Lest we Forget

When we went to the National Memorial Arboretum earlier in the year I had a conversation with Charles Bagott Jewitt (Tr 78) about how remembering and memorialising has changed over the years.

Now the NMA has published a book, Lest We Forget on just this theme. The 'blurb' explains:

Remembering is part of the human condition. The spontaneous and entirely unorganised honouring of coffins brought back from Afghanistan by the people of Wootton Bassett is testament that many people have a deep concern for the memory of those who have died in recent conflict.  Over the past decade, the British Remembrance season has grown once more in significance, but popular outpourings of grief also include the mass response to the death of Princess Diana and the Hillsborough disaster. 

Lest We Forget chronicles the depth and variety of forms of Remembrance both nationally in Britain and across the world, ranging from the traditional ceremony of Armistice Day, to the more contested narratives of conflicts in Iraq or Rwanda.  Also included in the 34 case studies:

• Remembrance after World War One; Slavery memorials; Memorials in the US Landscape; War Widows and Remembrance; ‘Commemorating animals, glorifying humans?’; The National Memorial Arboretum; Artists of Twentieth Century Remembrance; Pacifist war memorial in Western France; Web-remembrance.

You can order the book from the History Press, here.

New Guv's Test and Random Recollections

Gerald Wilson (M 1962) sent an email with some more memories of the New Guv's Test, as follows. Note his last paragraph about the memorial service at the National Memorial Arboretum on 7th May. If you can come then do be in touch with the Society. I'll write a note about it maybe tomorrow, but you can follow the tag on the bottom of this post to earlier posts about the NMA.

Gerald writes:

Your blog item on graces struck a chord.  I was asked to say grace for my wife's aunt's 90th birthday a couple of weeks ago.  I decided against the well remembered Latin grace from school and went for the more familiar English translation.  The Haileybury version was somewhat shorter than the one trotted out from memory by Sir Richard at the Foundress' Feast last week.

 

Looking back at the blog items about New Guv Tests I wonder whether beaks are "ticked" any more (a sort of diminutive Hitlergruess!)  Other questions I remember from the New Guvs test were on house colours, heads of houses, housemasters and beak's nicknames.  I remember Hiker (WG) Thompson, Blimp (BG Wennink), "Dick" Richards, "Pussy (EW) Williams, "Dangers" Daltry (pronounced with a hard G), "Bogue" Manning (apparently bogus was a favourite word), "Hanc" Nurden (Latin & Greek beak), Harry Hotplate (Hargreaves, chemistry beak), Herr Mueller (Mr Miller, who may have had a slight speech defect and sounded a bit German), RJ (for Mr Rhodes-James, also occasionally Rhodeo-Joe but not, I was told, in his house Melvill). 

The Boot?

 

Of course there was also the Boot for the Master, which was originally the nickname for Canon Bonhote.  Imogen Thomas's book records this as a corruption of his surname, though it was always said amongst the boys that it related to a predilection for corporal punishment.  The nickname was transferred to his successor Christopher Smith, who I experienced for 12 months.  Though a distant figure I remember him with affection and respect.  He knew the name of every single boy in the school and their parents.  My parents & I had met him once when I sat the scholarship at Haileybury in November 1961.  On entering Quad in September 1962 he instantly  greeted us by name.  When William Stewart became Master in 1963 he was known as "The Boot", though due to his loud voice and custom of addressing any boy within 50 yards (a stark contract to his predecessor's unassuming manner) "The Boot" was often transmuted into "The Boom". 

 

I wonder if you will be attending the Haileybury memorial service at the National Arboretum on 7th May.  I am about to put in a late booking.  I haven't been to the National Arboretum yet, but my first alma mater was St Christopher's School in Alrewas (long since closed, but the buildings were still there when I visited 10-15 years ago) so it seems an appropriate opportunity.

 

Letters from the Front

Charles Bagott-Jewitt (Tr 78) e-mails from the National Memorial Arboretum, of which he is Chief Executive, about the commemorative stamps which have been issued this Remembrancetide featuring the memorials at the Arboretum. Sales will support the Arboretum appeal.

Don't forget that we are planning a gathering for members - past and present - of the armed forces, those who were in the CCF and anyone else who would like to come at the Arboretum on Saturday 7th May.  A coach (or two?) will go from Haileybury or come under your own steam. The plan at present is to have a short service followed by a buffet lunch and time to mingle and explore the Arboretum. Book the date!

We Will Remember Them

The sombre news of the three hundredth death on active service in Afghanistan came today. In my first term at Haileybury ITV televised the Remembrance Sunday School service. During the two minutes' silence the film cut between the six hundred and fifty odd of us standing silent in the chapel, pictures of the horror of the trenches, and the names in the chapel cloisters. During the Great War about 650 Haileyburians were killed - approximately a school full.

The ethos of service remains strong to this day; Richard Palmer (E 92) was killed in Iraq in 2006 and his name now stands at the end of the sorrowfully long list. In the ancient church they spoke of the 'red' martyrdom of those who shed their blood, and also of the 'white martyrdom' of those who offered long lives of selflessness. The examples of both challenge a world which too easily names 'heros' and measures worth in money and success rather than in service and self offering. Generations of Haileyburians have been taught to be true to higher values than gratification and the pursuit of fame and fortune, and many have attempted so to frame their lives, sometimes at great cost.


On 7th May next year we hope to hold an event at the National Memorial Arboretum, whose current CEO is Charles Bagot-Jewitt (Tr 78) to celebrate and reaffirm the ethos of service. John Palmer (E 62) will be with us. Current and former service men and women will be invited and those of whom the Society office knows who have a link to someone commemorated at the Arboretum. There will also be those like me were in the CCF at school but did not pursue a military career, and it is hoped that other OHs and friends of the school will also come. The plan is to take an honour guard from the current CCF and after a service to have a buffet lunch and then allow time for mingling and wandering among the trees and the memorials.