![[Header#^header-embed]] > [!SUMMARY] > Robert Thrale of Nottingham who gave his life for our liberty during WWI on Saturday 1st July 1916. Age 20. > > ![[robert-thrale-died-1-july-1916.jpg]] ## Birth Robert Thrale was born on 23rd June 1896 in Nottingham. ## Nottingham High School He was an old boy of [Nottingham High School](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Lutyens), Arboretum Street, Nottingham, joined the school on 1st June 1907 aged 11 and left in July 1910. At the time of his joining the school in 1907, his family are recorded as living at 2 Petersham Street, New Lenton, Nottingham and his father, also called Robert Thrale, is recorded as being a student at Nottingham High Robert Thrale was bright as he was just one of ten annually awarded a Dame Agnes Mellers' scholarship[^1] of: - five pounds p.a.; - full tuition fees for three years. Although the family had to pay one pound twelve shillings annually for books. The first mention of his name in the records, aged 12, was … > [!QUOTE] School Prefects meeting on 12 May 1908 > Thrale IIB was convicted of scribbling his name in a certain office outside the school. He was reprimanded with a caution not to repeat the offence and told to inform others that further scribbling would be visited with severe punishment. Further, it was recommended that a notice be put up in the said office to the effect that punishment would be inflicted for any infringement of this rule. **A.W.D.Preston** It is difficult to be certain, but he may well have been scribbling graffiti on the walls of the boys' toilets. In the prudish [Edwardian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_VIII_of_the_United_Kingdom) era, toilets were euphemistically referred to as `offices`. By September 1908, Thrale was in second form A with Mr. W.T. Ryles as his form master. Of 28 boys, was was 10th for maths and 17th overall. By September 1909 he was in third form A with Mr. W.E. Ryles as his form master. This Mr. Ryles was the brother of his form master from the previous year. Robert came 16th out of 19 boys in his class, and for Mathematics, was now 21st in Set 3a. In Science, he was 22nd in his class. During this year, he was awarded a Bowman-Hart prize for his singing. The following year, he was in classical fourth form A, with Mr. Lloyd Morgan as his form master. He came 26th out of 29 boys in this class: 22nd for maths, 25th for chemistry and 22nd for physics. He left school in July 1910, likely due to the ending of the scholarship funding. ## Home life By 1916, He lived with his family at 13, Harley Street, Lenton, Nottingham. ## Military career The only information known is that Robert was Captain of the Battalion football team. ### In service death > [!INFO] Commonwealth War Graves registry > **Corporal 2025 1st / 7th Bn., [Sherwood Foresters](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Lebrun) who died on Saturday 1st July 1916. Age 20.** > | Category | Description | | ---| --- | | **Information:** | Son of Robert and Elizabeth Thrale, of 13, Harley St., Lenton, Nottingham. | | **Cemetery:** | Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France. | | **Panel number:** | Pier and Face 10 C 10 D and 11 A. | | **Location:** | The [Thiepval Memorial](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiepval_Memorial_to_the_Missing_of_the_Somme) will be found on the D73, off the main [Bapaume](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bapaume) to Albert Road (D929). Each year a major ceremony is held at the memorial on 1 July. | | **Additional information:** | On 1 July 1916, supported by a French attack to the south, thirteen divisions of Commonwealth forces launched an offensive on a line from north of [Gommecourt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gommecourt%2C_Pas-de-Calais) to [Maricourt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maricourt). Despite a preliminary bombardment lasting seven days, the German defences were barely touched and the attack met unexpectedly fierce resistance. Losses were catastrophic and with only minimal advances on the southern flank, the initial attack was a failure. In the following weeks, huge resources of manpower and equipment were deployed in an attempt to exploit the modest successes of the first day. However, the German Army resisted tenaciously and repeated attacks and counter attacks meant a major battle for every village, copse and farmhouse gained. At the end of September, [Thiepval](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiepval) was finally captured. The village had been an original objective of 1 July. Attacks north and east continued throughout October and into November in increasingly difficult weather conditions. The [Battle of the Somme](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Somme) finally ended on 18 November with the onset of winter. In the spring of 1917, the German forces fell back to their newly prepared defences, the [Hindenburg Line](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindenburg_Line) and there were no further significant engagements in the Somme sector until the Germans mounted their major offensive in March 1918. The Thiepval Memorial, the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, bears the names of more than [72,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20 March 1918 and have no known grave](http://www.cwgc.org/search/cemetery_reports.aspx?cemetery=80800&mode=1). Over 90% of those commemorated died between July and November 1916. The memorial also serves as an Anglo-French Battle Memorial in recognition of the joint nature of the 1916 offensive and a small cemetery containing equal numbers of Commonwealth and French graves lies at the foot of the memorial. The memorial, designed by [Sir Edwin Lutyens](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Lutyens), was built between 1928 and 1932 and unveiled by the [Prince of Wales](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_VIII_of_the_United_Kingdom), in the presence of the [President of France, on 31 July 1932](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Lebrun). The dead of other Commonwealth countries who died on the Somme and have no known graves are commemorated on national memorials elsewhere. | #### School war memorial Robert Thrale's name is commemorated on the school war memorial which stands facing Arboretum Street in Nottingham, just within the school grounds. <iframe width="100%" height="350" src="https://www.openstreetmap.org/export/embed.html?bbox=-1.1630916595458987%2C52.95906379115654%2C-1.154669523239136%2C52.96528064914574&amp;layer=mapnik&amp;marker=52.96217233189363%2C-1.158880591392517" style="border: 1px solid black"></iframe><br/><small><a href="https://www.openstreetmap.org/?mlat=52.96217&amp;mlon=-1.15888#map=18/52.96217/-1.15888">View Larger Map</a></small> He is also commemorated on the Roll of Honour that is hung in the foyer of the school. A photo given to the school of Robert Thrale is kept in the school archives. Peter Dowsett, a history teacher at the school, is researching information about the 204, old boys of Nottingham High School, killed in the Great War. That number includes two holders of the [Victoria Cross](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Cross). The school war memorial is inscribed… > To the glory of God In last and grateful memory of those former members of this school who by the sacrifice of their lives for the cause of their great Country in the Great War 1914 - 1918 and the Second World War 1939 - 1945 ennobled the traditions which they had here received. ##### School war memorial unveiling ceremony On Saturday, November 11th 1922, the school war memorial was unveiled by the [Duke of Portland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Bentinck,_11th_Earl_of_Portland). It was a life-size statue in bronze, representing a young officer leading his platoon to the attack, and had been designed by an Old Boy, [Colonel A.S.Brewill D.S.O.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Brewill), the commander of the 7th Sherwood Foresters throughout most of the war. The statue was cast into bronze by [Henry Poole A.R.A.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Poole_(sculptor)) Originally, the school had asked [Earl Haig](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Haig,_1st_Earl_Haig) to perform the ceremony, but he was unable to do so. The Duke of Portland arrived at the Forest Road gates, and was met by a party including the Mayor, the Sheriff and the Headmaster. The boys of the school were all gathered on the east lawn, with the privileged ticket holders standing on the west lawn. In a reserved enclosure close to the statue sat the relatives of the fallen. The ceremony itself began with the singing of the original School Song. This was based on one of the odes of [Horace](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horace) and began with the words “Integer vitae sceleresque purus”[^2]. It was accompanied by the City Police Band, and “_the sonorous Latin words floated sweetly on the crisp, autumnal air, and turned one’s thought inevitably to bigger boys now lying dead in France and Flanders who had often sung the same song_.” The Duke of Portland, standing at the top of the school steps, then made a short speech reminding everyone of the purpose of the memorial, namely to show “…_the respect, honour, and admiration which we feel for the Old Boys who laid down their lives in the Great War_.” He then descended the steps, and pulled the Union Jack off the statue. ![[nottingham-war-memorial-1922.png]] <div class="caption">Unveiling of Nottingham High School war Memorial on 11 November 1922.