2 March 2016
Remembering 100 “colonial ruffians” from the First World War
It is only appropriate that today, the 153rd birthday of KZN’s oldest all-boys’ school, Maritzburg College looks back
and acknowledges the 100 young men that it nurtured who perished in the Great War, which reached a terrible
culmination in the grim battles that were fought on the Western Front from July onwards 100 years ago.
Maritzburg College was founded in a carpenter’s shop, and it was on this day in 1863 that the founding
headmaster, Mr William Calder, opened the doors of his new village school to 33 “colonial ruffians”. Over the
following 153 years, the school has built up an enviable heritage, at least some of which was forged on numerous
battlefields scattered around the world. Its martial tradition dates back to 1873, when Foundation Scholar, Tpr
Robert Erskine of the Natal Carbineers, was killed by the amaHlubi at Bushman’s Pass. The school’s badge of a
crossed assegai and carbine, its colours of red-black-white, and its motto of “Pro Aris et
Focis” all date back to the colonial conflicts of the late 1870s, especially the Anglo-Zulu
War of 1879. In January of that year, seven Old Boys of the old Pietermaritzburg High
School were killed at Isandlwana, prompting the then headmaster of the school, Mr RD
Clark (the “mighty Clark”, as he was known to some admirers), to erect a memorial
tablet in their honour that is today displayed in the foyer of the old boarding house that
carries his name (see photo right). It was from the Latin tribute inscribed on that
memorial, penned by Clark himself, that the school’s motto was in due course derived.
Indeed, the school’s complete roll of honour, which is made up of the names of 261 Old
Collegians killed in all wars, is an enviable one of which the school is justifiably proud,
even if it is of course a tragic one too.
In the First World War, the then still rather youthful Maritzburg College – it turned 50 in March 1913 – offered up
800 of its past pupils for service in the South African and imperial forces in the fight against Kaiser Wilhelm’s
Germany. This tally was no mean feat, given that only 1 919 boys had ever been entered into the old admission
book by the time war broke out on 4 August 1914. The martial culture in the fledgling Colony of Natal was clearly a
strong one, and the Old Boys of Maritzburg College – like those of other traditional all-boys’ schools in the Colony
– flocked to join up and to “do their bit” for King and Empire.
The names of many of the 800 Old Boys who fought in the war were sewn by the headmaster’s wife, Mrs Barns,
onto two Union flags, which these days are prominently displayed in the school’s Victoria Hall, itself a former
military hospital. One must also remember that it was not only the Old Boys of the school who went off to fight,
but six of its teachers too. The staff common room at the time was a rather sparsely populated place, and the
departure of such a high proportion of his teachers on active service would have placed enormous pressures on
the then headmaster, Mr EW “Pixie” Barns. Sadly, half were destined not to return, with Ptes Christian Ludwig
Fischer (1 South African Infantry (SAI) Regt), Donald Morris and William Mitchell Reid (both from 4 SAI Regt) all
being killed on the Western Front.
In the end, 97 Old Boys and the three teachers already mentioned paid the ultimate price in the conflict. When
one examines their personal details, one is immediately struck by how many of them suffered violent deaths at
the hands of the enemy – for me, there was something quite gruelling about typing out so many entries that
included the words, “died of wounds” or “missing in action”. The latter phrase was an especially chilling one in the
context of the First World War, as it insinuated death by shellfire, the likelihood of total obliteration, and a graveless end.
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And what of the social backgrounds of the 97 Old Boy casualties? Not surprisingly,
a number of the prominent men of the Colony sent their sons to Maritzburg
College at the time, and the roll of service of the 800 Old Boys who fought in the
war includes the surnames of many so-called Old Natal Families (ONFs). Thus,
surnames like Acutt, Alexander, Boast, Drew, Forsyth, Groom, Harrison, Payn,
Shaw, Shepstone, Tomlinson, Vanderplank, Whitelaw, Wolhuter etc. abound
amongst the lengthy service lists contained in the wartime school magazines.
