Victoria College at Bedford: Island News in the Second World War
A number of boys had left Jersey in 1940 with the families in the evacuation to the UK. In September 1940, about 40 boys with Mr. Grummitt, Mr. Hopewell and Miss Aubrey were accommodated at Bedford School. Shortly afterwards Mr. Grummitt left on his appointment as Principal of Belfast Royal Academical Institution, and Mr. S. M. Toyne consented to act as Headmaster of 'Victoria College at Bedford. Mr. Toyne had been for 20 years Headmaster of S. Peter's School, York, before coming to Bedford to give part-time help. Victoria College owes a great deal to him for the tremendous work which he did during the next five years.
The Victorians at Bedford took a full part in the activities of their foster-parent school and brought honour to themselves and to Bedford in both work and games, but they never lost their identity as Victorians. As an expression of their gratitude they and other friends of Victoria College presented an Oak Panel, and an oak seat which now stands in the Bedford School playing-fields
As part of their distinct identity as Victorians at Bedford, a newsletter was produced, containing both news gleaned of Victoria College in Jersey, and also of the plight of the Islanders in general.
In the next few weeks, I am posting some extracts from those newsletters:
THE ROLL OF HONOUR
Arthur George Candlin
Arthur Candlin entered College in 1929. A good all-round man, he " kept " for the XI and the island, and with more experience would have become a class wicket-keeper. Leaving in 1933 he trained for a time at the Westminster Bank in Jersey and then went to the Eastern Bank, at Karachi. They tried hard to retain him, but nothing could keep him out of the army, and he was soon a Captain in a Baluchi Battalion. On June 17th of this year he wrote : " I'm setting off on a very strange journey this evening. I am commanding a very large convoy of about 200 horses and mules, and have to take them on a 140-mile journey over jungle and mountain, I reckon it will take me ten days. I'm turning into a sort of cowboy. I've been given three very incompetent junior Indian subalterns to help me, so have a pretty busy time ahead."
The convoy was to travel by night, by an unfenced road zigzagging perilously on sheer hill sides. On the second night out the mules stampeded, and while riding along the outer edge endeavouring to restore order Candlin went over the precipice. As the horse stepped over the edge, perhaps at a sudden turn in the road, his rider must have gone clean over his head, breaking his neck immediately, while the animal rolled down and was found unhurt, 200 feet below, standing over his master's body. Next morning the horse's neighing brought to the spot a tribesman, who guided the search party to the body.
Arthur Candlin was just the type that can so ill be spared—vital, with the keenest joy in life and action, always cheery and good-tempered. Laughing at the heat and discomforts of the Assam-Burma frontier, but full of sympathy for the miserable hordes of refugees. As Quartermaster of his Battalion he had, a brother officer writes, " made an excellent job of it, and was cheerily inquisitive about the health and happiness of the meanest Sepoy he came across." One company kept up a cry of mourning for a great part of the night.
V. A. Hamon
Victor Hamon was at School about 1931–36 . A promising voting cricketer, he might have reached the XI if he had stayed at school a little longer. He was a charming boy, of the modest and retiring sort. He had become a Sergeant Pilot in the R.A.F. and was serving in the Middle East. His last message home said lie was " just off on a trip, and the target was one he fancied.'' He was reported missing from a raid on August 29th of this year. Later the International Red Cross reported from a Berlin source that he and all the crew had been killed.
Flight Lieutenant Richard James Jouault, D.F.C.
Killed on active service. Richard Jouault was a definite and lively personality, who will long be remembered by his contemporaries. After passing through a period when he hated school and everything to do with it, lie became a most popular and effective member of the community. His acting in Youth at the Helm, and his performance as a hockey goalkeeper, at which he bade fair to become really first-class, are two of the many pictures of him that spring to the memory. He was the first Jerseyman to win the D.F.C. in this war—he obtained a Short Service Commission in 1938—and his marriage in April, 1940, was one of the last such happy scenes before tragedy overtook the island.
John Forbes Laurie-Dickson
Laurie-Dickson was at School from 1928 to 1933. As a Pilot Officer in the R.A.F. he was reported missing in the early summer of 1941 after an operation over France. In September he was officially reported " believed killed in action.
Patrick Windsor Lynch-Blosse, D.F.C.