</div> A party of the O.T.C. then saluted, and the buglers of the Robin Hood Rifles sounded [The Last Post](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Post). The [Mayor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mayors_of_Nottingham#Mayors_of_the_City_of_Nottingham_(1897–1928)), on behalf of the whole city, laid a magnificent wreath, followed by boys who represented the Upper School, the Lower School, the Preparatory School, the staff and the Old Boys’ Society. Principal A.R.Henderson read a passage from the scriptures. His son, Roy Henderson, sang a specially composed song “What are those which are arrayed in white robes?”, and then the [Bishop of Newcastle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Wild) gave an address, and dedicated the memorial. After the hymn, “O Valiant Hearts, who to your Glory came. “, the “[Reveillé](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reveille)” was sounded and the National Anthem sung. In what must have been a touching sight, the young boys of the school then smothered the steps of the monument with Flanders poppies. “So did the School honour her glorious dead.”Inside the school, an illuminated Roll of Honour, executed by the school’s Art Master, Mr.E.P.Betts, was put on permanent display. It records full details of soldiers’ regiments, their ranks and the dates of their deaths. The High School’s wise choice of a statue to commemorate those who perished in the Great War dead may well be viewed by later generations as one which occupied, as it were, the moral high ground. Other public schools were to spend their windfalls in what would seem to us, nowadays perhaps, somewhat less acceptable ways. At one school, for example, the Bursar was given a new office, and at another, the Headmaster received a new house, with a pleasant garden, and four acres of land. #### School remembrance trip to Thipeval 2004 In 2004, 41 students and 5 staff from Nottingham High School for Boys travelled to the Western Front Battlefields. They marked the commemorative engraving of Robert Thrale on the [Thipeval Memorial](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiepval_Memorial) with a small poppy cross. Student James Banks was given the task of searching for his name and leaving the cross as a mark of respect. There are 17 Old Boys of Nottingham High School commemorated at Thiepval. ![[james-banks-identifying-robert-thrale.jpg]] <div class="caption">Student James Banks, identifying Robert Thrale in 2004.</div> ##### James Banks account, 15-17 October 2004 > On Friday 15th October, at the unearthly hour of 5.30am, the entire staff of the History Department and forty-one boys gathered outside school and waited for the tardy coach. Our transport, though slightly overdue, did eventually arrive, and after a brief passport-related delay, we set off for France. A “Welcome Break” was had by all at Toddington Services, and we promptly met our guide, Mike, at Calais a little after 11.30am. We enjoyed a smooth ferry trip, but I observed while on deck the rather bleak clouds gathering around the northern coast of France. Once in France, it began to drizzle, and the weather continued spasmodically to do so throughout the trip. > <br> > Our first stop was the Canadian National Vimy Memorial, which overlooks the Douai Plain from the highest point of Vimy Ridge, about eight kilometres northeast of Arras. The Memorial consists of two jutting limestone pinnacles, into which in some places are carved statues, the most famous of which is the Weeping Woman. This saddened figure represents Canada - a young nation mourning her fallen sons. > <br> > The surrounding landscape is pocked and pitted by shell holes, which create a landscape best likened to Teletubby Land, as the shelling here was extremely intense, and the front lines just metres apart. > <br> > I left the ridge shocked and repulsed by the sheer volume of life that had been lost at just one nation; a feeling that was to be repeated constantly at every monument or cemetery we were to visit. > <br> > We then drove to our accommodation, the welcoming Château D’Ebblinghem, a 19th Century Château turned hostel located 8kms east of [St Omer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-Omer) in the Pas de Calais region of Northern France. After a filling dinner and an evening of relaxation, we settled into our beds and enjoyed a needed night of rest. > <br> > We spent the next day touring the Somme Battlefield. Among other sites, we visited the [Lochnagar Crater](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lochnagar_mine) and the Thiepval Memorial. The crater is the product of the “sapping” that went on during the battle of July 1916, part of the attempt to destroy the Germans before the allies _“went over the top”._ While most of the operations failed to achieve this end, any German in the vicinity of this explosion stood no chance on 1st July 1916. Then, the crater measured 300ft across and 90ft deep; though much reduced now, the crater still packs a pretty impressive punch to the visitor. > <br> > Our next stop was the Thiepval Memorial. Designed by [Sir Edwin Lutyens](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Lutyens), the