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In Memoriam: Hans Frederick Hundt

Photograph of Hans Frederick Hundt.
Hans Frederick Hundt

Hans Frederick Hundt was killed in action, May 25th 1915. He served in the 1/23rd London Regiment. He was born in London in 1894 and attended Bootham between 1908 and 1910.

Mrs. Hundt sent some extracts from her son’s letters to ‘Bootham’ magazine:—

Somewhere in France, March 22nd.

We have moved twice since I last wrote. We had to march about 15 miles over dreadful roads, uneven cobbles, to a small village about 12 miles behind the firing line. We were billeted in a large farm, 38 of us, and had some excitement with the rats.

France, April 2nd.

Have done very well on this most unique birthday (21st). It is one I am not likely to forget in a hurry. Had heaps of parcels and good things. Yesterday we were medically examined after having a glorious shower bath. I passed through all right. We marched four miles, and used the baths for the miners.

France, April 8th, 1915.

We moved again yesterday about 4 miles nearer the firing line, and expect to be in the reserve trenches next week. I am in a large loft over a cowshed, have plenty of straw, and am quite comfortable. Can get plenty of eggs (cooked) at the Farm House, coffee, bread and butter, so am living like a lord.

April 12th.

It is very quiet here, and if it were not for the sound of the firing one would not realise that anything was on. Last night mounted sentry with one of the Regulars, did three spells; it was rather an experience. The German trenches are some 300 yards away, and the whole space between, is a mass of barbed wire entanglements. The fellows we are with are a very decent lot.

France, May 12th. (Last letter received.)

The next night we were relieved and marched back about 5 miles to a very pretty little place where we were billeted in a large hall place. There was a canal running through, so we managed to get a bathe. It was a treat, and we made the most of it. We marched some 6 miles further back yesterday to the same piece we were last before leaving for the trenches. I am in the same billet, and quite comfortable, have plenty of clean straw. Isn’t it dreadful about the Lusitania? They are simply barbarians! We had some of those pipes, through which they pump their poisonous gas, opposite our trenches last time, but am thankful to say they did not use it. We each had a piece of gauze and some bicarbonate of soda handy to dip it into should they have used it. I believe we are going to have twelve days’ rest; I hope so, for we can do with it. Terrific bombardments are going on, and there is no doubt big moves are being made.

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First World War: Old Scholars’ Association AGM 1915

The Old Scholars’ Association met for their AGM on Saturday May 22nd 1915. T. Edmund Harvey, chairing the meeting, started off by saying:  “If we had been gathering together for a social function I think we should all have felt that it would be better that the Old York Scholars’ Association should not have met at all at such a time, but I think all of us feel, and we are glad to feel, that our annual gathering is something infinitely more than a social function; it is a time of inspiration and of fellowship, where friends meet together to help each other, to share in the sense of comradeship and of unity and to get inspiration from the ideals that have been lit for us in our youth in the two schools. And so all the more because of the great cloud that is upon us do we feel that it is worth while making an effort to be gathered together to feel the strength that this comradeship gives.” He went on to pay tribute to the Old Scholars who were giving service in many different ways: “There are very many who have gone forth to different services : to the wonderful service of the Ambulance Unit, to help the war victims, to what seems much simpler work at home, and there are a great many who have felt it their duty to stick to what is perhaps the hardest task of all, the service which they have been doing or which lies ready to hand where they are and that does not involve any apparent act of great sacrifice, and yet is essential to the true well-being of the country, and is, it may be, the highest fulfilling of duty.”

Ivy Weston then talked about her work with Belgian refugees at Folkestone, where a local War Refugee Committee was formed. She talked about how they fed as many as five thousand people in a day at the harbour, meeting the boats as they arrived.

Florence Barlow talked about the work of the Emergency Committee for the assistance of distressed Germans, Austrians, and Hungarians in Great Britain, and how she had visited two camps on the Isle of Man.

Philip Baker discussed the Friends Ambulance Unit, and the motives which brought the unit together.

T. Edmund Harvey mentioned the Friends War Victims Relief Committee work, including medical, agricultural and other relief work, such as building shelters and temporary housing for the populations of areas affected by the conflict.

A summary from the AGM report in ‘Bootham’ magazine, December 1915. Both Bootham and Mount Old Scholars were at the meeting. Longer excerpts from the accounts of the various types of work done will follow in later posts.

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In Memoriam: Leonard Percy I’Anson

Photograph of Leonard Percy I'Anson in uniform, photographer unknown.
Photograph from ‘Bootham’ magazine, June 1915, photographer unknown.

L. P. I’Anson, Lieutenant in the 4th Battalion, Yorkshire Regiment, was killed at St. Julien, near Ypres, on April 25th, 1915.

He was born in 1878 in Saltburn, and attended Bootham between 1893 and 1895. He was a solicitor, and was engaged to be married when he died.

He is included on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial.

