The Haileybury Society was fascinated to hear from Richard H C Wooles (Th 92) about a photograph uncovered following the death of his father. Taken on the eve of the Great War, the picture, entitled “Haileybury College Gymnastic Team”, shows six OHs and their team master, smartly dressed in their gym whites.

The gymnasts are SB Allen (B 1912); RCG Dartford (M 1909); GH Lee (BF 1911); WEC Perry (Ha 1910); AW Spence (B 1910); HP Sworder (B 1911). They are accompanied by a “Sergeant Brown” who is assumed to be the master in charge of the team.

The photograph led us to research what happened to those featured in it and whether more could be learned about Sergeant Brown. Our research revealed mixed fortunes for that small group of young men from a hundred years ago.

Lives lived…

Sydney Allen served first as a lieutenant with the RFA before serving as a major; he died in 1973.  Richard Dartford earned an MC in the Great War, later working in the Colonial Office and then the oil industry; he died in 1988. As a 2nd Lieutenant in the Great War, George Lee earned an MC with the Machine Gun Corps, served with the Indian police between the wars and later flew as a Squadron Leader with the RAF from 1940-46; he died in 1963. Wilson Parry served with the Royal Navy and RAF in the Great War (for which he was mentioned in despatches), later training as a doctor at University College Hospital and serving as an ATP in WW2; he died in 1977.

… and lives lost

Not all were to survive the traumatic events of war, however. As a lieutenant with the RFC, Alec Spence was accidentally killed while on active service in 1917. Lieutenant Hubert Sworder served with the Queen’s Royal Regiment, attached to the RFC, and was killed in action in 1917.

Who was Sergeant Brown?

Despite all our efforts, we have been unable to find out any more information concerning Sergeant Brown (circled, above). The photograph itself is something of a mystery as Richard Woole’s own father was not an OH so we can only speculate why it came to be in his possession.

We would be fascinated to hear from any OH has more information about him so that we could complete this picture of a day at Haileybury so many years ago. If you have an answer, please contact the Society here.

We are grateful to Richard for sending us the photograph and for kindly framing it for us too.

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_{Unless otherwise stated, all content and images on this website and blog © The Haileybury Society, 2024, all rights reserved}