Left: One of the most
interesting gatherings of
Old Collegians took place
on the fields of Flanders a
few days before the start
of the Battle of the
Somme (June 1916). A
group photograph from
the meeting appeared on
the front page of The
Natal
Witness
on
16 December 1916 – by
which time a number of
them had been killed.
The photo was titled
“College Boys at the
Front” and it is a grim
reminder of the sacrifices
made by Old Collegians
during
this
hideous
conflict. Out of the 18
who are pictured, eight
never returned home.
They were AA Larkan, FM
Drew, E Goodwill, FP
Household, DB Robb,
WM Reid (staff), FL von
der Heyde and EC
Shepherd.
In the column in the old admission
book detailing the occupations of the
boys’ fathers (and of the 97, we have
the details of 79 of them), we find 20
men of the professional classes
(including eight lawyers, two doctors,
two accountants, two engineers, two
men of the cloth and one headmaster
(alas, the “mighty Clark” himself)) and
15 who were civil servants. Amongst the latter we find men of such
standing as the Clerk of the Assembly (the fathers, respectively, of 2nd
Lt David Blackie Robb of 4 SAI Regt and Pte Arthur Royle Payne of 2 SAI
Regt), the Clerk of Works (the father of Lt William Harold Binnie of 206
Squadron of the Royal Air Force (RAF), but previously of the Royal Scots
Regt), the Controller of the Government Savings Bank (Lt Edwin Albert
Pope of 8 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) (see photo left)),
the Controller of Post & Telegraphs (Lt Stephen Trevor Beckerleg of the
Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry), the future Provincial Secretary (Pte
Leslie Plowman of 2 SAI) and two colonels in the army (2nd Lt Aylmer
Templer Wales and the grandly named L/Cpl Arthur Charles Lyster
Alexander Chalmers Duff of 4 SAI). (I add that the unfortunate Pope
was shot down and killed over the Somme in 1917 by the German air
ace, Werner Voss.)
A further 19 Old Boys were the sons of farmers, some of whom were also prominent members of the Colony, like
the father of Lt Patrick Evelyn Smythe (Black Watch), who had been the Prime Minister of Natal in 1905-1906, and
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2nd Lt Kenneth Keir Struben (4 SAI), who was the son of Mr WCM Struben CMG of Charlestown. Amongst the sons
of ONFs, we find two Trafford brothers from Kilmore, Rosetta (Lt Edmond Thyrkel Trafford of the Norfolk Regt and
Capt Geoffrey Thomas Trafford of the 1st Life Guards), a Phipson (Pte Rochfort Lindley Phipson, who was killed
while with 2 SAI at Bernafay Wood at the Somme), a Hosken (2nd Lt Victor Frederick Hosken of Bulwer, the son of
Col CV Hosken of the Natal Carbineers), and a Geekie (2nd Lt "Archie" Geekie of the RAF).
A total of 12 Old Boys were the sons of miscellaneous managers, merchants and brokers, but it is perhaps the 13
boys who were the sons of tradesmen, storekeepers and the like who are somehow more interesting. Of this
baker’s dozen of men who were perhaps from a more modest social stratum in the Colony, I found it especially
noteworthy that in those socially conscious times three of them had earned commissions. 2nd Lt Henry Albert
Salter joined the officer cohort of the London Regt, despite his being the son of a barkeep living at 62 Loop Street,
and 2nd Lt Charles Leonard Kelly was an officer in 204 Squadron, RAF (having to begin with been commissioned
into The Loyal North Lancashire Regt), although his father had been a tailor from 236 Loop Street. I add that the
father of 2nd Lt Robert Gibb Miller (2 SAI), a former Natal rugby player who was killed in action at the Battle of
Delville Wood, had been a blacksmith in Braid Street.
