The School at War
Poor discipline, unpopular and with a pitiful inspection report St Austell County School did not get off to the best of starts. William Raynor, the first Head, was removed and he took up a position in Ilford and the enormous task of improving the reputation of the school fell to Mr Arthur Godfrey Jenkinson.
The eldest son of William Jenkinson of Lambeth was born 24th March 1874 and educated at Dulwich College (where he was a contemporary of Ernest Shackleton) and Brasenose College, Oxford, before gaining a wide teaching experience including Harrow School, Edinburgh Academy and Exeter School.
It is undisputable that he did turn the fortunes of the school around. A prefect system, regular lectures, a museum, a Debating Society and “Old Boys” and “Old Girls” Associations were readily established and the school began to prosper accordingly. However, at the same time he and the school faced an even greater struggle in the shape of The Great War.
The eldest son of William Jenkinson of Lambeth was born 24th March 1874 and educated at Dulwich College (where he was a contemporary of Ernest Shackleton) and Brasenose College, Oxford, before gaining a wide teaching experience including Harrow School, Edinburgh Academy and Exeter School.
It is undisputable that he did turn the fortunes of the school around. A prefect system, regular lectures, a museum, a Debating Society and “Old Boys” and “Old Girls” Associations were readily established and the school began to prosper accordingly. However, at the same time he and the school faced an even greater struggle in the shape of The Great War.
The Editorial of the Autumn Term edition of the school magazine announced the onset of war
This Magazine is issued under the shadow of a great war cloud, in the gravest national crisis which has ever befallen this country. Twelve great nations are at war-Germany, Austria, and Turkey on the one side and all others, with the important exceptions of America and Italy, on the other.
Germany seems to have been very anxious for war, and, violating the neutrality of Belgium, which she had guaranteed in 1867, has brought upon Europe the burden and all the horrors of the most terrible war in history. Great Britain strove for peace from the commencement, but was forced to take up arms. Before the war is over Germany will be taught that" scraps of paper" so sacred as European treaties, are to be respected, and must be.
At the time of writing the situation calls for the enlistment of every man, fit, and of military age, while others of us who are under the limits must do what we can for King and country. We must realise that we are to be the future generation, the upholders of the Empire, and must not fail in our duty to the state.
Great Britain and her Allies will not rest until Prussian military rule, that despotism under which the German race has been existing for the last quarter of a century, has been beaten to the dust. We go to war with no lust for territorial aggrandizement, no hatred of the German people; we hope that they may eventually see that they are being led in the wrong direction that all right does not lie in might.
“For right is right, since God is God,
And right the day must win"
Immediately a Roll of Honour was planned for the long room of the school and the first fourteen names were ready to be included
G. J. Thomas was in the 5th DCLI as was J. Reed.
W. Merrifield, E G. Hunkin, E. J. Turner, L. S. Ham, W.J. Huddy and
P. K. Martin also joined the County regiment and they were stationed in India.
F. J. Lomer, F. Blackmore, L. Jacob and W Parnall joined the 4th Devons and also were based in India. J Whitford was with the RGA in Plymouth and the school was also aware that M Jasper had enlisted but not sure where.
Jenkinson had established the lecture system four years earlier but such was the dire situation and with a sense of duty he decided to deliver the two autumn term lectures himself. The first was given on November 5th when he spoke fondly of Belguim and showed slides “depicting wanton destruction wrought by the Germ-Huns in their conquest of the country.” The slide show concluded with applause from pupils and guests followed by the singing of the Belgium National Anthem. As the audience left the hall a collection was taken for the “Daily Telegraph” Shilling Fund, for a Christmas present for King Albert of Belgium, which raised 50shillings.
The second lecture, given on 11th December, was simply entitled “The War”. Jenkinson clearly had a thorough grasp of the situation and succinctly explained three key aspects – The Western Front, The Eastern Front and Naval operations. With slides and diagrams he explained the role of the BEF at Mons and their strategic retreat to the Marne before their advance to the Aisne. With the war entering stalemate the Headmaster examined “modern methods of warfare, entrenchments, dug outs etc “ He then showed pictures to illustrate the progress being made by the Russians before analysing the Naval campaign. He dealt with the loss of the Amphion before talking about the sinking of four German cruisers in the Atlantic. The evening ended with the singing of “God Save the King” and a collection for the Red Cross and St John’s Ambulance.
No doubt uplifted by the patriotic tone of the lectures pupils were soon cracking Kaiser jokes in the school magazine. The popular “What we hear” section contained the following:
That Kaiser Wilhem the Last is reported to have used the following words:
Let us prey.-Anybody here seen Calais?
I have a lot of Infantry in my 15 year old soldiers.
I have forced them to join my volunteer battalion.
Some of my Army Corps are corpses.
I will go and follow General Behindenberg.
-That no further doubt is possible as to who put the "I" in Kaiser.
-That up to a late hour Greenland and the North Pole had not mobilised.
-That all the foregoing unofficial messages are known as '. Kaisergrams"
A week after the “War” lecture was the Christmas Concert and the Chairman of the Governors, Mr H S Hancock, had a special announcement, “Mr Jenkinson had decided to enlist in the Sportsman’s Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers”. The cheers were deafening as the Head explained that he thought it was his duty. Later he and Fred Mellers, the twenty seven year old Chemistry teacher who had also decided to enlist, sang songs and brought the house down with “It’s a long way to Tipperary”.
Such enthusiasm was tempered though when news filtered back to St Austell that a former pupil, Frederick Percy Mallet, had been killed at Mons. This proved to be erroneous and later he was reported on active service in Egypt but it added impetus to the Needlework class which abandoned the usual syllabus and concentrated on knitting. Scarves, mittens, socks and belts were produced by the dozen and packed off at the end of each term.
