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Charterhouse
School |
Memorial
Chapel |
Charterhouse
School was founded in 1611 in the City of London. In 1872 it moved from
its by then insalubrious surroundings close by Smithfield Meat Market
to its present site overlooking Godalming, where it has thriven mightily
ever since. Over 3,500 Old Carthusians served in the Great War 1914
- 1919 [including the North Russian campaign], in the forces of Great
Britain, its Dominions and its allies, or with those forces in civilian
rôles, and at least one with the German army. Of these, some 670
died: about as many as there were boys in the school at any one time
at that period.
By 1914 the original 1872 school chapel was no longer large enough comfortably
to accommodate the growing numbers of boys and masters. In 1917 a War
Memorial Fund was inaugurated and post-war a new chapel, Memorial Chapel
designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, was built in honour of the fallen:
O.C.s, masters and other school staff. Their names are commemorated
on stone panels set in the eastern half walls of the antechapel. Matching
panels were later set in the western wall bearing the names of some
340 more who fell in the Second World War 1939 - 1945. Several individual
wall plaques have since been added elsewhere in the building, in honour
of Carthusians who have given their lives in some of our latter day
‘savage wars of peace’.
See
School
Tour for panoramic photo tours of some of the school buildings,
including Memorial Chapel.
World
War 2 details are held on a separate page and World War
1 are held here. Most of the entries below merely restate information
to be found in the Charterhouse and Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Registers; where these disagree, the C.W.G.C. is invariably followed
for military details, including date of death, the Charterhouse
Register usually for personal and family details. Sparing use has
been made of The Times Digital Archive, and of the Oxford
University Roll of Service and the War List of the University
of Cambridge. In a few cases information is included from other
sources. This is an ongoing project; it is hoped that over time the
numbers more fully researched will increase. The compilers will be grateful
for further information and corrections which may be e-mailed to Roll
of Honour or to Charterhouse
School Archives.
The
bracketed letter preceding dates at Charterhouse indicates school house.
These are:
S Saunderites, V - Verites, G - Gownboys, g - Girdlestoneites [invariably
known within the school as Duckites, from its founding housemaster’s
supposed duck-like gait], L Lockites, W - Weekites, H - Hodgsonites,
D - Daviesites, B - Bodeites, P - Pageites, R Robinites, U Uskites [no
longer in existence], d day boy. [Until about the turn of the 19th/20th
centuries, Robinites was a ‘passage house’ in which no boy
stayed for more than 2 years.]
In
many cases, the Charterhouse Register records little or nothing of the
man’s intervening career after leaving school, or university,
and before joining the forces [or otherwise ‘going to war’].
Brief details are given here where available. As regards the Great War,
those who left Charterhouse 1914 - 1918, can reasonably be supposed
to have joined up at once; those from the preceding decade or so, before
they had properly made their mark. Amongst these, death in the rank
of Army Captain or lower is the norm, with the majority still mere one-pipper
2nd lieutenants, many not yet 21 years old. Nothing could better demonstrate
that War’s decimation of the rising generation.
Where
the Charterhouse Register details a military career pre-Great War, the
essentials are stated, including all medals and civil awards, but mentions
in despatches are given only for the Great War.
Parents’
and wife’s names and residence are included where available. For
the sake of space, and consistency, date of marriage and wife’s
maiden name are routinely omitted.
The
inclusion on the panels of a few names which seem anomalous, by virtue
of date, place or immediate cause of death, may serve to remind us that
in the words of one Carthusian author, describing his boyhood 1914 -
1918: ‘The immense, variegated dark wing of war overshadowed everything.’
War’s shadow always extends far beyond the battlefields, and it
lingers long after the cessation of hostilities.
In
Memorial Chapel itself names are listed by date of school leaving, then
alphabetically save where later additions are slipped into available
space. Here they are given in plain alphabetical order. A few cross
references are included so as to reduce possible confusion as to double
and double-barrelled surnames, and titles.
It
is to be supposed that most of the names here listed appear on at least
one other memorial, and many on several; hence they may well also be
found elsewhere on the Roll of Honour web site. In one researched case
[P.S. Hadley] no less than four other memorials and/or entries have
come to light: one for his preparatory school, one for his Cambridge
college, one for the former military hospital in the UK where he died
and one for his parish church where he lies buried. Some cross-referenced
material is included below, but to chase up every last name would be
impractical.
We
believe the School’s German war dead, one from each war, to be
equally worthy of respectful remembrance; their names and details are
given following the main lists.
See
also the webpages for the Charterhouse
Roll of Honour