Amongst the Old Boys themselves we find a smattering of scholars and sportsmen of renown, but of course many
run-of-the-mill, “ordinary” College boys. Only one dux student was killed (Geoffrey Trafford of 1913), as well as
only one head prefect (Geoffrey’s older brother, Edmond, of 1910
and 1911), and one Old Boy who had been captain of both rugby
(1908 and 1909) and cricket (1909). The two Trafford brothers on
the roll of honour were half of a quartet of brothers who all
enjoyed successful careers at the school. Notably, the oldest of the
quartet, Edward Le Marchant Trafford, is the only boy in the history
of College to have attained the “royal flush” of being (in 1905) the
head boy, dux, and captain of both cricket and rugby. As already
mentioned, Geoffrey (see photo right) was commissioned into the
1st Life Guards, the most senior regiment in the British Army, and
was killed in action in France on 23 July 1918, while attached to 9th
battalion, Tank Corps. He was 22. The multi-talented sportsman of
1908-1909 was 2nd Lt Norman Lindley “Rosie” Watt of 53 Squadron
(RFC), late of King Edward’s Horse, who whilst still a schoolboy
represented Maritzburg against the touring Transvaal XV. As was
stated in a newspaper article published shortly after his death, “To
his school fellows he was a miracle, and it is not too much to say
that few school boys have ever had such a profound influence for
good.” Not surprisingly, Norman was in 1911 awarded the Natal
Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University, but was unable to
complete his degree following the outbreak of war. Interestingly,
his brother, 2nd Lt William Watt, was the Natal Rhodes Scholar for
the following year and served in the same squadron. An aerial
observer, Norman was killed after the pilot of his aircraft was killed
in combat with the German ace, Leutnant Ernst Hess, and Norman,
seated behind his dead colleague, had landed the aircraft using the
rudimentary controls available to him. He died of his wounds
shortly after being taken to a first aid post – it is said that he held
on until William arrived at his bedside before he died. Another
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scholar of renown was 2nd Lt Norman Carey Lucas (see photo right), whose father was the architect who designed
the Pietermaritzburg central post office in Langalibalele Street. Norman was described by his former headmaster,
Mr Barns, as being one of the finest scholars of his generation, and, having secured a home exhibition scholarship
to the University of Edinburgh, he had just been awarded a Carnegie Scholarship
when war broke out. An officer in the Royal Irish Rifles who served in the
Dardanelles (Gallipoli), Serbian and Macedonian campaigns, Norman died from
wounds received in Patrol Wood, Salonika, and is buried in Macedonia. Another allround sportsmen was Lt Garnet Edwin Driver (8th SA Horse Regt), who had played
first-class cricket for Griqualand-West and rugby for Wasps, and who, having been
mentioned in dispatches, died of his wounds in September 1916 at Kissaki in East
Africa; 2nd Lt John McKenzie Ross (2 SAI) of Reitz in the old Orange River Colony,
who died at Arras at 12 April 1917, had been the SAI middleweight boxing
champion; and 2nd Lt Lawrence George "Lolo" Ross (7th Dragoon Guards (Princess
Royal's)) of Nottingham Road, was described as "one of the finest polo players in
South Africa". He died of his wounds at the Somme in May 1917.
The school at the time of the outbreak of the war in August 1914 was a small one,
and the eventual size of the casualty roll is all the more remarkable given that there
were only 241 boys on the school roll in mid-1914. Interestingly, the most number
of boys killed who were all at the school at the same time was 31, in 1908, which is
a fraction over 12% of the entire school at the time. If the same proportion of College boys were to perish in battle
today, it would mean that nearly 160 young lives would be lost.
To begin with, the casualty toll in the war was mercifully slow, with
only one Old Boy, Rfm George Jenkin Waters (1st SA Mounted Rifles),
dying during the 1914 calendar year, killed in action at Sandfontein in
German South West Africa. In 1915, four Old Boys were killed – all
officers in imperial regiments, also killed in action – three on the
Western Front and one, 2nd Lt Charles Nicholas “Charlie” Hathorn
(3rd Dragoon Guards / Loyal North Lancashire Regt), at Gallipoli.
Charlie was the son of another Foundation Scholar, Judge Kenneth
Hathorn, who was to lose a second son, Capt Walter Blaikie Hathorn
(MA) (Cantab), in World War 2. Not surprisingly, the highest number
of casualties suffered in a single calendar year was in 1916, especially
around the great Somme offensive from 1 July onwards. A total of 16
Old Collegians were killed in July of that year (nine at the Battle of
Delville Wood), with a further 10 in October (nine at Butte-deWarlencourt, also on the Somme), as the great British-led offensive
flared up one last time before finally petering out by 18 November.