As Jenkinson and Mellers left school there were two new arrivals. Gustaaf Eggermont and Emiel Goethals were refugees from Belgium. Emiel who had left behind his mother and two younger brothers was to prove particularly popular as not only was he proficient in English and an able scholar he was also an accomplished goalkeeper. However, within a year he decided to return home to fight for his country and joined the Belgium Horse Artillery engaged on the Western Front.
The Western Front beckoned for Jenkinson but initially his life amounted to drilling in Romford and recruiting for the Battalion. To complete its training his Brigade was transferred to Clipstone Camp in Nottinghamshire. It was the 99th brigade of Kitchener's Army and it was planned to have a strength of 40,000 troops. Their accommodation was not as good as before, the food was poor, and “altogether we have to rough it considerably” as Jenkinson put it. His work still consisted of route marches and drill. His longest march was 22 miles but was not untypical and he admitted to being tired at the end of the day. His camp was four miles from the nearest town and he was beginning to look forward to going over to France. Mr. Jenkinson reported that Mellers had already been promoted to sergeant, but he was content to remain a private. From the school magazine accounts it was quite clear that the school was proud to have two masters nobly serving their King and Country.
Back at school Mr H L Lodge became acting head and attempted to keep school life going as normal as possible. Boys and Girls cricket flourished and the annual sports day was a great event. The war was never far away though and Lodge formed the School Cadet Corps with the assistance of the Rev. W R Lawson MA. The Corps was in three sections, Ambulance, Cyclist, and Signaling and flourished until Lawson was suddenly called away to become a Chaplain for the forces.
The Roll of Honour grew longer and by the autumn of 1915 contained its first casualty. William Merrifield was killed in action in the Persian Gulf on the 28th September. He came from Porthpean and before enlisting had been a teacher at Mount Charles Council School after a spell at St Blazey School. He was known to be a popular individual and was famed as a crack shot.
Mellers too was a crack shot and it was thought that he was now in Greece or Serbia acting as a musketry instructor.
Life was not so exciting for Jenkinson. He had been posted to York at the Army Ordnance Depot and his regular letter to school attempts to justify the importance of his job as he controls supplies “down to the smallest piece of soap”.
The Debating Society discussed much heavier matters when on October 29th 1915 the subject was “That America is justified in her present attitude”. A. Tucker won the day supporting the motion with this argument, “We find no blacker page in history than that of the Lusitania and the Arabic. Everyone thought that America would at once declare war, but she only sent a protest and decided to stand neutral, which was perfectly right. In the first place look at it from America’s standpoint. She has a small navy, and would have a great difficulty in getting her men across, and then greater difficulty in supplying their wants. On the other hand she could no longer help us with cotton and munitions. If she was at war we should have no American consul to plead for our rights as he did for Nurse Cavell. If she remains neutral until the end of the war she will be useful as an arbitrator. Therefore I consider it best for her to stand neutral.”
A fortnight later a second debate, “That the Germans should be paid back in their own coin”, was soundly defeated. This time it was Jenkin who convinced the audience for the need for fair play partly with the help of a little rhyme:
When money is lost, little is lost,
When friends are lost, much is lost,
When honour is lost, all is lost.”
(A later debate that term indicated a changing tone since “That the Germans should be paid back in the matter of poisonous gases” was carried 16 to 13 votes).
The mood of the nation was indeed turning in the summer of 1916. Shortages meant that the school magazines were not published as frequently as before and the next edition was not until that fateful summer. The School was very aware of that “dark cloud” hanging over everyone but information was scarce. They did not know that two former pupils now privates in the Royal Fusiliers had been killed on the Somme. William Nancarrow, on 5th May and Sydney Herbert Rundle on 31st July. Nor were they aware that Lance Corporal John Carhart Reed of the Hampshires had been killed in Mesopotamia.
Some news did reach school though. Jenkinson was now a lieutenant and stationed in France whilst Mellers, now promoted to Sergeant Major, had been seriously wounded whilst on active service. Unfortunately the former Chemistry master had to undergo surgery before being transferred to Epsom Racecourse which had been commandeered as a hospital to recuperate.
Another former member of staff was also to have a rough time of it but kept in touch with School. It was indeed a World War and Mr Leonard H Cattle, the Geography teacher between 1910 and 1913 before taking on a Headship in Northamptonshire, had been deployed to Nairobi, Africa, to command a Sectional Ammunition Column. Although proficient in Swahili he endured much boredom before fast and furious action. “A flying column was sent off to make a wide detour to dig in behind the enemy and intercept him. The result as invariably the same. Our movements were known almost before they commenced and the unfortunate column walked into he usual trap, became surrounded and relieved by the main body when on the point of starvation and almost out of ammunition. Meanwhile the enemy apprised of the approach of the relief had retired to a comfortable distance to shell us.”
“The fighting, however, was the least objectionable part” for the former opening batsman and singer at Christmas Concerts. “Semi-starvation, (l have gone 10 days on 1 pound of flour and one pound of trek ox, and at one period for 13 weeks on a half daily ration of this same unrelieved diet, except when the transport got held up and we had to go 3 days, instead of 2, on the single day's apology for a ration), malaria and dysentery caused thousands of deaths and appalling sick rolls.”
Eventually Captain Cattle succumbed to malaria and was invalided home and remained in hospital for 5 months before rejoining the combat on the Western Front.
At least Mellers and Cattle would survive the war unlike Lord Kitchener who drowned when HMS Hampshire was sunk. His death affected everyone badly and D. P. from Form II had this poem printed in the magazine:
Powerful and brave; how well he served his England,
Giving to her his best, his all, his life;
And by his crowning sacrifice in Death,
With threefold energy renews the strife.
Death met him steadfast at his duty's post,
The nation hears the news with tear dimmed eyes;
Men bow their heads in grief too deep for words,
For they know not where their master lies.
The war seemed to hang over every aspect of school life. Mr Lodge even decided to turn some waste ground into a garden in the hope to grow enough vegetables to supplement school dinners and the school museum exhibited a splinter of German shell which struck HMS Lion in the recent battle of Jutland.