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First World War: corpses between enemy lines

“THE following letter, from “B.E.F., April 10,” bears the initials of a distinguished scholar of Bootham, Fellow of All Souls, Oxford :—
‘I have come to the wars—what I think, in my more dramatic moments, is getting about the only experience my life hadn’t included before. But although I promised myself to write an offensive article in Bootham when I got here, something about this business (I can’t guess what, though it’s certainly not its horribleness) dries me up. I find one doesn’t think here much, because there’s rather a lot of work, but I did for one moment have a strong impression of a theoretical kind. It was when I first saw the corpses of about a hundred unhappy fellows in turbans who were so bewildered when they got here (in the cold and mud at Christmas) that they lost a trench. They lie between our lines and the Germans, and no one can go out to bury them. My impression was that nothing could be important enough for great empires to go to war about it ; but whether that remarkable reversal of my normal views will be what I seriously conclude from it all, I’ll tell you after the war.’
Readers of Bootham are requested not to weary themselves unduly with the consideration of what that all-important word “nothing” does or does not involve.”

From ‘Bootham’ magazine, June 1915. 

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First World War: some literary activities suspended

“It is painful to read that some of the literary activities in the School have been temporarily suspended because of the pressure of time due to ambulance classes; assuredly this could not be avoided, but we know that the School authorities, no less than the rest of us, must regret it. When the ancient universities have a third or less than a third of their normal number of students, when thousands of the most promising minds are perishing, or, more terrible still, being seared and demoralised by the ghastly ordeal imposed upon them, one may naturally look to the schools in every part of the country to encourage those who are least liable to the oppression due to a true perception of the meaning of war to continue the national tradition expressed in the ideal of the gentleman. “Sweetness and light,” the true culture, is needed to-day – needed, perhaps, even more than courage and heroism. The heroism, too, for which, we believe, Bootham will always stand is not merely the courage to withstand the forces of evil, but still more that loftier courage which strives to direct and control the forces of good; and for this the first requisite is surely a true cultivation of the mind and soul. We look forward to a time when not only the winners of the Natural History Exhibition shall gain scientific scholarships at the universities, but when winners of the Le Tall prize, and many who have worked solely for love of art and learning, will win fame in the “gentler” arts. We believe that the literary section of the Bootham Natural History, Literary and Polytechnic Society has a duty in equipping men who will be the true solace of a stricken world.”

From ‘Bootham’ magazine, March 1915. The Annual Report of the Natural History, Literary and Polytechnic Society in the same issue noted that the Senior Essay Society and Senior Reading and Discussion Society had abandoned their meetings during the Autumn Term owing to the pressure of work caused by ambulance classes etc.

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First World War: Arthur L. Lean interned in Ruhleben

See here for an earlier post about Arthur L. Lean.

“Arthur L. Lean (Bootham 1886-1889), who was interned in Ruhleben shortly after the Foreign Notes in the November number of Bootham were penned. Writing from Ruhleben on Good Friday, he says : ” Mr. M. and myself have just been brought back here from the sanatorium at Buckow, where we had completed two months. The country there is very pretty : numerous lakes and wooded hills. A good deal of snow fell at times, and there were keen frosts, so that tobogganing and skating were indulged in. It was delightful to be able to see Con and Phyllis and Olga on two Sundays when they obtained leave from the Berlin police to visit me. The children are all well, but, as is natural, Con seemed rather tired, but keeps her spirits up. The food there was excellent, and I was ordered to be out of doors as much as possible and to take a good deal of exercise. Towards the end of my stay I did a little gentle gardening in the large garden adjoining the Buckow lake. We have both profited much by the change, and during the nine weeks’ stay I gained seven pounds in weight. . . . M. and I have seen the camp military doctor twice, and have promise of permission to leave the camp again and spend four weeks more at another sanatorium. . . . The conditions here have improved during the last two months. The food is better; the German contractor has been relieved of his duties, and the department is run by the camp : English cooks in the kitchen, etc. Football may now be played on the racecourse. The following departments have been organised, each with a chairman, vice-chairman and committee— viz., Finance, Sanitary, Education, Recreation, Health, Watch and Works (Police), Kitchen and Canteen. The military do not seem to be so much in evidence, numerous German newspapers can now be bought in the camp, and absurd rumours about outside and coming events have largely stopped.” Since writing the above I learn that a postcard has just been received from Arthur L. Lean asking for three loaves of bread to be sent out to him weekly. In his earlier letter he said that an occasional pound of tea would be welcome, but that otherwise everything could be obtained on the spot. We do not know whether the present request is due to an inadequate supply of bread, or because the quality supplied is unsuitable for one in poor health, but it is sufficiently disquieting that the request should have to be made.”