In the last two years of the war, the great battles of the Western
Front
again took their toll, with 10 Old Boys dying in April 1917 (nine
Above: The gravestone of Rfn Waters,
in action on the Western Front) and another seven in March 1918, as
at Warmbad, Namibia
the German Army made its great push for victory. Four Old Boys
(including the champion boxer, 2nd Lt JM Ross, and Pte GG Pringle also from 2 SAI Regt – see below) were killed
on the same day (12 April 1917) during the Battle of Arras, part of a casualty rate that saw “1 400 men from
Scotland and South Africa of the brave 9th Division . . . . [fall] in just 30 minutes”. The battle inspired a 2009
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documentary called Murder on the Hill, which has very critical of the callousness with which the men were
dispatched to their deaths by an unyielding high command. The total tally of Old Boys who were killed in 1917 was
31, with a further 25 being killed in the final year of the war, 1918, and a further two Old Boys perishing in 1919,
both of illness before being “demobbed” from the army.
A glance at the details of the service rolls in the old school magazines confirms that the hundreds of Old Boys who
fought in the war were engaged in all the main campaigns and theatres in which the Western Allies were engaged.
Scores would, like the unfortunate Rfn Waters, have had their baptism of fire in German South West Africa at the
end of 1914, with many then being shipped to East Africa, for the Smuts-led campaign against the elusive von
Lettow-Vorbeck in what is today Kenya and Tanzania. However, it was to the great carnage on the Western Front
from 1915 onwards that most of the men were dispatched, and it was in this muddy and grim theatre of the Great
War that the majority of the casualties were suffered by College boys. However, many Old Boys were also
dispatched to the Levant – specifically, Egypt, Palestine, Gallipoli and Salonika – and at each of those places there
lies a cross or gravestone somewhere with the details of a fallen College boy.
As I have already mentioned, I found it especially gruelling to discover that a considerable proportion of the
deaths endured by Old Collegians was as a result of direct enemy action, with 81 of the 100 deaths being either
“killed in action” (KIA), “missing in action” (MIA), or “died of wounds”. This is a remarkably high proportion, given
that the average for the war for all combatant deaths was about two-thirds (with some armies, sometimes far
less), with illness and disease – including the 1918 flu pandemic – claiming the other third. A surprisingly small
number of Old Boys (11) died of illness, with the soldiers who fought in East Africa being especially susceptible to
diseases like malaria, typhoid and blackwater fever. Other manners of death included a drowning at sea while en
route home (L/Cpl Alexander Noble Henderson of 4 SAI Regt, aboard the SS Galway Castle less than two months
before the armistice), a number of deaths in aeroplane accidents, and one “self-inflicted wound”. This
misfortunate fellow was the gallant Lt Ian Russell MacKenzie, who had entered College in 1888, the year in which
it moved to its present position overlooking the Msunduzi River. Born in July 1875, MacKenzie was one of the
older Old Collegians to die in the war, and it is recorded that he died of a self-inflicted but unintentional wound in
Malawi in 1917, aged 40. He had earned the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) during the South African War
(1899-1902), and was twice mentioned in dispatches, having earlier in the war served in Botha’s Light Horse.
I have already briefly referred to some of the Old Boys who were able to earn commissions as officers, and the
overall breakdown by rank of the 100 men on the school’s roll of honour is 45 officers, 11 non-commissioned
officers (NCOs) and 44 privates (including all three of the teachers). As far as the regiments in which they served
are concerned, a total of 22 of the men who died were officers in imperial regiments of the British Army, including
such prestigious units as the Life Guards, the Royal Horse Artillery (RHA), the 7th Dragoon Guards (Princess
Royal’s), the Black Watch (Royal Highlanders), the Royal Scots, the Royal Fusiliers, the King’s Royal Rifles and the
Royal Irish Rifles. One of the younger Old Boys to perish was Lt Edward James Allan-Hay of the 41st Dogras Regt,
Indian Army, who was one of 23 teenagers from College to die in the war. Amongst the 100 men on the roll, a
further 11 Old Boys were in the RFC or its successor, the RAF (all were officers), six were in miscellaneous SA Army
regiments like the Cape Corps, the Motor Cycle Corps and the Signals Service, six were in mounted regiments like
the SA Horse and SA Mounted Rifles, with the remainder (54 in total) all serving in the various SAI regiments. Of
these regiments, 27 served in 2 SAI, which was raised in Natal and the Orange Free State, 15 served in 4 SAI
(known as “the Scottish”) and the remainder were distributed amongst all the others. As far as the officers go,
three served in the miscellaneous army regiments, one in a mounted unit, and seven in the SAI regiments.