When, now Captain, Jenkinson next visited school in the autumn term he donated more exhibits to the museum. A gas mask, a pair of goggles and a shell case were all demonstrated to the pupils before being handed over. He had news of, the now Lieutenant, Mellers and confirmed that he had transferred to the Royal Engineers and was stationed in Plymouth. There was also news of another former member of staff, Mr Burrell, who was in France serving with the Chemical Section of the Royal Engineers. (He was later awarded the Military Medal).
This War was affecting civilians like no other war before though. Soldiers’ tales from the front were one thing but the school magazine of autumn 1916 also covered the air raids of London. Contributor R.P. writes of a trip to London where he witnesses the blackout and hears stories of Zeppelin raids on London Docks.
By the spring of 1917 it was time for the school to acknowledge once again those on active service and for a school hardly ten years old the list is impressive.
Interestingly enough one EGM is not on the Roll of Honour yet he made a valued contribution to summer term magazine. In a story entitled “In Enemy Hands” an adventure of a tank driver is graphically described by a current pupil.
If you have ever known a tank you will know that it is one of the most sulky, contrary, and ill-tempered beasts in existence. At least, that has been my opinion of it, and I have driven one for some little time. We give all sorts of names to our tanks and ours was called the" Sulky Elephant," We called it this because it had been described to me as looking like a huge elephant rolling about without its legs. And as sometimes we had no control over the thing, on the occasions when it took jaunts of its own across the battlefield, impervious alike to bullets and persuasions, we thought the name of "Sulky Elephant" singularly appropriate. ..
Well it happened one day that we were sent off to kill the Germans who occupied a little knoll to the left of the main German position …(when we arrived before) " astonished Huns “ we attacked and mown them down like corn before the sickle. We ceased not until the whole lot had been exterminated, then We dismantled their machine guns and lumbered off again behind the British lines, the tank behaving splendidly on the way. I never called that tank "Sulky Elephant" again, and I felt rather sad when I parted from her to come home to Blighty for a rest.
Tanks were used for the first time at Cambrai to break the Somme deadlock and it was here that former pupil Private Arthur Cyril Bennett was killed on 3rd December 1917. That news did not make its way back to School very quickly but the grim news about two other casualties did. Reginald Montague Coon died of exposure whilst on active service on the Western Front with the Devons on 5th May and William J Lawry died whilst still training with the Devons on Salisbury Plain.
By the autumn 1917 edition of the magazine it is quite clear that war was going to continue and that there was a need simply to grin and bear it. Mr Lodge organized a trip to Pentewan Woods to collect chestnuts for the war effort as well continuing to cultivate the school garden. This had expanded to half an acre before the end of the war and was really paying dividends because the school canteen was regularly supplemented by potatoes, cabbages and other vegetables.
Cornwall did not suffer food shortages quite as much as the rest of the country but nevertheless there were shortages caused by the German U-Boat campaign. However, one former pupil (FHW) was able to inform magazine readers how his ship sunk one submarine. His Destroyer was in contact with a seaplane which had spotted the enemy vessel and guided them towards their target. On the given signal depth charges were dropped until eventually “suddenly someone shouts “Oil on starboard side” and cheer after cheer follows as wreckage appears on the surface.”
Modern weapons had come at a price and in the summer term the school did its bit for War Weapons Week. The school was “expected” to reach the almighty target of £835 but following some quite hefty donations and the drive of Miss Parry £1137 11s 0d was collected. Eventually the School was rewarded for its efforts and was presented with some German trophies – a rifle, a body shield, an entrenching tool and wire cutters. It was a total war and civilians helped where and when they could but it was, of course, the soldiers on the front line who had the worst of it.
That summer magazine carries an insightful contribution from “Doublejay”. His article is entitle “Somewhere in France” and he describes action on the Somme battlefield near Cambrai, in April 1918. After enduring several days of heavy bombardment his company was anticipating a German attack and was ordered forward to support the front line. At this point he was wounded in the leg by a piece of shell. He then recalls dragging himself through mud filled trenches back to a dressing station were his wound was tended. A motor ambulance then took him to a small railway station which was run by the New Zealander Army Medical Corps and where he enjoyed “basins of hot beef tea”. At the Casualty Clearing Station his knee was tended to again, this time by real Red Cross nurses before being transferred to Rouen to be operated on by American doctors “in a hospital where everything was typical of the USA, even down to the “operating theater” and nasal twang.” His good fortune was to continue as his wound was a “Blighty One” and he was sent home. The joy of being able to leave the Western Front behind him was palpable and he was only too pleased to contribute to the magazine but he was at pains to point out that his story was a common experience and that he really had nothing to say.
“Doublejay” was the first to acknowledge his luck but three other former pupils were not as fortunate at this time. The Battle of Passchendale of August 1917 claimed two old boy victims in William Thomas Morton, a lance serjeant with the Seaforth Highlanders on the 22nd and four days later Second Lieutenant Cecil William Hore of the Royal Field Artillery. On the 31st March 1918 Sydney Pearce, a lieutenant in the Royal Flying Corps was the school’s final Great War victim when he was killed near Arras in the heart of the Western Front.
That summer magazine was the last wartime issue because by the time the autumn term one was published the armistice had been agreed. The relief of peace is clearly expressed through every page. However, the “flu” epidemic closed the school for three weeks and struck both staff and pupils so prevented real celebrations. Many poems were produced and CB (Form IIIa) wrote this fine example
Christmas
Oh! Christmas is a happy time,
But it will happier be,
In nineteen-eighteen for our friends,
We soon do hope to see.
For on the battlefields of France,
The war-cloud does not low’r,
And we are happy to embrace,
Goodwill to men once more
The bells up in the old Church tower
Are ringing loud and long,
For they are pealing once again
The happy festal song.
The folks before the warm yule fire,
Are happy as of old
For they are thinking of their boy,
They'd rather have than gold.
Then let us pray to God at night,
Now there is peace once more,
That love may reign o'er all the earth,
And men want no more war.
