Remembering those Old Warwickians who fell in military conflict and who were not commemorated on the original War Memorials in Warwick School Chapel

A great deal of work went into producing Warwick School’s memorials for the First and Second World Wars. We must not forget, either, that there were five OW casualties in the South African (or Boer) Wars in the late 19^th century. It is an unfortunate fact that there is some confusion as to who some of the names carved on the memorials actually are. It is astonishing, perhaps, that around a quarter of the names on the First World War memorial in the school chapel are not recorded in the school’s Admissions Books, and it can only be surmised that these casualties were accorded the honour of being classed as Old Warwickians either through having passed through the King’s Middle School, which amalgamated with Warwick School in 1906, or because they were “school servants” – which is how non-teaching employees of the school were termed in those days. We have no records of such employees from the First World War period, or even much later. A rare example of proof of this hypothesis was provided earlier this year, when I was sent information about one Able Seaman W. E. Neville, who went down with his ship at the Battle of Jutland (862 crew lost from that one ship), aged 19, and whose name is on our Memorial.  His naval record lists his occupation on joining the Navy in 1912 as "Garden Boy".

A second problem is that, in the decades since the World Wars ended, names have gradually emerged who, it can be proved, were definitely Old Warwickians and also who definitely died in military service of their country. The fact that one name only came to light 104 years after the end of the First World War galvanised us into commissioning a memorial listing these names.

The new war memorial was dedicated in Warwick School Chapel on Remembrance Sunday, 2023.

First World War 
The missing First World War casualties are:
E A Walker (WS 1906), died 29 December 1915.
H B Davies, died 3 November 1917. Possibly the mis-spelled H. Davis (WS 1891–94).
F E Smith. There were two Warwick School casualties with the same surname and initials.  Frank Edmund Smith, KMS and WS 1900–08, died on the Somme on 25 August 1916.  Francis Edward Smith died on 18 November 1918, but is not in an Admissions Book.
C F H Kent, died 14 March 1917. (WS 1910–12).
J G Faulks, died 23 July 1916. (WS 1908–9).
R D D-D Brownson (WS 1899–1902), a Captain Surgeon who died in India on 21 October 1918, and who we were only informed about in 2022.  He is pictured as the touch-judge in the 1901-01 Warwick School Football Team photo.
R Price. The name of a further Old Warwickian missing from the First World War memorial, Reginald Price, has also come to light. Reginald Price was at Warwick School from 1889 to 1894. He died on 1 July 1916 - the first day of the Battle of the Somme.

Second World War
The missing names from the Second World War are listed below. The first five, listed by Kenneth Fowler in his exhaustive The County of Warwickshire Roll of Honour, Vol 1 (2005), are not listed as former pupils:
R G Hart, died 18 December 1940.
L J Glover-Price, died 29 June 1943 (killed in a Halifax).
J F Harper, died 31 July 1943 (killed in a Halifax).
G Faulkner, died 29 December 1944 (killed in a Lancaster).
K W Hardiman, died 17 May 1945 (lost at sea).
Sgt H. F. Clarke RAFVR, died 24 July 1942. Named on the Runnymeade Memorial. (WS 1932–39).
FO J Coles RAFVR, died 10 June 1943. Buried at Reykjavik. (WS 1932–39).