Feature Articles - The Most Popular War in History - Appendices and Bibliography
Appendix 1 - Eton College - Location of Memorials
If you are ever in the Windsor area, Eton College is well worth a visit. Most people interested in history head straight for the Castle and stay there, which is a pity. The College is both picturesque and, from the point of view of those interested in this web-site's subject, very revealing.
I would particularly recommend a look round the Cloisters and College Chapel. It is also (unlike the Castle and Royal Chapel), mercifully free from souvenir-sellers and general tackiness as this would get in the way of the work of the school.
Note that, for similar reasons, visiting hours are restricted - I suggest you check by visiting Eton's website. If you want to actually visualise living conditions there (at least for senior boys) in 1900 or so, there is a reconstruction of a sixth-former's room for that period in their 'Museum of Eton Life'.
For further details, click here (takes you to Eton's home page). Other public schools will of course have memorials, but as far as I know Eton is the only one that is ever open to the public (with the possible exception of Winchester College).
A Final Postscript
When I visited the College in January 2003 to photograph the memorials, noting as I did so the very young age of some of those commemorated, I was approached by a couple of impeccably courteous present-day pupils with some technical questions on photographic techniques.
Possibly they knew I was coming: I was signed in for the security desk as a photographer. They were evidently right at the top of the school, and it crossed my mind that had this been 1915 rather than 2003 these two would very likely have joined up soon after leaving in the summer (voluntary enlistment still being in full swing).
It was sobering to say the least to reflect that they might well have then ended up eighteen months later on the battlefield of the Somme, leading their platoons, from the front, 'over the top'.
(I did not by the way ask if they were related to any of the people commemorated on the memorials as this would have been intrusive).
Appendix 2 - My Sources - See Bibliography
A lot of these will be out of print (apart from the Access to History series), including my father's book.
If you wish to follow them up, then obviously try a decent second-hand bookshop, or alternatively go online to Amazon.com, etc.
The Dangerfield book is still available as I had to buy one to replace the copy sold off (with most of his library) when my father died. Some of the others may be as well. Note that most bookshops will look titles up on a central database if asked, saving you a lot of hunting about for something that may not be in print. They can also order things (I think it is a legal requirement for them to offer this service).
Bibliography - Main and Supporting Articles
1. Abdy J and Gere C (1984) The Souls, Sidgwick and Jackson, London
2. Baden-Powell R (1932) Scouting for Boys, C. Arthur Pearson Ltd., Tower House, Southampton St., London WC1. (34th edition, first edition pub. 1908)
3. Bamford T W (1967) The Rise of the Public Schools, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 36 Park St., London W1
4. Clarke P (1996): Hope and Glory (Britain 1900-1990), Penguin hardback edition
5. Dangerfield G (1935, revised 1997) The Strange Death of Liberal England, Serif Press, 47 Strahan Road, London E3 5DA
6. Fettes College website
7. Gathorne-Hardy J (1977) The Public School Phenomenon, Hodder and Stoughton, London
8. HMSO Publishing (1999): War 1914: Punishing the Serbs, HMSO
9. Hobsbawm E J (1968) Industry and Empire, Penguin edition
10. Honey, J R de S (1977) Tom Brown's Universe: the Development of the Public School in the 19th Century Millington Books Ltd., 109 Southampton Row, London WC1B 4HH
11. MacKenzie Jeanne (1986) The Children of the Souls, Chatto and Windus, 40 William IV St., London WC2N 4DF
12. Microsoft Corporation (2003, many contributors) Encarta Encyclopaedia Standard Edition 2003, Microsoft Publishing
13. Pearce R (2002) Britain: Society, Economy and Industrial Relations 1900-39 (2nd edition). In: Access to History series, Hodder and Stoughton
14. Pelling H. (1963) A History of British Trade Unionism, Penguin Press
15. Reader W J (1988) At Duty's Call - A Study in Obsolete Patriotism, Manchester University Press. (My late father's book and the starting-point for this investigation)
16. Roberts, Robert (1971) The Classic Slum: Salford Life in the First Quarter of the Century, Penguin Press
17. The Daily Telegraph (various contributors, 1997) The British Empire, The Telegraph Group Ltd., 1 Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London E14 5DT
18. Various contributors: Great Public Schools, Edward Arnold, London. (Date uncertain, probably later than 1890 but well before 1914)
19. Watts D (2002) Whigs, Radicals and Liberals (2nd edition) In: Access to History series, Hodder and Stoughton
20. Wilson, Charles (1954) A History of Unilever (vol. 1), Cassell and Company Ltd., 37-38 St Andrew's Hill, Queen Victoria St., London EC4
Sources of Illustrations - All Articles
1. Photographs which I took of memorial tablets in the Cloisters at Eton College are reproduced by the kind permission of the Provost and Fellows
2. The Boy's Own Paper bound and collected issues for 1899
3. Young England bound and collected issues for 1912
4. Reproduction of the famous Kitchener recruitment poster kindly provided by Michael Duffy
5. Sir Robert Baden-Powell's sketches in Scouting for Boys
6. Illustrations in Great Public Schools
7. The Daily Telegraph (various contributors) 1997 The British Empire, Telegraph Group Ltd., 1 Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London EC4 for the following: all pictures (except for the manor house at Mells) in the subsection 'Setting the Scene'. Also: pictures in support articles on Lord Kitchener and General Gordon
8. MacKenzie, Jeanne (1986): The Children of The Souls , Chatto and Windus, 40 William IV St., London WC2N 4DF for the picture of the Manor House at Mells in the sub-section 'Setting the Scene'
Article and photographs contributed by Humphrey Reader.
A 'Baby's Head' was a meat pudding which comprised part of the British Army field ration.
- Did you know?
