The Sahara of War- Nieuport Sand-dunes by Emily M. Paterson, c. 1914
Edward Selby Wise attended the school for less than a year in Ashburnham House. He began his career in the Navy not long after leaving Westminster, starting as a Naval Cadet in 1904 at the age of 16. When war broke out he became part of the crew of the newly commissioned HMS Severn, a Royal Navy Gun Boat. The HMS Severn had started life in 1913, built by engineering company Vickers for Brazil, but she was purchased by the Navy upon the outbreak of war in 1914.
In October, 1914 HMS Severn and her crew took part in the Battle of Yser, supporting Belgian forces in their attempt to hold the front line between Diksmuide and the sea atNieuport. On 19th October the forces landed Selby was placed in command of machine guns fromHMS Severn and remained in action all night when they were withdrawn. Lt.
Wise then gallantly led his men into action and was killed on the sand dunes at Nieuport. On14th January 1915 he was mentioned in Despatches by Sir John French andrecommended for gallant and distinguished action in the field.
John Gilbert Somerset Cozens-Brooke was already a soldier on the outbreak of war, having taken a commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers in April 1912. He spent only 2 ┬¢years at Westminster in Rigaud’s House before leaving, aged only 16. Perhaps it was always his family’s intention that he should join the army – following in the footsteps of his maternal grandfather. Shortly after the outbreak of war he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant and attached to the 1st Battalion. The 1st Battalion mobilised for war on 14th August and landed at Havre. They were then involved in a series of battles along the Western Front, including the Battle of Le Cateau, the Battle of the Marne and the Battle of Aisne. It was during the Battles of La Bassee and Messines, the finally most northerly phase of the Race to the Sea, that Brooke lost his life. Brooke was conducting reconnaissance work close to Lille when he was killed on 18th October. By the end of the day the line of the Western Front was complete with neither force able to out flank the other. From that point onward only frontal attacks were possible.
Another closely fought motion on a topical subject. It would be interesting to know whether the pupils involved felt the same as the war progressed and aerial bombardment became a greater threat to London.
It may be interesting to modern readers that Ireland dominates the debate on theGovernment’s conduct in the early stages of the First World War. The two main topics for discussion during the first half of 1914, Home Rule and Women’s suffrage, were not directly related to the conflict at all.
Dissenting voices were clearly heard in this debate and the motion was carried by a single vote.
The Debating Society remained active throughout the war. Detailed accounts of meetings were recorded in the Society’s ledger and published accounts featured in the School’s magazine, The Elizabethan.
The motions were often on topical subjects and it is not surprising that a number of motions in the Play Term focused on the War. The first debate of the year was concerned with who was responsible for the conflict.
It might be surprising to us today, but the Westminster pupils of 1914 were fairly sympathetic to the Kaiser, ultimately thinking that he was ‘more to be pitied than feared’.
Ralph Eyre Tanner was the eldest son of Grant’s Housemaster Ralph Tanner. His younger brother, Lawrence Tanner, went on to teach at Westminster before becoming Westminster Abbey’s Keeper of the Muniments. Our knowledge of Ralph Eyre Tanner’s life and death is largely thanks to Lawrence’s journals and records, which have been serialised online.
As with Major Maitland, Ralph Eyre Tanner was an experienced soldier who had served in India. He had been promoted to the rank of Captain in 1912.
Captain Tanner’s death is recorded in moving terms in The Elizabethan:
‘From an Officer in the Regiment we learn that Captain Tanner was slightly wounded in the leg, and went under heavy fire to help a wounded Prussian Officer who shot at him and missed. Captain Tanner took no notice, but gave the Prussian his own water-bottle and bound up his wounds. He then went back for a stretcher and as he came back the Prussian shot him in the chest.’
Tanner has been married just over a year when he died. His wife, Edith, gave birth to a son, Peter, not long after his death. Peter attended Westminster School in the late 1920s and sent his son to the school in the 1970s.
Letter of condolence sent to Lawrence Tanner by his friend Captain Davidson
An example of The Queen’s South Africa Medal with 5 clasps.
One pervasive image of the First World War is that those who died were young and inexperienced soldiers who signed up following the declaration of war in August 1914. This is certainly the case for many of the fallen, but a lot of theearly casualties in the war were experienced soldiers already serving in the army.