Regarding the ages of the men, the youngest of all the Old Boys to die in the First World War was Pte Philip
William Dix, who was killed at the Third Battle of Ypres aged only 17 years and 2 months – the age of a Form 5 boy
today. Other youngsters included the “intelligence agent”, A.S. Early, who was killed in action at Tandamuti in
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Kenya aged 18 and the similarly aged Pte James Martin “Jimmy” Morton, who was killed in action at Butte-deWarlencourt, a particularly gruesome battle that claimed the lives of eight other College Old Boys and was part of
the greater Battle of the Somme. Jimmy was the brother of Pte Alexander
Morton, a 19-year old killed at Delville Wood in July 1916, and he had himself
been wounded in the same battle, only to die three months later. Other
teenagers include Spr Robert Kenneth Hanson (SA Signal Service), who died of
blackwater fever in of all places Pietermaritzburg and is buried in the Chief
Albert Luthuli Road Cemetery, and the baby-faced Pte Walter Basil Horsley (see
photo left), who, with the older Morton boy, was killed at Delville Wood, during
one of the most gruesome battles of that bloody year. Like so many of the men
who died in that grisly action, he was reported as “missing in action” and his
body was never found. The likelihood is that he was killed by shellfire,
rendering his body
obliterated. Like 14
other
Old
Collegians, his name
is recorded on the
Thiepval Memorial,
which acknowledges
and
remembers
those soldiers who
died at the Somme and had no known grave. The
oldest Old Boy killed in the First World War was the 52
year-old Pte Samuel Harris, who died of blackwater
fever in Tanzania whilst a prisoner of war. The oldest OC to die as a
result of enemy action was Pte Harry Blackmore Rowse, who died of his Above: The aftermath of Delville
wounds at the Battle of Ypres, in Flanders. In a typically sardonic entry, Wood: a captured German trench
he is described in the old admission book as being “very dull; amiable”.
The great event of 1916, the Battle of the Somme, is regarded as the
bloodiest battle ever fought by the British Army. Indeed, on the first day of
the battle on 1 July 1916, the British Army suffered 54 000 casualties, of
which nearly 20 000 were KIA. That battle, which lasted until 18 November,
claimed the lives of 27 Old Collegians, and it included such well-known
actions as the battles of Bernafay Wood, Delville Wood and Butte-deWarlencourt. The Battle of Delville Wood has entered the history books as
the bloodiest battle fought by South African soldiers in the war, and many
publications have been written about the 3 153 “Springboks” who entered
the wood at 05h00 on 15 July, with only a small fraction of those men being
present at roll call on the 20th. It is notable that to begin with the battlefield
commander was Lt-Col William Tanner, an Old Collegian who had attended
the school in 1889-1889 (another “dull but amiable” fellow, according to
the admission book). He was wounded in the leg on the second day of the
battle and had to be relieved of his command, but he ended up being
promoted to Brigadier-General by the end of the war, the officer
commanding an entire brigade of the British Army and arguably the mostdecorated South African soldier of the war – his post-nominal letters
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Above: The author admires the
medal collection of Brig-Gen WEC
Tanner, on display at the SA
Military
Museum
in
Johannesburg.
included CB, CMG, DSO, MC, Legion d' Honneur, Croix de Guerre and Ordre de Leopold. Sadly, the total number of
Old Collegians killed at Delville Wood amounts to nine, with a number of other Old Boys being wounded during
the hand-to-hand struggle against the equally determined German forces. The same tally of Old Boys was killed at
Butte-de-Warlencourt, with most dying during an attack by 2nd and 4th SAIs on the Germans’ "snag and snail
trenches". Four Old Boys had been killed at Bernafay Wood, in a bloody battle that preceded Delville Wood, and a
total of six Old Boys were killed in the various battles that were fought on or near the Ypres Salient, including two
at the Battle of Passchendaele in 1917. A total of 14 Old Boys were killed in action (six) or died of illness (seven) in
the East African campaign.