After Christmas Major Jenkinson was welcomed back to school and it was time to adjust to peacetime and the school quickly did. By 1920 213 pupils were enrolled compared to 70 in 1913 and academically the school flourished too. Jenkinson did not want the efforts of the Old Boys to be forgotten though and proposed a fitting memorial in the form of a stained glass window made up of eight panes which he believed would cost £150. He became the Honorary Treasurer for the Memorial Fund and appealed to parents and the Old Boys and Old Girls Associations for donations. After twelve months £116 10sh 4d had been raised and he was still appealing. Meanwhile, Mrs Petherick, the local MP’s wife, offered to pay for a Roll of Service which was placed on the wall of the large classroom.
Although insufficient funds were raised for the window Jenkinson compromised with four panes. Having accepted the headship of Hemsworth Secondary School in Yorkshire and due to leave at half term he organised the unavailing for October 27th 1921 rather than November 11th.
A large number of parents and friends witnessed the unveiling by Mr J C Williams, the Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall. Wreaths were laid by Mr H Whetter on behalf of the Old Boys’ and Girls’ Associations, and by A L Rowse on behalf of the present pupils. Jenkinson himself read the names of nine* (sic) Old boys who had laid down their lives. The service concluded with buglers from Bodmin Depot sounding the Last Post and reveille.
Footnotes
* At the window unveiling service it is believed that William Nancarrow was overlooked.
Mr Jenkinson said that he had regrets about leaving the School but they were “tempered by the thought that he was handing on to his successor a school that was full and efficient, well disciplined and united.” He was Head Master of Hemsworth Secondary School until he retired in 1937. Major Jenkinson died on the 11th February, 1968, aged 93.
Mr Mellers was promoted to lieutenant and did not return to St Austell to teach but instead joined the staff of Wood Green Secondary School in London
Emiel Goethals, the refugee from Belgium survived the war. On 23rd July 1934, accompanied by his eleven year old son, he returned to school to reacquaint and reminisce.
Twelve months after its unveiling there was a plea for more funds to complete the Memorial Window project and any profits from school plays and the selling of second hand books went to the fund. However it was never completed.
This Magazine is issued under the shadow of a great war cloud, in the gravest national crisis which has ever befallen this country. Twelve great nations are at war-Germany, Austria, and Turkey on the one side and all others, with the important exceptions of America and Italy, on the other.
Germany seems to have been very anxious for war, and, violating the neutrality of Belgium, which she had guaranteed in 1867, has brought upon Europe the burden and all the horrors of the most terrible war in history. Great Britain strove for peace from the commencement, but was forced to take up arms. Before the war is over Germany will be taught that" scraps of paper" so sacred as European treaties, are to be respected, and must be.
At the time of writing the situation calls for the enlistment of every man, fit, and of military age, while others of us who are under the limits must do what we can for King and country. We must realise that we are to be the future generation, the upholders of the Empire, and must not fail in our duty to the state.
Great Britain and her Allies will not rest until Prussian military rule, that despotism under which the German race has been existing for the last quarter of a century, has been beaten to the dust. We go to war with no lust for territorial aggrandizement, no hatred of the German people; we hope that they may eventually see that they are being led in the wrong direction that all right does not lie in might.
“For right is right, since God is God,
And right the day must win"
Immediately a Roll of Honour was planned for the long room of the school and the first fourteen names were ready to be included
G. J. Thomas was in the 5th DCLI as was J. Reed.
W. Merrifield, E G. Hunkin, E. J. Turner, L. S. Ham, W.J. Huddy and
P. K. Martin also joined the County regiment and they were stationed in India.
F. J. Lomer, F. Blackmore, L. Jacob and W Parnall joined the 4th Devons and also were based in India. J Whitford was with the RGA in Plymouth and the school was also aware that M Jasper had enlisted but not sure where.
Jenkinson had established the lecture system four years earlier but such was the dire situation and with a sense of duty he decided to deliver the two autumn term lectures himself. The first was given on November 5th when he spoke fondly of Belguim and showed slides “depicting wanton destruction wrought by the Germ-Huns in their conquest of the country.” The slide show concluded with applause from pupils and guests followed by the singing of the Belgium National Anthem. As the audience left the hall a collection was taken for the “Daily Telegraph” Shilling Fund, for a Christmas present for King Albert of Belgium, which raised 50shillings.
The second lecture, given on 11th December, was simply entitled “The War”. Jenkinson clearly had a thorough grasp of the situation and succinctly explained three key aspects – The Western Front, The Eastern Front and Naval operations. With slides and diagrams he explained the role of the BEF at Mons and their strategic retreat to the Marne before their advance to the Aisne. With the war entering stalemate the Headmaster examined “modern methods of warfare, entrenchments, dug outs etc “ He then showed pictures to illustrate the progress being made by the Russians before analysing the Naval campaign. He dealt with the loss of the Amphion before talking about the sinking of four German cruisers in the Atlantic. The evening ended with the singing of “God Save the King” and a collection for the Red Cross and St John’s Ambulance.
No doubt uplifted by the patriotic tone of the lectures pupils were soon cracking Kaiser jokes in the school magazine. The popular “What we hear” section contained the following:
That Kaiser Wilhem the Last is reported to have used the following words:
Let us prey.-Anybody here seen Calais?
I have a lot of Infantry in my 15 year old soldiers.
I have forced them to join my volunteer battalion.
Some of my Army Corps are corpses.
I will go and follow General Behindenberg.
-That no further doubt is possible as to who put the "I" in Kaiser.
-That up to a late hour Greenland and the North Pole had not mobilised.
-That all the foregoing unofficial messages are known as '. Kaisergrams"
A week after the “War” lecture was the Christmas Concert and the Chairman of the Governors, Mr H S Hancock, had a special announcement, “Mr Jenkinson had decided to enlist in the Sportsman’s Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers”. The cheers were deafening as the Head explained that he thought it was his duty. Later he and Fred Mellers, the twenty seven year old Chemistry teacher who had also decided to enlist, sang songs and brought the house down with “It’s a long way to Tipperary”.