From ‘Bootham’ magazine, June 1915

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First World War: Friends Ambulance Unit update, March 1915

“The Friends’ Ambulance Unit has now completed four months’ work at the front. During the whole time it has continued to work in the same area in Flanders and Northern France; and its headquarters remain still where they were first established at Dunkirk. The original party that went out from England has been more than trebled in size, and there is still no slackening in the demand for men to do the additional work that is continually opening out. Before Christmas the unit’s main achievement was the organisation of a system of seven ambulance stations on the front, which carried among them in a few weeks over ten thousand wounded men, mostly from aid posts just behind the trenches, to hospitaux d’evacuation in the rear. Since Christmas the biggest development of the work has consisted in a large scale attempt to cope with an epidemic of disease among the refugees and civilian population still living in the very front of the fighting zone in Flanders. Besides the work of two hospitals, which have an accommodation of over two hundred beds, various preventive measures have been taken; six thousand five hundred civilians have been inoculated against typhoid ; a pure water supply has been provided in various towns and villages; and now every house in the district is being visited and, if necessary, disinfected. Much of this work is done within range of the German guns. The unit also has two hospitals in Dunkirk, one of which, it is hoped, will vary rapidly expand.”

From ‘Bootham’ magazine, March 1915

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Memories from the Archives – Part 3

In January I did a talk as part of the Thursday lunchtime recital room series. It was entitled ‘Memories from the Archives’ and I talked about a number of memories from Old Scholars. I’ll share the photographs and text from the talk in several parts on the blog. Read Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

Photograph of Edward R. Allen (1841-1916; Bootham 1854-57)
Edward R. Allen (1841-1916; Bootham 1854-57)

Edward Allen wrote his early recollections down. Unfortunately there’s no date of writing, but it must have been after 1875 as he refers to a house move in that year. Before coming to Bootham he had spent several years in Folkestone, and compares his experiences.

“I went to Bootham and my stay of 4 years there was fairly uneventful. I found the tone of the school very different from what I was used to, and on one occasion when I was tempted to act according to the lights of Folkestone, one of my schoolfellows said “Thou mustn’t do that, the other lads will look down on thee” so I learned to do better.” He also talks about his natural history activities: “I was keen on butterflies and shells and shared with Albert Alexander the winning collection of 1855, obtaining a watercolour paint box for my prize, which I still have.” The Natural History Society had been formed in 1834 and was an important part of school activities.

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First World War: Looking beyond the war

Photograph of interior of Swimming Baths, 1914, with swimmers and spectators.
Swimming Baths, 1914

“Some of us had almost forgotten that there ever was such a thing as a bath—those of us, at least, who are beyond the region of its influence. It is a pleasure, therefore, to be reminded of that great achievement in the verses which we publish on another page. They were written in those other days of long ago when the bath was uppermost in our minds; they were of necessity omitted from the last number, because that other matter had taken hold of our minds, and the bath was forgotten, as belonging to the former era; but let us remember that every war has an end ; that no war ought to absorb us to the exclusion of every other matter ; and that the bath will still be a treasure of our School when the war is ancient history, and when we are able to look forward without the deadly oppression of the present encircling us like a nauseous London fog.”

From ‘Bootham’ magazine, March 1915. The school swimming baths had been opened in June 1914.

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First World War: March 1915 magazine editorial

“In case anyone should suppose from this that we, from the editorial chair, regard the effects of the war on others, as well as ourselves, with something akin to tolerant cynicism, we would draw attention to the amount of really excellent work that is being done. Halfpenny newspapers may talk about shirkers, and misguided women may distribute white feathers, but for our own part we are genuinely amazed at the way in which everyone, from the greatest to the least, has shouldered the burden, each one taking upon himself that which appeared to him most necessary to be borne. At the moment we would like to draw special attention to the work of the Emergency Committee for the Assistance of Germans, Austrians, and Hungarians in Distress (convened by the Religious Society of Friends to aid innocent “Alien Enemies” in Great Britain rendered destitute by the war). It is not easy to find ways for reconstructing human society whilst war is still waging, but there can be no doubt at all that this Committee, which is assisted by several Old Scholars, is counteracting, as far as its scope and its means permit, the spirit of race hatred which has grown so terribly in the last six months. Even those who believe that every member of the German and Austrian Empires comes into the world with a double dose of original sin, if there really are such, must perceive the necessity of showing such benighted people that there is a sense of pity even in Englishmen; moreover, one direct result of the work of this committee has been the starting of a reciprocal committee to guard the distressed men and women of our own country in Germany and Austria-Hungary. But it is not for these reasons alone that we would commend the work; if it did not benefit any Englishman in the eyes of any German it would still be a work of purest Christ-like pity. The vast majority of those whose claims are considered are far less responsible for the present condition than you, O reader ! and than ourselves. Are they all to suffer, the guiltless with the guilty? And are we, then, so guiltless that we are their lawful judges? This, no less than many other things that our fellow Old Scholars are doing in these days, some of them working in secret, so that none of us know it, is a true work of love and of reconciliation. This is the way of hope.”

From ‘Bootham’ magazine, March 1915