Reginald Percy Chantrill, born on 1st October 1880, was admitted to King Edward’s School in January 1892. His father, James, was a general merchant, and the family lived at 20, Harborne Road (and later at 421, Hagley Road). He had three brothers who were all Old Edwardians and who all served in the war. One, Guy Mannering Chantrill, won a Military Cross during service in Northern Russia in 1919.
In 1895, Reginald came first in his class in the gymnastics competition, managing “fair combinations on the apparatus, but [failing] at the rope”. In May of the same year, he won the throwing of the cricket ball, with a distance of 61 yards 8 inches, though this was considered “a very poor event indeed”, with a distance that was “never seen beaten for shortness”. In the annual kicking competition, he came second in both the drop-kick and the place-kick.
Reginald gained a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the Royal Field Artillery in 1915. He was killed in action on 26th October 1917, aged thirty-six, having reached the rank of Lieutenant. He is buried in Solferino Farm Cemetery, Belgium.