No . 138 The Trusty Servant
Wykehamists in Wipers 31 st May – 3 rd June .
There were two threads to this tour of First World War battlefields . Firstly , War Cloister ’ s Centenary year and secondly , the Western Front Way . Mike Wallis , leading the first of two battlefield tours this year , brought his encyclopaedic knowledge to bear on the battles of Passchendaele ( 1917 ) and Loos ( 1915 ). The countryside that was so dominated by the battles themselves is now home to a multitude of cemeteries and memorials . Along with the battles we made a point of visiting memorials designed by Herbert Baker , the architect of War Cloister . Baker , as one of the three Principal Architects appointed by the Imperial War Graves Commission , was responsible for 119 cemeteries and memorials , of which he personally designed seven .
Our departure fell on the day of War Cloister ’ s Centenary and in a short but poignant ceremony , we dedicated the wreaths we would lay in Flanders with these words :
One hundred years ago today , the memorial in which we stand was dedicated to sons of this school , whose lives were developed and enriched by the buildings and fields that surround us and were cut short on the battlefields of the world .
The Centenary Ceremony in War Cloister on 31 st May 2024 .
Outside Tyne Cot cemetery . L-R : Christopher Normand ( F , 76-81 ); Jonathan Peel ( C , 62-67 ); Jo Spinks ( Past Parent ); Maggie Salmon ; Nona Burns ( Past Parent ); Julian Salmon ( C , 60-65 ); Will Watson ( A , 67-72 ); John Beynon ( B , 59-64 ); Richard Pawson ( B , 62-67 ); Robert Jennings ( C , 62-67 ); Ben Hay ( A , 55-60 ); Jane Anderson ; Nicholas Sansbury ( I , 78-83 ); Rachel Hay ; David Anderson ( Coll , 69-74 ); Rob Baldock ( E , 80- 85 ); Mike Wallis ( CoRo , 86-20 )
Today , we take these wreaths from their place in War Cloister , to be laid on the graves and memorials of Wykehamists , forming a symbolic link between this spiritual home and the places where they fell , a link that has been unbroken for the last hundred years .
Thou therefore , for whom they died , seek not thine own but serve as they served and in peace or in war bear thyself ever as Christ ’ s soldier , gentle in all things , valiant in action and steadfast in adversity .
Our first visit was to Tyne Cot Cemetery and Memorial , near Ypres , one of those designed by Herbert Baker . At the memorial , Nicholas Sansbury ( I , 78-83 ) laid a wreath beneath the name of Kenneth Wilson-Barkworth , whose family had endowed the bursary that supported Nicholas at Win Coll . An extension of the Western Front Way provided the route for the party to walk back towards Ypres .
On Sunday 2 nd June , we drove south to visit the Dud Corner Cemetery and Loos Memorial , another Baker design . Among the 18 Wykehamists recorded on the Memorial is Douglas Gillespie ( Coll , 03-08 ) whose words , in letters between him and Headmaster Monty Rendall , became the inspiration for the Western Front Way . From the Loos Memorial , we followed the WFW on foot before passing the point where Gillespie fell . After laying a wreath for Gillespie ’ s brother , Tom ( K , 05-11 ) at the Le Touret Memorial , we visited the last Baker memorial of our trip , the Indian Memorial at Neuve Chapelle . Of the three principal Architects who could have been assigned this memorial , none was more appropriate than Baker who was concurrently working on commissions in New Delhi and was sympathetic to local styles of architecture . Although following the principals of the IWGC memorials , it has distinctive Indian architectural elements .
On return to Ypres , there was just time to prepare for the evening ’ s Menin Gate ceremony , in which members of the trip took part variously as officials and wreath-layers .
We spent our final day across the border in France again , touring the Wellington Crater museum in Arras and then the Vimy Memorial .
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