Such enthusiasm was tempered though when news filtered back to St Austell that a former pupil, Frederick Percy Mallet, had been killed at Mons. This proved to be erroneous and later he was reported on active service in Egypt but it added impetus to the Needlework class which abandoned the usual syllabus and concentrated on knitting. Scarves, mittens, socks and belts were produced by the dozen and packed off at the end of each term.
As Jenkinson and Mellers left school there were two new arrivals. Gustaaf Eggermont and Emiel Goethals were refugees from Belgium. Emiel who had left behind his mother and two younger brothers was to prove particularly popular as not only was he proficient in English and an able scholar he was also an accomplished goalkeeper. However, within a year he decided to return home to fight for his country and joined the Belgium Horse Artillery engaged on the Western Front.
The Western Front beckoned for Jenkinson but initially his life amounted to drilling in Romford and recruiting for the Battalion. To complete its training his Brigade was transferred to Clipstone Camp in Nottinghamshire. It was the 99th brigade of Kitchener's Army and it was planned to have a strength of 40,000 troops. Their accommodation was not as good as before, the food was poor, and “altogether we have to rough it considerably” as Jenkinson put it. His work still consisted of route marches and drill. His longest march was 22 miles but was not untypical and he admitted to being tired at the end of the day. His camp was four miles from the nearest town and he was beginning to look forward to going over to France. Mr. Jenkinson reported that Mellers had already been promoted to sergeant, but he was content to remain a private. From the school magazine accounts it was quite clear that the school was proud to have two masters nobly serving their King and Country.
Back at school Mr H L Lodge became acting head and attempted to keep school life going as normal as possible. Boys and Girls cricket flourished and the annual sports day was a great event. The war was never far away though and Lodge formed the School Cadet Corps with the assistance of the Rev. W R Lawson MA. The Corps was in three sections, Ambulance, Cyclist, and Signaling and flourished until Lawson was suddenly called away to become a Chaplain for the forces.
The Roll of Honour grew longer and by the autumn of 1915 contained its first casualty. William Merrifield was killed in action in the Persian Gulf on the 28th September. He came from Porthpean and before enlisting had been a teacher at Mount Charles Council School after a spell at St Blazey School. He was known to be a popular individual and was famed as a crack shot.
Mellers too was a crack shot and it was thought that he was now in Greece or Serbia acting as a musketry instructor.
Life was not so exciting for Jenkinson. He had been posted to York at the Army Ordnance Depot and his regular letter to school attempts to justify the importance of his job as he controls supplies “down to the smallest piece of soap”.
The Debating Society discussed much heavier matters when on October 29th 1915 the subject was “That America is justified in her present attitude”. A. Tucker won the day supporting the motion with this argument, “We find no blacker page in history than that of the Lusitania and the Arabic. Everyone thought that America would at once declare war, but she only sent a protest and decided to stand neutral, which was perfectly right. In the first place look at it from America’s standpoint. She has a small navy, and would have a great difficulty in getting her men across, and then greater difficulty in supplying their wants. On the other hand she could no longer help us with cotton and munitions. If she was at war we should have no American consul to plead for our rights as he did for Nurse Cavell. If she remains neutral until the end of the war she will be useful as an arbitrator. Therefore I consider it best for her to stand neutral.”
A fortnight later a second debate, “That the Germans should be paid back in their own coin”, was soundly defeated. This time it was Jenkin who convinced the audience for the need for fair play partly with the help of a little rhyme:
When money is lost, little is lost,
When friends are lost, much is lost,
When honour is lost, all is lost.”
(A later debate that term indicated a changing tone since “That the Germans should be paid back in the matter of poisonous gases” was carried 16 to 13 votes).
The mood of the nation was indeed turning in the summer of 1916. Shortages meant that the school magazines were not published as frequently as before and the next edition was not until that fateful summer. The School was very aware of that “dark cloud” hanging over everyone but information was scarce. They did not know that two former pupils now privates in the Royal Fusiliers had been killed on the Somme. William Nancarrow, on 5th May and Sydney Herbert Rundle on 31st July. Nor were they aware that Lance Corporal John Carhart Reed of the Hampshires had been killed in Mesopotamia.
Some news did reach school though. Jenkinson was now a lieutenant and stationed in France whilst Mellers, now promoted to Sergeant Major, had been seriously wounded whilst on active service. Unfortunately the former Chemistry master had to undergo surgery before being transferred to Epsom Racecourse which had been commandeered as a hospital to recuperate.
Another former member of staff was also to have a rough time of it but kept in touch with School. It was indeed a World War and Mr Leonard H Cattle, the Geography teacher between 1910 and 1913 before taking on a Headship in Northamptonshire, had been deployed to Nairobi, Africa, to command a Sectional Ammunition Column. Although proficient in Swahili he endured much boredom before fast and furious action. “A flying column was sent off to make a wide detour to dig in behind the enemy and intercept him. The result as invariably the same. Our movements were known almost before they commenced and the unfortunate column walked into he usual trap, became surrounded and relieved by the main body when on the point of starvation and almost out of ammunition. Meanwhile the enemy apprised of the approach of the relief had retired to a comfortable distance to shell us.”
“The fighting, however, was the least objectionable part” for the former opening batsman and singer at Christmas Concerts. “Semi-starvation, (l have gone 10 days on 1 pound of flour and one pound of trek ox, and at one period for 13 weeks on a half daily ration of this same unrelieved diet, except when the transport got held up and we had to go 3 days, instead of 2, on the single day's apology for a ration), malaria and dysentery caused thousands of deaths and appalling sick rolls.”
Eventually Captain Cattle succumbed to malaria and was invalided home and remained in hospital for 5 months before rejoining the combat on the Western Front.