names of 72,000 British soldiers are carved into the stone of this massive memorial. Without wishing to appear irreverent, it looked to me rather like an overdressed Christmas cake; indeed, the French planning authorities only agreed to it on the condition that it would be screened by trees. > <br> > After locating my assigned Old Nottinghamian, Robert Thrale, I placed a small cross in his memory. Thrale attended the school on a Dame Agnes Mellers scholarship between 1907 and 1910, and to read about a particular Old Boy re-humanises the terrible loss suffered, as one often becomes detached from the reality that there are people behind the names on the School Memorial and Roll of Honour. > <br> > We set off for Belgium early the next morning, bound for [Ypres](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ypres). Having been virtually obliterated by the end of the War, its medieval shops and streets have been skilfully reconstructed so that the city might appear as it had done before the War. When you compare it to our equivalent, perhaps Coventry, the continental version comes out most favourably. > <br> > The [In Flanders Fields Museum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Flanders_Fields_Museum) was spectacular - the combination of audiovisual effects, informative exhibits and computerised information points conveyed both factual knowledge and a sense of what it was like to live Ypres during the War. Every five minutes, a huge simulated explosion rocked the building; an hour of shelling was quite enough for me, and I cannot comprehend the horror of incessant bombing for years. > <br> > We then spent some time at the famous [Menin Gate,](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menin_Gate) another Memorial to the lost, which was designed by [Sir Reginald Blomfield](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reginald_Blomfield) in the style of a Roman triumphal arch. Upon it are inscribed the names of a further 54,900 of the 'missing'. Every day, at 8 p.m., the local police stop traffic from passing underneath the gate, and the Last Post is played by buglers from the Ypres fire station. > <br> > After purchasing the obligatory Belgian chocolate, we piled onto the coach (some of our number feeling slightly ill) and headed off to [Tyne Cot cemetery](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyne_Cot). Other than its being the largest British war cemetery in the world, Tyne Cot is an archetypal British war cemetery. “Row on row” of white graves stretch away in every direction, inscribed by default with “A Soldier of The Great War” and invariably adorned with the cross. 11,908 graves are registered within Tyne Cot, and on the wall at the back of the cemetery are the names of a further 34,927 men with no grave. > <br> > A stark comparison can be drawn between the relatively light, bright atmosphere of this cemetery and the close, dark feeling of the [Langemark German cemetery](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langemark_German_war_cemetery) we next visited. Here, the soldiers are often buried in mass graves, and the black stone is darkened by the lack of light that permeates the tree cover. It is a sad, depressing place, and incidentally, a favourite day-out for Hitler when he was in France during the Second World War. We were shocked to discover that our bus driver’s grandfather was commemorated at Langemark, and this served as a painful reminder of the hurt felt by the families of our past enemies, as well as that of our own. > <br> > Our last stop was the small Bridge House Cemetery where we laid a wreath in remembrance of one Old Nottinghamian in particular, but also in honour of all Old Boys who died in the Great War. 2nd Lieutenant John George Roe attended the school between 1907 and 1910, and died during the [Passchendale](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passendale) offensive of 1917. A few words were said by our guide, and a moment’s silence held. This was a fitting end to the trip which had, to some extent, brought home the human cost of the First World War. > [!ACKNOWLEDGMENT] > Thank you to [Simon Williams](mailto:[email protected]) and [Peter Dowsett](mailto:[email protected]), Head of History at Nottingham High School for Boys, whose kind assistance and contribution helped to bring this information to you. Thank you to the boys of [Nottingham High School](http://www.nottinghamhigh.co.uk/) for continuing to honour the sacrifices made by Robert Thrale and his generation. ## See also ![[War graves 🔎#^wargrave-infoblock]] ![[nottinghamshire 🔎#^nottingham-infoblock]] #history/person/THRALE/robert-born-1896 #history/place/england/nottingham ![[Footer#^footer-embed]] [^1]: [Dame Agnes Mellers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnes_Mellers) [^2]: Book 1, Ode 22. In English, this line is often translated as "The man of upright life and free from wickedness."