Missing, presumed killed. Lynch-Blosse was in College House for something over two years, 1914-16. We quote from The' Times:
"He had been engaged in flying all his life. having served in the R.N.A..S. in the last war, in which service he enlisted straight from school at the age of 17. After the war he went to Australia and flew for the mines in New Guinea, and then joined Kingsford Smith's wonderful band of pilots. He later joined British Airways, and then Imperial Airways, returning to R.A.F. duties when the Singa-pore run was closed. The R.A.F. thought he was beyond flying, but nevertheless he was posted to a bombing squadron, and did his first batch of operational flights-34 raids, during which he was awarded the D.F.C:.
He was eventually given command of a squadron of Halifaxes, went out on a raid the night he took command, and never returned. He died as he would have wished, at the age of 42. flying one of his beloved machines in his country's service. He was a fearless and much loved leader of younger pilots.'' Familiar to House boys is the low flat-topped granite wall, with the sheer 10 feet drop into the lane. Lynch-Blosse was the boy who rode a bicycle along the top of it. "Fearless” seems the appropriate word.
John William James Taylor
Jack Taylor was the eldest of Colonel W. J. Taylor's three sons. He was at College from 1920 to 1924. Lacking academic ability, he was trained in the use of tools at St. Peter and then went out to South Africa, where he had a variety of jobs, but always with flying as his chief interest. He lost no time in joining up at the outbreak of war, and was shot down and killed while flying a bomber in Eritrea in February, 1941. He leaves a young widow and four children.
OBITUARY
James Bertram
James Bertram, who died in April of this Year, was the oldest living O.V. He entered in 1865 and was probably 87 when he died. He lived at Pontac House, and was a familiar figure at St. Helier. For many years he was Manager of the Jersey Savings Bank. But he took a special and well justified pride in the great enterprise, foresight, and engineering skill shown by the Jersey Water Company, in the inception and management of which he had been largely concerned, continuing to sit on the board (probably) up to the time of his death.
Mr. T. B. Davis
In Mr. T. B. Davis, who died in Durban at the age of 75 early in October, Victoria College loses a good friend and benefactor, and the O.V.A. its only Honorary Member. Coming of seafaring stock in Jersey, he went through many years of training before the mast until he became a sea-captain. In the course of a rough world-wide experience he developed a business acumen and capacity which eventually made him an entrepreneur on the big scale.
A number of boys had left Jersey in 1940 with the families in the evacuation to the UK. In September 1940, about 40 boys with Mr. Grummitt, Mr. Hopewell and Miss Aubrey were accommodated at Bedford School. Shortly afterwards Mr. Grummitt left on his appointment as Principal of Belfast Royal Academical Institution, and Mr. S. M. Toyne consented to act as Headmaster of 'Victoria College at Bedford. Mr. Toyne had been for 20 years Headmaster of S. Peter's School, York, before coming to Bedford to give part-time help. Victoria College owes a great deal to him for the tremendous work which he did during the next five years.
The Victorians at Bedford took a full part in the activities of their foster-parent school and brought honour to themselves and to Bedford in both work and games, but they never lost their identity as Victorians. As an expression of their gratitude they and other friends of Victoria College presented an Oak Panel, and an oak seat which now stands in the Bedford School playing-fields
As part of their distinct identity as Victorians at Bedford, a newsletter was produced, containing both news gleaned of Victoria College in Jersey, and also of the plight of the Islanders in general.
In the next few weeks, I am posting some extracts from those newsletters:
THE ROLL OF HONOUR
Arthur George Candlin
Arthur Candlin entered College in 1929. A good all-round man, he " kept " for the XI and the island, and with more experience would have become a class wicket-keeper. Leaving in 1933 he trained for a time at the Westminster Bank in Jersey and then went to the Eastern Bank, at Karachi. They tried hard to retain him, but nothing could keep him out of the army, and he was soon a Captain in a Baluchi Battalion. On June 17th of this year he wrote : " I'm setting off on a very strange journey this evening. I am commanding a very large convoy of about 200 horses and mules, and have to take them on a 140-mile journey over jungle and mountain, I reckon it will take me ten days. I'm turning into a sort of cowboy. I've been given three very incompetent junior Indian subalterns to help me, so have a pretty busy time ahead."
The convoy was to travel by night, by an unfenced road zigzagging perilously on sheer hill sides. On the second night out the mules stampeded, and while riding along the outer edge endeavouring to restore order Candlin went over the precipice. As the horse stepped over the edge, perhaps at a sudden turn in the road, his rider must have gone clean over his head, breaking his neck immediately, while the animal rolled down and was found unhurt, 200 feet below, standing over his master's body. Next morning the horse's neighing brought to the spot a tribesman, who guided the search party to the body.