At least Mellers and Cattle would survive the war unlike Lord Kitchener who drowned when HMS Hampshire was sunk. His death affected everyone badly and D. P. from Form II had this poem printed in the magazine:
Powerful and brave; how well he served his England,
Giving to her his best, his all, his life;
And by his crowning sacrifice in Death,
With threefold energy renews the strife.
Death met him steadfast at his duty's post,
The nation hears the news with tear dimmed eyes;
Men bow their heads in grief too deep for words,
For they know not where their master lies.
The war seemed to hang over every aspect of school life. Mr Lodge even decided to turn some waste ground into a garden in the hope to grow enough vegetables to supplement school dinners and the school museum exhibited a splinter of German shell which struck HMS Lion in the recent battle of Jutland.
When, now Captain, Jenkinson next visited school in the autumn term he donated more exhibits to the museum. A gas mask, a pair of goggles and a shell case were all demonstrated to the pupils before being handed over. He had news of, the now Lieutenant, Mellers and confirmed that he had transferred to the Royal Engineers and was stationed in Plymouth. There was also news of another former member of staff, Mr Burrell, who was in France serving with the Chemical Section of the Royal Engineers. (He was later awarded the Military Medal).
This War was affecting civilians like no other war before though. Soldiers’ tales from the front were one thing but the school magazine of autumn 1916 also covered the air raids of London. Contributor R.P. writes of a trip to London where he witnesses the blackout and hears stories of Zeppelin raids on London Docks.
By the spring of 1917 it was time for the school to acknowledge once again those on active service and for a school hardly ten years old the list is impressive.
Interestingly enough one EGM is not on the Roll of Honour yet he made a valued contribution to summer term magazine. In a story entitled “In Enemy Hands” an adventure of a tank driver is graphically described by a current pupil.
If you have ever known a tank you will know that it is one of the most sulky, contrary, and ill-tempered beasts in existence. At least, that has been my opinion of it, and I have driven one for some little time. We give all sorts of names to our tanks and ours was called the" Sulky Elephant," We called it this because it had been described to me as looking like a huge elephant rolling about without its legs. And as sometimes we had no control over the thing, on the occasions when it took jaunts of its own across the battlefield, impervious alike to bullets and persuasions, we thought the name of "Sulky Elephant" singularly appropriate. ..
Well it happened one day that we were sent off to kill the Germans who occupied a little knoll to the left of the main German position …(when we arrived before) " astonished Huns “ we attacked and mown them down like corn before the sickle. We ceased not until the whole lot had been exterminated, then We dismantled their machine guns and lumbered off again behind the British lines, the tank behaving splendidly on the way. I never called that tank "Sulky Elephant" again, and I felt rather sad when I parted from her to come home to Blighty for a rest.
Tanks were used for the first time at Cambrai to break the Somme deadlock and it was here that former pupil Private Arthur Cyril Bennett was killed on 3rd December 1917. That news did not make its way back to School very quickly but the grim news about two other casualties did. Reginald Montague Coon died of exposure whilst on active service on the Western Front with the Devons on 5th May and William J Lawry died whilst still training with the Devons on Salisbury Plain.
By the autumn 1917 edition of the magazine it is quite clear that war was going to continue and that there was a need simply to grin and bear it. Mr Lodge organized a trip to Pentewan Woods to collect chestnuts for the war effort as well continuing to cultivate the school garden. This had expanded to half an acre before the end of the war and was really paying dividends because the school canteen was regularly supplemented by potatoes, cabbages and other vegetables.
Cornwall did not suffer food shortages quite as much as the rest of the country but nevertheless there were shortages caused by the German U-Boat campaign. However, one former pupil (FHW) was able to inform magazine readers how his ship sunk one submarine. His Destroyer was in contact with a seaplane which had spotted the enemy vessel and guided them towards their target. On the given signal depth charges were dropped until eventually “suddenly someone shouts “Oil on starboard side” and cheer after cheer follows as wreckage appears on the surface.”
Modern weapons had come at a price and in the summer term the school did its bit for War Weapons Week. The school was “expected” to reach the almighty target of £835 but following some quite hefty donations and the drive of Miss Parry £1137 11s 0d was collected. Eventually the School was rewarded for its efforts and was presented with some German trophies – a rifle, a body shield, an entrenching tool and wire cutters. It was a total war and civilians helped where and when they could but it was, of course, the soldiers on the front line who had the worst of it.
That summer magazine carries an insightful contribution from “Doublejay”. His article is entitle “Somewhere in France” and he describes action on the Somme battlefield near Cambrai, in April 1918. After enduring several days of heavy bombardment his company was anticipating a German attack and was ordered forward to support the front line. At this point he was wounded in the leg by a piece of shell. He then recalls dragging himself through mud filled trenches back to a dressing station were his wound was tended. A motor ambulance then took him to a small railway station which was run by the New Zealander Army Medical Corps and where he enjoyed “basins of hot beef tea”. At the Casualty Clearing Station his knee was tended to again, this time by real Red Cross nurses before being transferred to Rouen to be operated on by American doctors “in a hospital where everything was typical of the USA, even down to the “operating theater” and nasal twang.” His good fortune was to continue as his wound was a “Blighty One” and he was sent home. The joy of being able to leave the Western Front behind him was palpable and he was only too pleased to contribute to the magazine but he was at pains to point out that his story was a common experience and that he really had nothing to say.
“Doublejay” was the first to acknowledge his luck but three other former pupils were not as fortunate at this time. The Battle of Passchendale of August 1917 claimed two old boy victims in William Thomas Morton, a lance serjeant with the Seaforth Highlanders on the 22nd and four days later Second Lieutenant Cecil William Hore of the Royal Field Artillery. On the 31st March 1918 Sydney Pearce, a lieutenant in the Royal Flying Corps was the school’s final Great War victim when he was killed near Arras in the heart of the Western Front.
