The following is a list with biographies of the 462 people who attended Malvern College and died due to the First World War. Altogether 2,833 are known to have served. There is also a corresponding page commemorating the 249 casualties in the Second World War.
There was not a month from August 1914 to November 1918 that an Old Malvernian did not become a casualty, with 6 killed on the first day of the Battle of Loos on the 25th September 1915 and 13 killed on the first day of the Battle of the Somme on the 1st July 1916.
The vast majority of casualties occurred in France and Belgium with 31 names recorded on the Menin Gate at Ypres, and 23 at Thiepval. There were also 23 casualties in Turkey due to the Gallipoli Campaign, and 16 in Iraq, including 2 near Kut.
They were in a wide range of regiments including 26 in the Royal Field Artillery, 13 in the Royal Engineers, 12 in the Worcestershire Regt, 11 in the Canadian Inf, 11 in the East Kent Regt (The Buffs), and 5 in the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Air Force.
Most were officers with 133 Captains, 126 2nd Lieutenants, 114 Lieutenants, 26 Majors, and 15 Lieutenant Colonels.
29 received the MC, 10 the DSO and 1 the DCM, as well as 3 knighthoods (the CB, CMG, and MVO).
The information below is based primarily on the memorial books held at Malvern College which Ian Quickfall, and now Paul Godsland, the Malvernian Society archivists, have arranged to be digitised with the official memorial web site still in development.
Further information was also obtained from 'The Malvern College Register 1865-1924' edited by H.G.C Salmon, 'The Malvernian' school magazine, 'A History of Malvern College 1865 to 1965' by Ralph Blumenau, and 'Malvern College: A 150th Anniversary Portrait' by Roy Allen.
Information was also obtained from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website, the Unit War Diaries and Service Records held at the National Archives in Kew, and various online commemorative websites whose links have been provided.
The main battles have tried to be identified in which Old Malvernians died in. Many though were killed in the general attrition of Trench Warfare which is so vividly described in the book 'Nothing of Importance' by Bernard Adams.
Below is a map showing the locations of the 246 cemeteries where Old Malvernians are buried or commemorated in. The markers are coloured yellow for one casualty, orange for between 2 and 9, and red for 10 or more. The name of the cemetery and number of casualties can be seen by hovering over the marker, and the list of names seen by clicking on the marker. Their full biographies and pictures can be seen by clicking on 'Further Info'.
The records can be filtered and/or sorted by name, house, age, regiment, battle, date, place etc by clicking on the appropriate drop down box and then the 'Search' button below the map. The original memorial book entry can be seen by clicking on the person's picture.
Son of William Ross Hedges and E. Hedges, of 117, Anderton Park Rd., Moseley, Birmingham.
Middle IV B—Modern I. House Prefect. Aldershot Boxing.
In business.
Great War, 2nd Lieutenant R.E. 1914; Captain 1915.
1st (North Midland) Field Coy. Royal Engineers.
'Soon after the outbreak of war he went to the front with a commission in the 1st North Midland Field Co. He was present at the second battle for Ypres. In March 1915 at Hill 60 he was shot whilst going across the open to take aid to a wounded man of his company. On recovering from his wounds, he was sent to Egypt with the rank of Captain. On his return he did much arduous and dangerous work in the fighting round Arras. For one particularly dangerous and successful piece of engineering, carried out entirely by his own skill and coolness, he was personally congratulated by the General of the Division. In June this year he was awarded the Military Cross. On August 18th he was wounded for the second time. He had gone some distance back from the firing line when the enemy began a haphazard shelling, during which he was severely wounded. After an operation he went on, very well, and it was fully expected that his fine physique would pull him through, but amputation became necessary. He survived the operation for one day. No braver or more popular officer has laid down his life in this war than Captain Hedges. His loss was keenly felt in his regiment. His General, writing to his father, says: "Personally he is a great loss to me as an officer and as a friend. He was brave, energetic, capable, and reliable, and had a magnetic influence over his men. He was marked out for distinction. You must have been proud of such a son, and it will be some small consolation to you to know how nobly he has lived and died, and how greatly he was respected and loved by the men and by all of us." Another officer writes: "Your son was brave, generous, and kind-hearted. His men would have done anything for him, or followed him anywhere. From the General downwards, we all loved him." These and many other letters show in what affectionate regard he was held by all ranks, and such a tribute of affection will not surprise his Malvern friends who admired him for his quiet strength of character, as well as for his physical courage. He will perhaps be remembered at Malvern chiefly for his enthusiasm for boxing. He represented the School in the Light Weights at Aldershot, and in the School competitions he won the Light Weight in 1910 and the Heavy Weight in 1911. After leaving School he was successful in various competitions. In 1913 he was Midland Counties Heavy Weight Champion, and again in 1914.' (Malvernian, Dec 1916).
On 6th April 1915, the Birmingham Gazette reported that he had been shot through both legs by a rifle bullet while attempting to rescue one of his wounded men in front of the trenches as a result of fierce fighting at Zillebeke near Ypres.
During his time in hospital he wrote to the editor of the Sporting Buff saying:
'The left leg is healing up well and the muscles and nerves, which were mostly severed, are joined up again, as I can move my right foot several inches already. It is rather a slow business, though. I had also frost bite in my right foot, through having to lie in a ‘Jack Johnson’ hole (shell crater) for nearly six hours before we could be got away. No stretcher party could have lived there by daylight, of course, and the hole was about one third full of water, in which my feet were submerged. It was really a most uncomfortable way of spending a Sunday afternoon.’
He was severely wounded on the 18th August, and was taken to the 20th Casualty Clearing Station based at Warlincourt where he died three days later.
Detailed biography at Moseley-Society
Son of G. Riley, Oakfield, Walton-on-Thames. b. 1891.
Upper IV B— Lower Modern I. House XI Football.
Engineer.
Great War, Private A.S.C. 1914; Captain 1918.
'George Riley was a most cheery, good-natured boy, who won a host of friends. He played football with great vigour: in fact, there were no half measures in anything he took up. After leaving School he travelled in Africa for a year, and on returning home started his studies in engineering, in which profession he was engaged when war broke out. The same month he enlisted in the Mechanical Transport Section of the A.S.C., and soon rose to be senior Sergeant. He obtained his commission early in 1915, and shortly afterwards proceeded abroad. In January 1916 he was gazetted into the Regular Army and received his Captaincy. The following year he was mentioned in despatches. For a year before his death he acted as Adjutant, and it was while in his motor-car attending to his duties that a piece of shrapnel from a shell dropped fifty yards away struck him, causing the injuries from which he died.' (Malvernian, Nov 1918).