Exhibition: King Edward's School and the Great War

King Edward’s School is marking the centenary of the Great War through commemorating the service and sacrifice of over 1,400 Old Edwardians who served in the conflict.

The School’s Memorial Chapel has been renovated to create an exhibition to tell the stories of those whose names appear on the war memorial.

The third and final phase of the exhibition officially opened on Tuesday, 6 November 2018. This exhibition centres on the School’s Roll of Honour, whilst also seeking to remember its forgotten casualties of the First World War.

Images of those who served and died in the war are projected into archways inside the Chapel. A drift of poppies rises up to the bronze memorial plaques, and a ceramic poppy installation includes a poppy for each of the names on the plaques. Artefacts excavated from the battlefields are also on display.

At the centre of the exhibition is a film about Captain John Osborn Walford. Captain Walford joined up at the outbreak of war, aged 45, and became a decorated war hero, receiving the Military Cross and Bar. Although Captain Walford survived the war, he struggled to deal with its after-effects and ultimately succumbed to what would now be recognised as post-traumatic stress disorder, taking his own life in 1922.

The exhibition is now closed.