That summer magazine was the last wartime issue because by the time the autumn term one was published the armistice had been agreed. The relief of peace is clearly expressed through every page. However, the “flu” epidemic closed the school for three weeks and struck both staff and pupils so prevented real celebrations. Many poems were produced and CB (Form IIIa) wrote this fine example
Christmas
Oh! Christmas is a happy time,
But it will happier be,
In nineteen-eighteen for our friends,
We soon do hope to see.
For on the battlefields of France,
The war-cloud does not low’r,
And we are happy to embrace,
Goodwill to men once more
The bells up in the old Church tower
Are ringing loud and long,
For they are pealing once again
The happy festal song.
The folks before the warm yule fire,
Are happy as of old
For they are thinking of their boy,
They'd rather have than gold.
Then let us pray to God at night,
Now there is peace once more,
That love may reign o'er all the earth,
And men want no more war.
After Christmas Major Jenkinson was welcomed back to school and it was time to adjust to peacetime and the school quickly did. By 1920 213 pupils were enrolled compared to 70 in 1913 and academically the school flourished too. Jenkinson did not want the efforts of the Old Boys to be forgotten though and proposed a fitting memorial in the form of a stained glass window made up of eight panes which he believed would cost £150. He became the Honorary Treasurer for the Memorial Fund and appealed to parents and the Old Boys and Old Girls Associations for donations. After twelve months £116 10sh 4d had been raised and he was still appealing. Meanwhile, Mrs Petherick, the local MP’s wife, offered to pay for a Roll of Service which was placed on the wall of the large classroom.
Although insufficient funds were raised for the window Jenkinson compromised with four panes. Having accepted the headship of Hemsworth Secondary School in Yorkshire and due to leave at half term he organised the unavailing for October 27th 1921 rather than November 11th.
A large number of parents and friends witnessed the unveiling by Mr J C Williams, the Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall. Wreaths were laid by Mr H Whetter on behalf of the Old Boys’ and Girls’ Associations, and by A L Rowse on behalf of the present pupils. Jenkinson himself read the names of nine* (sic) Old boys who had laid down their lives. The service concluded with buglers from Bodmin Depot sounding the Last Post and reveille.
Footnotes
* At the window unveiling service it is believed that William Nancarrow was overlooked.
Mr Jenkinson said that he had regrets about leaving the School but they were “tempered by the thought that he was handing on to his successor a school that was full and efficient, well disciplined and united.” He was Head Master of Hemsworth Secondary School until he retired in 1937. Major Jenkinson died on the 11th February, 1968, aged 93.
Mr Mellers was promoted to lieutenant and did not return to St Austell to teach but instead joined the staff of Wood Green Secondary School in London
Emiel Goethals, the refugee from Belgium survived the war. On 23rd July 1934, accompanied by his eleven year old son, he returned to school to reacquaint and reminisce.
Twelve months after its unveiling there was a plea for more funds to complete the Memorial Window project and any profits from school plays and the selling of second hand books went to the fund. However it was never completed.
FOR KING AND COUNTRY
OUR ROLL OF HONOUR (1917)
The following of our Past and Present Staff and Scholars are serving with the forces. The Editors should be notified of any mistakes or omissions:
A. G. Jenkinson, Esq., M.A. (AOD)
L. H. Cattle Esq., Inl-R.Sc. (RGA?)
F . Mellers, Esq, B.Sc. (RE)
W. R. Lawson, Esq., M.A. (CF)
T. H. Burrell. Esq., B.Sc. (RE)
The following have made the supreme sacrifice:
W. Merrifield, J C. Reed (Mesopotamia).
W J.. Nancarrow, S H. Rundle (France)
Others surviving are:
J. Whitford P. K. Martin G W Holroyd
J G Thomas A C Bennett K Mc K Cumberledge
F J Lomer J M Coon F Gay
F P Mallett R M Coon W T Morton
R Hobba W S Pelleymounter B. Job
D Wilkinson L S Hoar H C Lanyon
F H Blackmore J H Russell P J T Reed
E J Turner A F Lawry W J Sweet
F A H Coon R Hambly G J Lomer
W Parnall E G Hunkin G Crowle
L Harris H Best R K Bonds
W A Huddy W M Martyn T A Rowse
J P Cross C Wedlake G W Thomas
T A Shaw W H May W J Lawry
F S Kellaway J O Franklin P Beard
L Jacob F Blight E Goethals
C E S Warne T J Dawe
Discharged from Service:
C W Hore J B Lanyon
The Complete Roll of Honour
Arrand.
*Bennett. A. C.
Beard, P. RN
Best, H.
Blackmore, F. H. Devons (MGC)
Blewett, L. RN
Blight, F. RNAS
Bonds, R L. Royal Warwicks
Burt, J. A. Hants
Carveth, L. RGA
Coode, C.
Coode, Conrad. Merchant Service
Coon, F. A. H.
Coon, j. M.
*Coon, R. M. Devons
Cross, ]. P RAF
Crowle, G. RN ERA
Cumberledge. K. H.
Dawe, T. J.
Dyer. H. RNVR
Edwards, J.
Eggermont. G. Belgium Army
English, K. RF
Francis, W. H. RN ERA
Franklin. J. O.
Gay, F.
Goethals, E. Belgium Army
Hambly, R.
Hancock. W.
Harris. L
Henwood. H. M
Hoar, L. S.
Hobba, R MGA
Holroyd. G. W.
*Hore, C. W,
Huddy. W. A. DCLI
Hunkin, E. G.
Jacob. L. W. Lieut. Supply Corp
Jasper.
Jenkin, F. RGA
Jenkin, J. W. Dorset Regiment
Job, B E. RN ERA
Job, N. Cheshires
Julian, F. RNAS
Kellyaway. F. S. RGA
Lanyon, H. C. DCLI
Lanyon, J.B.
Lawry A F
*Lawry, W, J. DCLI
Liddicoat, W. de G.
Lomer, F. ]. Devons
Lomer, G. ]. Coldstream Guards
Mallet, F P.
Martin, P K.
Martyn. W. M. Royal Navy Division
May. W. H.