Arthur Candlin was just the type that can so ill be spared—vital, with the keenest joy in life and action, always cheery and good-tempered. Laughing at the heat and discomforts of the Assam-Burma frontier, but full of sympathy for the miserable hordes of refugees. As Quartermaster of his Battalion he had, a brother officer writes, " made an excellent job of it, and was cheerily inquisitive about the health and happiness of the meanest Sepoy he came across." One company kept up a cry of mourning for a great part of the night.
V. A. Hamon
Victor Hamon was at School about 1931–36 . A promising voting cricketer, he might have reached the XI if he had stayed at school a little longer. He was a charming boy, of the modest and retiring sort. He had become a Sergeant Pilot in the R.A.F. and was serving in the Middle East. His last message home said lie was " just off on a trip, and the target was one he fancied.'' He was reported missing from a raid on August 29th of this year. Later the International Red Cross reported from a Berlin source that he and all the crew had been killed.
Flight Lieutenant Richard James Jouault, D.F.C.
Killed on active service. Richard Jouault was a definite and lively personality, who will long be remembered by his contemporaries. After passing through a period when he hated school and everything to do with it, lie became a most popular and effective member of the community. His acting in Youth at the Helm, and his performance as a hockey goalkeeper, at which he bade fair to become really first-class, are two of the many pictures of him that spring to the memory. He was the first Jerseyman to win the D.F.C. in this war—he obtained a Short Service Commission in 1938—and his marriage in April, 1940, was one of the last such happy scenes before tragedy overtook the island.
John Forbes Laurie-Dickson
Laurie-Dickson was at School from 1928 to 1933. As a Pilot Officer in the R.A.F. he was reported missing in the early summer of 1941 after an operation over France. In September he was officially reported " believed killed in action.
Patrick Windsor Lynch-Blosse, D.F.C.
Missing, presumed killed. Lynch-Blosse was in College House for something over two years, 1914-16. We quote from The' Times:
"He had been engaged in flying all his life. having served in the R.N.A..S. in the last war, in which service he enlisted straight from school at the age of 17. After the war he went to Australia and flew for the mines in New Guinea, and then joined Kingsford Smith's wonderful band of pilots. He later joined British Airways, and then Imperial Airways, returning to R.A.F. duties when the Singa-pore run was closed. The R.A.F. thought he was beyond flying, but nevertheless he was posted to a bombing squadron, and did his first batch of operational flights-34 raids, during which he was awarded the D.F.C:.
He was eventually given command of a squadron of Halifaxes, went out on a raid the night he took command, and never returned. He died as he would have wished, at the age of 42. flying one of his beloved machines in his country's service. He was a fearless and much loved leader of younger pilots.'' Familiar to House boys is the low flat-topped granite wall, with the sheer 10 feet drop into the lane. Lynch-Blosse was the boy who rode a bicycle along the top of it. "Fearless” seems the appropriate word.
John William James Taylor
Jack Taylor was the eldest of Colonel W. J. Taylor's three sons. He was at College from 1920 to 1924. Lacking academic ability, he was trained in the use of tools at St. Peter and then went out to South Africa, where he had a variety of jobs, but always with flying as his chief interest. He lost no time in joining up at the outbreak of war, and was shot down and killed while flying a bomber in Eritrea in February, 1941. He leaves a young widow and four children.
OBITUARY
James Bertram
James Bertram, who died in April of this Year, was the oldest living O.V. He entered in 1865 and was probably 87 when he died. He lived at Pontac House, and was a familiar figure at St. Helier. For many years he was Manager of the Jersey Savings Bank. But he took a special and well justified pride in the great enterprise, foresight, and engineering skill shown by the Jersey Water Company, in the inception and management of which he had been largely concerned, continuing to sit on the board (probably) up to the time of his death.
Mr. T. B. Davis
In Mr. T. B. Davis, who died in Durban at the age of 75 early in October, Victoria College loses a good friend and benefactor, and the O.V.A. its only Honorary Member. Coming of seafaring stock in Jersey, he went through many years of training before the mast until he became a sea-captain. In the course of a rough world-wide experience he developed a business acumen and capacity which eventually made him an entrepreneur on the big scale.
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1 comment:
Hello Tony,
Thank you for that Blog. I did not have the pleasure of meeting my grandfather. My grandfather's name is Richard John Jouault, not James. His son, my father, was Edward Richard John Jouault and I am Richard Charles Louis Jouault.
Thank you
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