Donald McBean, born on 19th September 1886, was admitted to King Edward’s School in September 1903 as a Foundation Scholar. His father, John, was variously an export merchant and a foreign correspondent, and during Donald’s time at school, the family moved house three times, from Gravelly Hill to Erdington, and finally to Jockey Road, Sutton Coldfield.
At School, Donald was a Prefect and a member of the Debating Society, and he studied in the Modern School (which offered a curriculum that emphasised scientific rather than classical subjects). He won a Warwickshire Cricket Club Major Scholarship to London University, where he studied Chemistry. After university, he became a schoolmaster at Brampton House School, Hornsea, Yorkshire.
In September 1914, Donald gained a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the 8th Royal Welsh Fusiliers and served in Mesopotamia. In February 1915, he was promoted to Lieutenant and was attached to the 10th Battalion in Gallipoli. He was killed on 15th March 1916 at Ypres, and is commemorated on the Menin Gate. Donald’s brother, Malcolm, requested his medals in 1922.