Harrogate school remembers its war dead in poignant ceremony
Following a service in the school’s Soothill Hall, current pupils and staff were joined by members of the governing body and former pupils, who gathered in front of the memorial to observe a two minute silence and to lay wreaths and poppies.
In 1919, the Old Boys’ Association (OBA) opened a subscription list for a war memorial to honour those from the College who had perished in the ‘war to end all wars’.
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Hide AdBy January 1920, an OBA committee heard that “about £3,460 had already been promised, or received, towards the memorial”.
At the Old Boys’ 1922 reunion weekend, the memorial, in the shape of a small Cenotaph, was unveiled by the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Northern Command, Lieutenant-General Sir Ivor Maxse.
With him at the unveiling ceremony were the leading Free Church chaplain in the armed forces, The Rev J Penry Davey, Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Mallinson, as President of the OBA, and the Headmaster, the Rev Alfred Soothill.
Of the 300 former Ashvillians called up in WW1, 38 died in the conflict.
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Hide AdEight of those were killed on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.
In WW2, 465 former pupils and teachers volunteered for the forces, and of those 59 were killed.
For more information about Ashville College, please visit www.ashville.co.uk