NEVER FORGOTTEN
“ One could see , when one had admired , how it will weather and how it will arrange itself a hundred years hence ”, Kipling wrote to the cloister ’ s architect , Herbert Baker .
A representation proposal for the repaint of the Insignia of France , one of the Arms of the Allied Nations
Cost of conservation project
£ 1,000,000
Every Wykehamist who fell in the First and Second World Wars is listed . In the early 20 th century the school had some 450 pupils , and 512 Wykehamists died between 1914 and 1918 . The names have no hierarchy : they are arranged by year of arrival in the school and within that in alphabetical order . ‘ I think that ’ s very special ,’ said Josephine . ‘ No distinctions in death .’ Biographical details of all Wykehamists who died in service from 1782 to the late 20 th century can be found on the Winchester at War website .
The only medals highlighted in red in the cloister are the three posthumous Victoria Crosses . The youngest of those was Denis Hewitt ( G , 1911-15 ), a 2 nd Lieutenant in the Hampshire Regiment , who died on the opening morning of the third battle of Ypres ( better known as Passchendaele ), 31 July 1917 . He was 18 .
The citation for Hewitt ’ s VC included this description of the attack on a village called St Julien : ‘ While waiting for the barrage to lift he was hit by a piece of shell , which exploded the signal flares in his haversack and set fire to his equipment and clothes . Having extinguished the flames ( by rolling in the mud ) in spite of his wound and the severe pain he was suffering , he led forward the remains of the Company under very heavy machine gun fire , and captured and consolidated his objective . The battalion cleared the trenches and set up machine guns to defend it . At this point Hewitt was killed , shot through the head by a sniper . He died instantly … This gallant officer set a magnificent example of coolness and contempt of danger to the whole battalion , and it was due to his splendid leading that the final objective of his battalion was gained .’
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