Harry Dickinson, born on 25th August 1885, transferred to King Edward’s School from Camp Hill as a Foundation Scholar in September 1901. He was the eldest son of Richard and Ciceley Dickinson, and the family lived at 41, Kyotts Lake Road, Sparkbrook. His father was chief engineer to the Birmingham Corporation Tramways.
At School, Harry played fives and took part in the Debating Society, once “indulging in some very weak and petty criticism” on the subject of the popularity of the written novel versus that of modern sport, asserting that, “the craze for sport in Yorkshire was unsatisfied if no one left the field mortally injured”. The moral of the story, according to the Debating Secretary: “Don’t criticise unless you can cauterise!”
After School, Harry spent two years at Queen’s College, Cambridge, before becoming a House Master at Stanley House School, Bristol Road. Thereafter he was ordained and appointed to a curacy in Durham, followed by positions in Wolverhampton and Saltley. Finally, he was instituted as Vicar of St Stephen’s, Selly Park.
Harry enlisted as a Chaplain to the Forces, and was attached to the Artists’ Rifles. He was killed on Passchendaele Ridge on 30th October 1917, aged thirty-two. He is officially buried in Passchendaele New British Cemetery, though his headstone documents reveal that he is only “believed to be buried” there. He left his estate of £165 to his father.