The Hon. Alfred Henry Maitland was a Major of the Cameron Highlanders and has seen action in Sudan and served in the Boer War. Maitland was awarded the Queen’s South Africa Medal with five clasps. He was 41 years old when killed at the Battle of the Aisneleading an attack upon German positions on the Chemin des Dames near Cerny. He was initially reported as ‘wounded and missing’ in The Times on 21st September. It was not until 3 days later that his death was confirmed.
A photograph of a Motorcycle Despatch Rider from the National Library of Scotland.
The Hon. Francis Geoffrey Pearson was the first Old Westminster to lose his life in the First World War. He served as a Motorcycle Despatch Rider and was killed in action at Varreddes, France during the First Battle of the Marne.
The First World War saw many new forms of technology incorporated into warfare. Motorcycle despatch riders were used for the first time by the British Army from the beginning of the war. When the War Office put out the call for riders to volunteer with their own motorcycles in August of 1914 they received over 2,000 applicants. Motorcycles were also purchased by the Army and the Navy and allocated to riders. The recruits would carry messages between the front-line and other sections of the forces. They might also carry out reconnaissance work and act as military police, enforcing discipline amongst the troops. Motorcycles were not reliable at this time and the terrain which needed to be covered was often difficult. Riders could be killed and injured before they came close to the enemy.
We know very little of the life and death of Pearson. He attended the school for just a year when he was 14 and we have no record of his time here in our archive. In his obituary The Elizabethan simply records that he ‘fell in an encounter with Uhlans’. Uhlans were a type of light cavalry regiment, who dressed in a traditional Polish style and carried lances and spears. They saw mounted action in a few of the early battles of the First World War, but it quickly became apparent that they were not suited to the trench warfare of the Western Front and were redeployed, either as “cavalry rifles” or on the Eastern Front. The contrast of a man on a motorcycle facing a soldier on horseback, armed with a spear is arresting. Warfare changed a great deal during the first few weeks of the conflict.
A fellow Motorcycle Despatch Rider, Captain W.H.L. Watson survived to write a lively account of his ‘Adventures‘ in 1914-1915. His account, which includes a chapter on the Battle of the Marne, provides some insight into the experience of the time.
UPDATE – 09/11/2014
Two pupils from the Fifth Form managed to uncover additional information about Pearson online. The following source indicate that Pearson was brutally treated prior to his death. The incident is also mentioned in ‘The German War’ by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
In 1914 Westminster School had what was known as an Officer Training Corps (‘Corps’ is pronounced ‘core’ as it originates from the French meaning body).
The Cadet Corps, as it was originally known, had begun in 1902, in the wake of the Second Boer War. Uniforms were acquired shortly afterwards and around 100 boys took part in regular drills. By April 1903 a company of pupils attended a camp in Amesbury, where they were shocked by the ‘very hard mattresses’ and blankets ‘not of the finest texture’. Manoeuvres later in the week were ‘enlivened by a snowstorm’ but on the whole the pupils enjoyed themselves. Over the following years the Corps became established as a routine part of school life. A similar process occurred in many other Public Schools at this time.
Parade in Vincent Square, 1913 Two of the drums being used by the marching band remain in the school archive.
Lord Haldane, whilst Secretary of State for War, formalised these various Corps into Officers’ Training Corps (OTC). Haldane was particularly concerned with the performance of the British Armed Forces during the Boer Wars. By providing this early military training he hoped to increase the number and quality of young men joining the army as officers. The Corps had two divisions, a junior division for Public Schools such as Westminster and a senior division for Universities.
In the Summer of 1914 more Westminster pupils than ever attended the OTC camp at Mytchett, but it was cut short as the Army Cooks assigned were recalled. A pupil’s account in The Elizabethan remarked that ‘Camp is apt to be more pleasant when gloomy rumours, such a prevailed in Mytchett, are not rife’
When pupils returned to Westminster after the summer holiday, those not already in the OTC rushed to join. There were 109 new recruits at the beginning of the Play Term leaving fewer than 60 boys in the school who were not members of the corps.
In 1913 Homeboarder’s House won the inter-house drilling competition. Back Row: Robertson, Gonne, Canning, Howe, Garvin, Fisher, Campion, Chidson Middle Row: Aisnworth-Davis, Forbes, Aitken Front Row: Brookman, Kitchen, Aitken
Tonight will be the final night to catch a glimpse of Spectra – artistRyoji Ikeda’s striking pillar of light which shoots up from Victoria Tower Gardens, next door to the school, into the sky.
Commissioned by theMayor of London andWW1 Centenary Art Commissions the project was kept secret until the last minute. The beam is visible from a distance of 12 miles, unifying the city and serving as a quiet reminder of this year’s centenary.