Of the 97 Old Collegians, we know the addresses of 91 of them from the admission book. A total of 56 hailed from
Maritzburg, with five of them having lived in Loop Street, four in each of Pietermaritz Street, Boshoff Street,
Burger Street and Prince Alfred Street, and a further three each in Alexandra Road, Berg Street and Commercial
Road. Of the others, 11 hailed from the Midlands – mainly the sons of farmers – with eight coming from Central
Natal (Ladysmith, Estcourt etc.), four from the South Coast, four from Durban/Pinetown, and two each from the
Transvaal, Zululand and the Orange River Colony.
We also know the primary education backgrounds of 86 of the Old Boys, and these include 17 boys who came to
College from Boys’ Model School (BMS), 14 from Merchiston Preparatory School, five who were home tutored or
were taught by a governess, four from Durban High School, three each from Howick Government School, Weenen
County College and Glen Lynn School, and two from a
school only known as “Mrs Archibald’s”.
Maritzburg College is justifiably proud of the 61
decorations earned by its Old Boys during the Great
War, but what of those earned specifically by the men
who died?

The older child of the “Father of College”, Mr
RD Clark, Capt Douglas Scott “Wiggie”
Dalrymple-Clark (see photo right, from the front
page of The Natal Witness dated 29 September
1916) had earned his Military Cross for bravery
in the face of enemy fire, when earlier in 1916
he rescued men from his unit from immediate
death by suffocation, after they had been buried
after a bombardment by enemy artillery. Capt
Dalrymple-Clark, who double-barrelled his
surname at the time of his marriage in 1915,
served in the Cameron Highlanders and the
King’s Royal Rifles and was killed by shrapnel
fire during the Battle of the Somme, in an
incident that not only killed him, but also his
regiment’s commanding officer, adjutant and
regimental sergeant-major. It is said that his
father never recovered from the death of his
only beloved son, and died only eight months
later, allegedly of a broken heart.
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
Another winner of a gallantry award was Capt Vernon Wallace Mileman, of the 7th battalion, London Regt,
who was also awarded a Military Cross. Capt Mileman’s grandfather had been a Pietermaritzburg city
councillor, and Vernon’s own obituary in the school magazine records that he had, before he died, been
twice wounded and twice buried. He was killed in action at Ypres in September 1917, and his name is
recorded with three other Old Boys on the famous Menin Gate, at which the “Last Post” has been played
every night since 1928.

Pte Gideon George Pringle of the 2 SAI Regt was killed east of Fampoux on 12 April 1917, during the Battle
of Arras. He was awarded the Military Medal, having been wounded earlier at Delville Wood.

Pte John Christopher St George, also of 2 SAI Regt, died of his wounds received in action at Butte-deWarlencourt on the Somme on 15 October 1916. The school magazine of February 1917 records that St
George and a friend saved 16 men as stretcher bearers on the night before he was killed – for which he
was awarded a posthumous Military Medal.
Not many of the 800 Old Boys who served in the war have left written records of their wartime experiences that
are in the possession of the school’s archives, although a number of suitably jingoistic, belligerent, anti-“Hun”
pieces from the various school magazines from the time survive. No doubt, like the many thousands of young
Natal boys who went off to “do their bit”, they were proud, loyal, and filled with a naive sense that the war would
be over before Christmas – ignorant of the grim horrors of a modern, mechanical war. Capt Dalrymple-Clark was
the writer of sensitive, thoughtful and loving letters to his wife in England, and they offer some illumination on the
mind-sets of these civilian-soldiers, as they girded their loins and prepared themselves for the horrors of battle.
