No . 131 The Trusty Servant
G Rickman ( 2nd Lt , R Northumberland Fusiliers ). BEF 1939-40 until Dunkirk . Capt , Royal Northumberland Fusiliers , Malaya , 1941 . POW , Singapore , Feb 1942-VJ Day .
SW Clayton 2nd Lt RA . Malayan Forces . POW , Feb 1942-V-J Day .
HFC Tompson 2nd Lt RA , from 110 OCTU , Feb 1940 , 78th Med Regt , RA ( D of L Yeomanry ), 1939-41 , Lt , 11th ( HAC ) Regt , RHA , Libya , 1941 . Killed in Action , 21 Jan 1942 .
Front Row , L-R :
WSI Whitelaw 2nd Lt , Scots Gds , Training Bn , 1939-40 . Lt ( TO ) 3rd Bn , 1941 . Capt , Tech Adjt , 1942 . Major , Sqdn Ldr , 3rd Armd Bn , Scots Gds , UK and BLA , 1942-44 . Major , 2i / c ,
BLA , 1944-45 . DAA & QMG , 1st Gds Bde , MEF , 1945-46 . MC MID .
AM Sinclair ( 2nd Lt , KRRC ) With 2 Bn at Defence of Calais . POW , May 1940 . Seven attempted escapes . Wounded ( on one ). Killed ( on the seventh ) at Oflag IV-C , ( Colditz ), 23 Sep 1944 . DSO ( posthumous ) and MID ( twice ) for Calais and as POW .
DC Wilson 2nd Lt , RA 76 th ( Shrops Yeomanry ) Med Regt , RA 1940-41 . Lt , IO Photos , Bengal Command , RAF , 1942 . Capt , IO , APIS , HQ Eastern / 14th Army , 1942-44 . Major , GSO2 , Army Photo Intell Unit , ALFSEA . MID ( twice ).
MWM Osmand 2nd Lt , Coldstream Gds ( RAEC ). Retd ( ill-health ), 1940 .
WH Cliff Hodges ( Cambridge
Univ OTC ) 2nd Lt , RA , Aug 1939 . BEF . Capt , 78 th Field Regt . St Malo Landing , 1940 . MEF , 8th Army , 1942 . Wounded at Mareth . Sicily , July 1943 . Wounded again . Killed in Action on the Garigliano , 16 Jan 1944 .
Sitting at the Front :
J Pinney Pte , R Fusiliers , 1939 . 2nd Lt , Gen List , 1940 . Kenya . Held to Administrative Service .
JHL Sinclair 2nd Lt , Scots Gds , Mar 1941 . Lt , 1st Bn , N Africa , Feb ; Italy Dec 1943 . Capt . Killed in Action , Anzio beachhead , 8 Feb 1944 . Wounded ( twice ). Bro of AM Sinclair .
( Notes taken from the Wykehamist War Service Record and Roll of Honour , published by P & G Wells Ltd . Winchester .)
Best Sellers
Patrick Casement ( D , 49-53 ) draws our attention to the Peter Sellers sketch A Common Entrance of 1959 . In it a prospective parent interrogates the underinformed headmaster of Cretinby , a private school :
Father :
Headmaster :
Is this school coeducational ?
You can ’ t baffle me with long words
Father :
Headmaster :
No , I mean , do the boys and girls share the same curriculum ?
No , we had separate ones built .
Our own Headmaster might be relieved that the sketch continues thus : ‘ It seems very confusing . Your answers aren ’ t a bit like the ones I received from the Headmaster of Winchester .’
A brazen mystery solved
Tim Morris ( E , 71-76 ) confirms the identity of the bronze bust stolen from Freddie ’ s : In your article you correctly say the stolen bust was of Irving . He looked down on us without comment as we ate , jostled , and set the world to rights . I think there was some sort of plaque - hence the certainty this was he . It could have been commissioned after his death in 1969 , though the bust was of a younger man . I am not sure which I find more shocking - his disappearance , or his residence in something called the snooker room . But better to meet a mysterious end than be forgotten .
Andrew Noble ( E , 63-68 ) writes :
I was intrigued to read your article about the bust of Irving . I ’ m afraid I have no memory of it from my time as a Freddieite ( 63-68 ), but I did meet Irving . My father , CA Noble ( E , 25-30 ), took me to see him one day having collected me for a Leaveout . At that stage he was living in an old people ’ s home near Winchester and was very old , but I recognise him from your ( fuzzy ) photo of the bust . My father had been one of his climbing ‘ recruits ’ during the 1920s and he reminded Irving of one of their outings when Irving had to walk backwards down a mountain because he had such bad blisters on his toes ! At the time I had no knowledge of his great mountaineering history , but I still have my father ’ s copy of his book Romance of the Mountains and have always enjoyed the mountains myself .
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