70
THE YPRES TIMES
BETWEEN the hours of nine and ten on Saturday morning, April 14th last, the
environment of Victoria Station was considerably enlivened by the arrival of some
150 boys of our Public Schools who were bound for'Dover, en route for their initial
tour of the battlefields of France and Flanders, all wearing the Ypres League cornflower
emblem.
These exuberant spirits of expectancy most certainly did their best to make their
presence felt when three cheers were called for His Excellency The Belgian Ambassador,
his Military Attaché, Lieut.-General Sir W. P. Pulteney and the Dowager Viscountess
Plumer who all so generously spared the time in order to bid the party bon voyage.
The occasion was a somewhat unique one, in that it was the first officially organised
Public Schools Battlefield Tour, and moreover, fulfilling the desire expressed by the late
Lord Plumer, that the younger generation should visit the scenes where their fathers and
near relatives had fought.
The tour which these lads were to make had been organised by the Ypres League
and the Officers Training Corps Club, and a most interesting and extensive itinerary was
prepared. Every boy taking part belonged to the Junior Division of the Officers Training
Corps and accompanying the party were several officers of the O.T.C. headed by Major
E. Montague Jones, O.B.E., M.A.
The Schools represented were as follows City of London, Cheltenham, Clifton,
Eton, Glasgow, King Edward's (Bury St. Edmunds), King's (Worcester), Lancing, Malvern,
Marlborough, Oundel, Repton, Rossall, Rugby, St. Albans, Shrewsbury, Stowe, Wellington
and Winchester.
The official duties of conductor throughout the tour were admirably carried out by
Mr. O. Mears, the Assistant Secretary of the Ypres League. The journey to Ypres, our
headquarters, was accomplished without a single hitch, and on our arrival it seemed only
a matter of minutes before everyone was safely deposited in their allotted rooms equally
divided between the two leading hotels, namely the Splendid Britannique and Skindles.
During dinner on the first night we were honoured by the presence of the Ypres
League's Chairman, Sir William Pulteney, who had shown his practical interest and
support in the tour by making a special mid-day journey to Ypresa gesture which received
the unanimous appreciation it deserved. At 8.30 p.m. the whole party congregated at
Skindles Hotel for a lantern lecture delivered jointly by three regular officers, namely,
Colonel C. P. Tomes, D.S.O., M.C., late Warwickshire Regt., Major F. L. McNaughton,
D.S.O., Royal Artillery, and Captain H. Redman, K.O.Y.L.I. They described how the
British Army came to find itself at Ypres and how the Salient was formed and defended.
In view of the Salient tour on the following day this lecture proved most helpful and
instructive.
Sunday dawned sunny and warm and after breakfast a visit was made to Talbot
House at Poperinghe, where Padre Pat Leonard, who had travelled to Ypres with the
party, related with great vividness and feeling, the uses and life of the Old House
during the war. We returned to Ypres in time for the 11 o'clock service at St. George's
Church, after which a wreath was laid at the Ypres Town War Memorial by Major E.
Montague Jones. The remaining period before lunch was spent in exploring the town,
viewing the Menin Gate, ramparts, Cathedral and the war museum.
Punctually at 2.30 p.m. a convoy of char-a-bancs conveyed the party on a tour of
the Salient and between Wieltje and St. Julien, Colonel Tomes claimed the attention of
all with his animated account of an attack made by his company in their first contact
with the Germans in 1914. The tour continued broken now and again with brief halts
