World War I Roll of Honour
We are grateful to David Millichope for assisting us in preparing this Roll of Honour to mark the centenary of World War I.
Commenting on the experiences of Heath Old Boys at a meeting of Men United at Halifax RUFC on Wednesday, 5 December 2018, David noted that:
- 58 died out of about 300 serving or about one in six; so, though most came back, there was a higher fatality rate than the national average of one in ten;
- almost all were volunteers which is significant when you consider that by 1918 only about half of all soldiers in the British Army were volunteers;
- about half volunteered immediately in 1914;
- many were commissioned as officers, mostly lieutenants and captains, and officers generally had a strong sense of duty and believed that it was paramount to look after their men and the horses in that order;
- lieutenants had one of the worst casualty rates after pilots who had the worst casualty rate;
- they mostly came from households with some money, either professional or commercial/industrial.
We have added brief details of the others who appear on the WWI Memorial Board on this page. If you have any information on these or any other old boys who gave their lives during the war, please contact the Editor
Charles Clarkson 1879–1917
After studying at Heath, he went up to New College, Oxford, and then joined his father as a solicitor. He joined up at the outbreak of the war and became an instructor, only being sent to the front in early 1917 where he died of septicaemia shortly after arriving at the trenches.
George Clewer 1896–1915
After studying at Heath, he became an apprentice worsted spinner but moved to Bradford where he became a clerk. He enlisted on and was sent to Gallipoli but was landed in Malta with dysentery where he died on .
Carl Dixon 1898–1917
After studying at Heath, he became an apprentice gas fitter and probably did not enlist until conscription when his engineering skills probably fitted him for the Royal Flying Corps. But he saw little service before dying from wounds on .
Richard Feather 1882–1916
After studying at Heath he appears to have joined the family worsted spinning business of which he was a director at the time of the war. He appears to have had some military experience before enlising in 1915 but his health does not appear to have been good and he died after being wounded in the battle of the Somme on the first day when tanks were deployed.
Frederick Fleming 1896–1915
After studying at Heath, he took a job as a dyer and enlisted at the outbreak of war, ending up near Ypres where he was a victim of the first gas attack in and died the next day.
Charles Greenwood 1893–1918
After studying at Heath, he enlisted in the Royal Army Medical Corps on his 22nd birthday, went out to France but then returned to undertake training and be commissioned as a Second Lieutenant. Returning to the front, he was gassed but won a military cross for an act of gallantry. He died in the final months of the war when a shell hit the mess where he was sleeping.
Edgar Howarth 1893–1916
After studying at Heath, he went into teaching training and enlisted as soon as he had qualified, joining the Public Schools Battalion which was involved in the first day of the Battle of the Somme when it lost 524 killed, missing or wounded. The best guess is that he was captured already wounded and died the same day.
George Johnston 1897–1917
After studying at Heath, he became an articled clerk and enlisted shortly before his 19th birthday but appears to have seen no action, being listed as missing, presumed drowned, following the sinking of HMS Transylvania on its way to Egypt.
Alan Ostler 1885–1918
After studying at Heath, Alan became a journalist eventually specialising in war journalism which took him to North and East Africa, the Balkans and Russia before enlisting and being sent to Gallipoli where he caught enteric fever and then to the Western front where he was awarded the Military Cross for his actions in the Battle of the Somme. He joined the newly formed Royal Air Force and died from wounds he suffered.
Thomas Ostler 1894–1917
After studying at Heath, he worked in a bank before enlisting in a ‘Pals’ regiment at the start of the war. Commissioned the following year, he served on the Western front and was killed in action in the Battle of Messines.
Roland Siddall 1894–1918
After studying at Heath, he became a junior clerk and enlisted at the start of the war but was disappointed that, for health reasons, he was assigned office jobs. Eventually, he resigned his post and enlisted in a fighting regiment, being killed on his very first day of active service.
John Tillotson 1884–1918
After studying at Heath, he spent time with the Natal Police but was working as a gas inspector in London at the outbreak of the war when he enlisted. He went to France the following year and was wounded in 1917 but returned to the front and died as a result of a gun shot wound to his chest.