*Merrifield, W. 2nd Norfolks
Moses, H. Warwicks
*Morton, W. T. 8th Seaforths
*Nancarrow, W. J
Olver, W
Palmer, E..J. Somersets
Parnell, W.H. Devons
Pascoe.
*Pearce. S. RAF
Pelleymounter. Devons
Penwarden, A.
Peters. H.
*Reed, J. ¼ Hants
Reed, P.J. T. Worcester regt
Retallick, C. Indian Army
Richards, W. R.
Roberts,
Rowse, j.
Rowse, T. A. DCLI
*Rundle, S. H.
Rundell, S. T.
Russell, T. H. RAF
Searle. R.
Shaw, T. A.
Smith, ].
Stauffer, Byron Reginald
" Edward Skelton Merchant Service
" Julius B.
Stear, R. L King’s Royal Rifle Corps.
Stickland, T. DCLI
Strike. Somerset &RAF
Sweet, J. W. RN Writer
Thomas, G. W. DCLI
Thomas. J. G.
Tregaskes
Turner, E. G.
Waddleton,
Warne, C. E.S. DCLI
Waters, J.
Waters, L.
Wedlake, C. RGA
Wedlake, R.J. RAF
Whetter, H. RNVR W/T
Whitford, J. RGA
Wilkinson, J. Royal Marines
Worthington, V. RAF
Wroe, S.
Wroe, F.
*Killed in action, or died in hospital
OUR ROLL OF HONOUR (1917)
The following of our Past and Present Staff and Scholars are serving with the forces. The Editors should be notified of any mistakes or omissions:
A. G. Jenkinson, Esq., M.A. (AOD)
L. H. Cattle Esq., Inl-R.Sc. (RGA?)
F . Mellers, Esq, B.Sc. (RE)
W. R. Lawson, Esq., M.A. (CF)
T. H. Burrell. Esq., B.Sc. (RE)
The following have made the supreme sacrifice:
W. Merrifield, J C. Reed (Mesopotamia).
W J.. Nancarrow, S H. Rundle (France)
Others surviving are:
J. Whitford P. K. Martin G W Holroyd
J G Thomas A C Bennett K Mc K Cumberledge
F J Lomer J M Coon F Gay
F P Mallett R M Coon W T Morton
R Hobba W S Pelleymounter B. Job
D Wilkinson L S Hoar H C Lanyon
F H Blackmore J H Russell P J T Reed
E J Turner A F Lawry W J Sweet
F A H Coon R Hambly G J Lomer
W Parnall E G Hunkin G Crowle
L Harris H Best R K Bonds
W A Huddy W M Martyn T A Rowse
J P Cross C Wedlake G W Thomas
T A Shaw W H May W J Lawry
F S Kellaway J O Franklin P Beard
L Jacob F Blight E Goethals
C E S Warne T J Dawe
Discharged from Service:
C W Hore J B Lanyon
The Complete Roll of Honour
Arrand.
*Bennett. A. C.
Beard, P. RN
Best, H.
Blackmore, F. H. Devons (MGC)
Blewett, L. RN
Blight, F. RNAS
Bonds, R L. Royal Warwicks
Burt, J. A. Hants
Carveth, L. RGA
Coode, C.
Coode, Conrad. Merchant Service
Coon, F. A. H.
Coon, j. M.
*Coon, R. M. Devons
Cross, ]. P RAF
Crowle, G. RN ERA
Cumberledge. K. H.
Dawe, T. J.
Dyer. H. RNVR
Edwards, J.
Eggermont. G. Belgium Army
English, K. RF
Francis, W. H. RN ERA
Franklin. J. O.
Gay, F.
Goethals, E. Belgium Army
Hambly, R.
Hancock. W.
Harris. L
Henwood. H. M
Hoar, L. S.
Hobba, R MGA
Holroyd. G. W.
*Hore, C. W,
Huddy. W. A. DCLI
Hunkin, E. G.
Jacob. L. W. Lieut. Supply Corp
Jasper.
Jenkin, F. RGA
Jenkin, J. W. Dorset Regiment
Job, B E. RN ERA
Job, N. Cheshires
Julian, F. RNAS
Kellyaway. F. S. RGA
Lanyon, H. C. DCLI
Lanyon, J.B.
Lawry A F
*Lawry, W, J. DCLI
Liddicoat, W. de G.
Lomer, F. ]. Devons
Lomer, G. ]. Coldstream Guards
Mallet, F P.
Martin, P K.
Martyn. W. M. Royal Navy Division
May. W. H.
*Merrifield, W. 2nd Norfolks
Moses, H. Warwicks
*Morton, W. T. 8th Seaforths
*Nancarrow, W. J
Olver, W
Palmer, E..J. Somersets
Parnell, W.H. Devons
Pascoe.
*Pearce. S. RAF
Pelleymounter. Devons
Penwarden, A.
Peters. H.
*Reed, J. ¼ Hants
Reed, P.J. T. Worcester regt
Retallick, C. Indian Army
Richards, W. R.
Roberts,
Rowse, j.
Rowse, T. A. DCLI
*Rundle, S. H.
Rundell, S. T.
Russell, T. H. RAF
Searle. R.
Shaw, T. A.
Smith, ].
Stauffer, Byron Reginald
" Edward Skelton Merchant Service
" Julius B.
Stear, R. L King’s Royal Rifle Corps.
Stickland, T. DCLI
Strike. Somerset &RAF
Sweet, J. W. RN Writer
Thomas, G. W. DCLI
Thomas. J. G.
Tregaskes
Turner, E. G.
Waddleton,
Warne, C. E.S. DCLI
Waters, J.
Waters, L.
Wedlake, C. RGA
Wedlake, R.J. RAF
Whetter, H. RNVR W/T
Whitford, J. RGA
Wilkinson, J. Royal Marines
Worthington, V. RAF
Wroe, S.
Wroe, F.
*Killed in action, or died in hospital