One of the more well-known relics of the war is a poem written by L/Cpl William Alexander “Willie” Lundie (3 SAI)
(see photo below), which was found amongst his possessions after he had been killed in action at the Somme on 6
July 1916. Titled simply “A Poem”, it reads as follows:
With fell designs the bullet whines,
and its tale to the soldier tells,
for he sees the flash, and he hears the crash,
and the roar of the bursting shells.
The bayonet’s gleam and the bullet’s scream
have each their word for me.
‘Tis the tale that is told to the soldier bold
and I hear it eagerly.
‘Mid the battle roar and the noise of war,
on the crest of death’s red tide,
when I come to die, it’s thus that I
will pass to the other side.
The icy breath of the Angel of Death,
no tear holds for me;
For, though I’m cold, beneath the mould,
my spirit will be free.
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is not easy for modern College boys to always be mindful of the terrible sacrifices made by their forebears over a
hundred years ago, accustomed as many of us are to our middle-class, suburban lives. However, even for the
College teenager of today, the significance of the great sacrifices made by the 100 men who died in the Great War
cannot be ignored. The school’s First World War Memorial, unveiled on 7 September 1923 by Sir George Plowman
– himself a College parent mourning the loss five years earlier of his younger son – remains a daily reminder to all
College boys of the terrible sacrifices paid by their fellows of long ago, and the annual Remembrance Day
ceremony held on Armistice Day each year remains a poignant reminder to the 1 300 boys at the school today of
the grim realities of 1914-1918. Notably, junior College boys are also still required to “run” past the First World
War Memorial, as they make their way from the swimming pool toward the school block, in a small and silent
gesture of respect and recognition made to the names engraved on the memorial.
Above: The Maritzburg College First World War Memorial is photographed from the “Reading Angel” dormitory
of Clark House at its unveiling on 7 September 1923. The College cadets have been formed up, and the
memorial is draped in a Union flag bearing the words “Loyal Natal”.
Young Pte Leslie Plowman had to begin with been reported as "missing", offering the possibility, at least, of his
eventual safe return, and one can only imagine his parents’ anxiety and then sadness, as his status was only later
in 1919 finally confirmed as "killed in action on 24 March 1918". His father, Sir George, who had at one stage been
the Colonial Secretary for Natal and at the time of the unveiling was the Administrator of the province, included
the following in his address: "The mottoes inscribed on the memorial have been well chosen, and should inspire the
boys with patriotism and the feeling that the traditions of the school have been nobly maintained and handed on"
and “the sacrifice [of the fallen] was made for hearth and home [the school’s motto], and for the uplifting of
humanity". At the unveiling in 1923, the headmaster Mr Barns offered the comforting words that "To us who knew
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and loved them in the old days at school they have left a memory which can never fade away, and they have handed
down a record of service and of duty faithfully done which, I doubt not, will prove an inspiration to generations of
boys yet unborn."
On 10 July 2016 a party of about 40 Maritzburg College people, mainly
schoolboys resplendent in their No 1 uniforms and with “bashers” proudly
upon their heads, will be present at the centenary parade of the Battle of
Delville Wood on the Somme. At the parade, a wreath will be laid by a
present College boy – of that “unborn” generation referred to by the now
long-dead “Pixie” Barns – in memory of the nine Old Collegians who died at
that famous battle. It will hopefully be yet another reminder to all the
present College boys that while they might be mercifully spared the bloody
horrors of the battlefield, they nonetheless are part of an institution that
remains wedded to the timeless values of loyalty, camaraderie and honour.
On a personal note, while there I sincerely hope that we will be able to locate
the headstone of 2nd Lt AT Wales, who died of his wounds in the battle on
17 July 1916 and is buried nearby in the Dive Copse British Cemetery. His
gravestone (see photo right) is inscribed not just with the touching, parochial
farewell from his family, Lala-gahle, umta-gwetu [sic] [sleep well, brother],
but also with the Latin words derived from a far-off memorial tablet from old
Natal: Pro Aris et Focis.
“At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, we will remember them.”
MM Marwick
Class of 1988
Chairman of the Archives Committee
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