Page 6 - Oundle Life November 2021

REMEMBRANCE
Lest we forget...
No doubt many
have noticed and
admired the Oundle
School Chapel on
Milton Road with
it’s impressive
Perpendicular Gothic
style. You may, however, be surprised to learn that it was only built and consecrated in 1923.
A meeting of parents and old boys in 1917 had decided to raise funds for a memorial
to the fallen of the First World War, and the headmaster, Frederick Sanderson, whose eldest son Roy Broughton Sanderson was one of the fallen, expressed the desire this should take the form of a memorial chapel.
In 1926 five memorial tablets bearing the names of the 211 old boys and masters who had fallen were blessed. They were designed by B. Clough Williams-Ellis, who later designed and constructed the Italianate style ‘tourist’ village of Portmeirion. A further set of tablets were commissioned after the Second World War to commemorate the 252 old boys who fell.
The ambulatory windows depict The Seven Ages Of Man, the fourth of which represents The Soldier. Along the ambulatory are two impressive volumes listing those Old Oundelians who served in both World Wars, numbering many hundreds.
Another memorial of significance is the
plaque commemorating the names of the school’s three Victoria Cross winners – Lieutenant Alan Jerrard, 2nd Lieutenant Cecil Knox and Captain Charles Vickers.
Lest we forget.
Stephen Abbott
Oundle & District Royal British Legion
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