
He completed his Master’s Degree the following year, although from the start of the war there are limited documents pertaining to his role in military service. Records indicate he was a member of the Artists Rifles, like many Old Westminsters before him. As a member of the Artists Rifles he was a private, but beyond this it is difficult to trace the details of his role in service. He died of influenza on 19th December 1918, and is buried at Highgate Cemetery in London.
Leslie Imroth was the only son of Gustav Imroth, a minor Randlord involved in the development of the South African mining industry. He was born in 1897, and spent the early part of his life in South Africa, before studying at Westminster School from 1910. He was admitted to Grant’s, as is recorded in both the October 1910 and February 1911 copies of the Elizabethan. He remained at the school for only one year, leaving in 1911.
Little is known of his life during this period, and it is not until four years later that further records of him begin. These records report that he joined the army in 1915, serving as 2nd Lieutenant in the 11th Hampshire Regiment. He became Lieutenant in 1916, and served in active duty for two years. He sustained wounds in action in 1918, and eventually passed away in his home country of South Africa, at Johannesburg. He is buried in Braamfontein Cemetery in Johannesburg.
