On one occasion,
a forced crash landing
into a shell hole earned
the terse entry in his
log book, ‘damned
uncomfortable’.
If the modern media is to be allowed its stereotypes,
the hot bullets and sweet, spicy gas of World War I
were aimed only at young, working men doing
their duty. According to this distorted history, those
educated at public schools enjoyed servants, croquet,
fine dining, and nothing more aggressive than a
map-table in a commandeered château somewhere
well out of harm’s way.
If this were even remotely true, it would be impossible
for the accolade of ‘the bravest family in Britain’ to
have been given to the Goughs, with their unrivalled
three Victoria Crosses, all for front line action in the
thick of heavy fighting (two in the Indian Mutiny
and one in British Somaliland).
‘What sometimes gets forgotten
in the numbing death figures of
the First War … is that boys from
public schools were twice as likely
to be killed as others.’
Above: The War Cloister was the vision of Headmaster
Montague Rendall and was originally designed as a memorial
to the 500 Wykehamists killed during the First World War.
30 The Wykeham Journal 2014
It began with Field Marshal Lord Gough (Viscount
Gough, of Goojerat in the Punjaub and the city
of Limerick, Baron Gough of the Maharajpore of
the Sutlej and ChinKangFoo), who is reputed to
have commanded more men than his slightly older
contemporary, the Duke of Wellington, for whom
he was pallbearer. Ever since, generations of the
Gough family have continued to serve their country
in a resonant reminder that media stereotypes about
soldering can be dangerously misleading.
The current Lord Gough (