‘Nor love thy life nor hate; but what thou liv’st
Live well – how long or short permit to Heaven.’
This couplet from Milton’s Paradise Lost is carved in Hopton Wood stone on the plaque in the ante-chapel at Sherborne School dedicated to the 221 former pupils who died serving their country during the First World War. The lines were chosen by assistant master, Henry Robinson King (1855-1935), whose pupil and future son-in-law Cecil Day-Lewis (1904-1972) (Harper 1917-1923) wrote a poem about the consecration of the war memorial on 5 July 1922:
The Torch of Liberty. In Remembrance of July 5th, 1922.
There is a trumpet blowing… a great throng
Goes forth, girt as to run, steady and strong.
Lo! Through the black whirlwind, a flickering light,
The torch of Liberty is borne, upright.
Now wildly tossed, like a ship’s lantern seen
Far out upon the writhing surge, the gleam
Shakes its wild wind-strewn hair of flame; but never
Falters the fiery courier; for ever,
When one spent runner sobs and falls, the brand
Is snatched and hastened by another hand.
So went they forth, so ran the race… Some lie
Where blood-red poppies blow and soft winds sigh
O’er Flanders’ fields. Some the hot desert hides,
North, East and West and South, where’er the tides
Beat upon land. O’er some sea-blossoms sing
To the slow music of the waves, where swing
Great ships out to the Northern stars… Their name
Engraved in golden rune ye see; their fame
Is writ in radiant letters o’er the sky
With fire from that fair torch for which they joyed to died.
(published in The Shirburnian, July 1922)
Discussion about how Sherborne School should commemorate the Old Shirburnians who died during the First World War began before the war had ended. In July 1917, Headmaster Nowell Smith circulated a letter to all Shirburnians in which he asked, ‘In what way shall we commemorate the Shirburnians who have fallen in the war?’ He set out a number of suggestions, including the building of a new boarding house on a strip of land north of Abbey Grange (the Music School, now the Drama School, was built here in 1926); the completion of the north-side of the Courts, including a gate tower on the walls of which the names of the fallen could be incised (the gate tower was built in 1923); a new gymnasium (built in 1923 and converted in 1975 into the main school dining hall); the provision of scholarships for the sons of fallen officers; or the enlargement of the School chapel.
By 1919, it had been decided that the memorial should take the form of an western extension to the School chapel and an ante-chapel and enclosed staircase to the north. The School’s architect, Sir Reginald Blomfield RA (1856-1942), was commissioned to carry out the work. At that time Blomfield was working on designs for the Menin Gate at Ypres and the ‘Cross of Sacrifice’ which would appear in all Imperial War Grave Commission cemeteries. His original design for Sherborne School’s war memorial included a tower with pinnacles and the names of the fallen cut into panels of Belgium black marble set into the walls, but his final design was much simpler and plainer and probably reflected his own changing belief that ‘This was a man’s war far too terrible for any fripperies.’
Messrs. Hayward & Wooster of Bath were awarded the contract to build the chapel extension and began work in October 1920, with a completion date set for 31th July 1921. The works inevitably took longer than anticipated and in January 1922 it was reported that the roof would be completed in six weeks’ time. The names of the 221 fallen were ‘engraved in golden rune’ into the Ham Stone walls by the English Church Monumental Society, with the names of the 242 who fell in the Second World War added in 1947 by W.H. Hix & Sons of Sherborne.
The dedication of the war memorial took place on 5th July 1922. Henry Robinson King noted the events of the day in his diary:
‘Wet nearly all day. Chapel extension consecrated. This by Bp. Whitehead. It was a great and moving service. Consecration and memorial service. Saw many OSS and some parents.’
The Bishop of Madras who performed the dedication was Old Shirburnian, the Right Reverend Henry Whitehead (School 1870-1873). Henry was the elder brother of the philosopher and mathematician Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947) (School 1875-1880). He was ordained in 1879 and spent many years working in India (Principal of Bishop’s College, Calcutta, 1883-1899; Fellow of Calcutta University, 1883; Superior of Oxford Mission in Calcutta, 1890-1899; Bishop of Madras, 1899-1922).
The service began with the hymn ‘Jesus lives!’, during which the Bishop and the clergy proceeded from the sanctuary towards the extension at the west end of the chapel where a petition, signed by the Chairman of Governors, was handed to the Bishop by the Headmaster asking him to consecrate the chapel extension. Psalm 24 was chanted, and after the ‘Veni, Creator’ had been sung, the order of Consecration was read by the Chancellor of the Diocese. It was signed by the Bishop, who declared that the addition to the chapel was consecrated.
The Bishop then gave an address to the congregation, saying:
‘The School with its long history had sent forth many of its sons century after century to live noble lives and do unselfish work for Church and State, and they did well to commemorate with special honour and gratitude those who made for their country the supreme sacrifice. As generation after generation met together to worship in the Chapel, the memorial would help them to see visions and dream dreams to look beyond and above the mere struggle for existence and self-advancement, and to realise the greatness and the beauty of unselfish service.’
The hymn ‘O Valiant Hearts’ was then sung, during which the Bishop proceeded to the north-west door leading to the ante-chapel. The Headmaster read the Roll of Honour, during which ‘almost every one conjured up a vision of the past in field or classroom, none more moving than those of boys who achieved little of what counts for success at School, but who “as quiet servants lived unnoticed,” and so soon proved their manhood.’
The Bishop dedicated the memorial ‘in thankful remembrance of those our brethren, who gave their lives on our behalf.’
The Last Post and the Reveille were sounded and the Bishop lead the procession of the clergy, the choir and the whole congregation, ‘walking with due reverence by two and two, down the staircase, as a sacred way of remembrance, into the open air’. When they reached the Courts, the hymn ‘Now thank we all our God’ was sung, and the Bishop pronounced the Blessing.
See also:
Sherborne School and the First World War
Roll of Honour
The Architects of Sherborne School
Sherborne School and its buildings
Henry Robinson King
For further information please contact the School Archivist.
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