Horace Mann, born on 22nd December 1880, was admitted to King Edward’s School in January 1894. He lived with his mother, Maria, his father, William, a medical practitioner, and his five siblings at 119, Hagley Road, Edgbaston.
At School, Horace achieved no outstanding academic results but he was a keen sportsman. He was a member of the 1st XV 1897-8, earning his colours the same season: “a good thorough light forward, always on the ball, a plucky tackle and save and a good dribbler; rather slow.” In 1897, he came second in the fives doubles competition, and in the same year ran the Castle Bromwich cross country route in 57.5 minutes, a course that defeated another contestant, who “arrived in triumph on the step of a steward’s bicycle.”
In 1917, Horace gained a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the 3rd Dorset Regiment, and was promoted to full Lieutenant in July of that year. He served for some time in Egypt, and in 1918 was attached to the King’s African Rifles in East Africa as a Captain. He died of enteric fever at Zomba, Nyasaland, on 25th December 1918, aged thirty-eight. He was mentioned in dispatches in January 1919 for “gallant and distinguished service in the field.” He is buried in Zomba Town Cemetery, in what is now Malawi, and is remembered on the Colwyn Bay War Memorial, his parents having moved to Rhos-on-Sea. Horace left his estate of £200 to Dorothy Gillott.