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To mark the Armistice Centenary, Wellington College has launched a new website to commemorate the students and staff who gave their lives during the First World War. In addition to the Roll of Honour, the site contains letters, documents, extracts from the College Year Books, and pages from the Wellingtonian magazine – together they tell the story of Wellington’s fallen and paint a rich picture of College life as it continued during the war.
Founded in memory of the 1st Duke of Wellington, ‘Britain’s greatest general’, Wellington College has always had a strong military connection. When the First World War broke out in August 1914, around 2400 Old Wellingtonians were already serving in Britain’s armed forces, and a further 408 joined up in the first five months alone. Hundreds more followed and, throughout the War, the College faithfully recorded the details of those serving, wounded and killed.
The First World War Memorial website is a moving tribute to Wellington’s fallen. The project has been managed by the College Archivist, Caroline Jones, who started planning the website over two years ago. As one of the schools in the UK with the greatest number of casualties (there are over 700 deaths on our First World War Roll of Honour), Caroline felt that it was important to create something unique in their memory. The basic information had already been collated several years ago, through a project involving Wellington students and led by Julian Jeffrey, now Master of Wellington College Tianjin. Using the data Julian had collated, Caroline was able to work with archive digitisation providers, SDS, to create a memorial website that creates an evocative, personal, and colourful account of this momentous period in the College’s history.
Caroline commented: ‘I felt that it was important to add context by including more material than just the Roll of Honour. The website therefore contains many other documents of the period, which show examples of Wellingtonians serving in the war, illustrating how life at College continued during the war, and focusing on how Wellington honoured its fallen immediately afterwards. Material will still be added to the website as we go on. For example, we soon hope to add an interactive map showing all the graves and memorials worldwide where our fallen are commemorated.’
As we mark 100 years since the end of the Great War, it is fascinating to read first-hand accounts from Wellingtonians who lived through it. In a letter to his sister, written on 11 November 1918, Stanley pupil Norman Stirling captures brilliantly the atmosphere in College as news of the Armistice arrived: ‘There has been a great commotion; the news was brought round in last hour this morning and that the Master had granted us a half. After lunch there was a fine to-do up in College, everyone hung long flags or table cloths or pyjamas out of their windows…’
To read the College’s Roll of Honour and to learn more about how the students and staff of Wellington celebrated the Armistice, including Stirling’s account of a ‘general pillow fight’ in the quad, visit the World War 1 Memorial Website.
