March 1908
“There was a young fellow from Perth,
Who was born on the day of his birth.
He was married, they say,
On his wife’s wedding day,
And he died on his last day on earth.”
Was this the original limerick on this topic?
About Secondary Education
December 1922 – Editorial of the School Magazine
“Certain people are now demanding that all children shall have a ‘secondary’ education, and this, without considering the cost or the advantage [sic] to the nation.
The COS Old Boys’ Machine-Gun Platoon
July 1932
In the Old Boys’ section of the school magazine of July 1932 it is announced that the Old Boys have formed a Machine-Gun Platoon in conjunction with the Machine-Gun Company of the 4th Bn. Oxf. and Bucks Lt Infantry.
Experiences in France in 1916
by ADC (Passed by Censor)
This is a personal indulgence by Mike Chew who read the article – of which this passage is just the beginning – in the Oxford High School Magazine of December 1916. He left it to others to react in their own way.
September 27th 1916
“I had the greatest day of my life the day before yesterday when we went over the top.
Continue reading “Experiences in France in 1916”WW1 Service Distinctions
The numbers of Old Boys serving in the 1st World War – or the Great War as it was known then – was 580. In a school with a nominal intake of 120 pupils per annum that is a huge percentage:
Continue reading “WW1 Service Distinctions”Sir H S Souttar (at School around 1890)
Sir Henry Sessions Souttar (1875 -1964) was an eminent surgeon. One of his books, “A Surgeon in Belgium”, dealt with his experiences in the First World War. It was first published in 1915 by Edward Arnold and is still available in a recent reprint (ISBN: 1428054154). Souttar became famous for his “Hole in the Heart” surgery, and later became President of The British Medical Association.
On the Barts & London Hospital website it is written:
“Sir Henry Souttar was another of The London’s most brilliant surgeons. He was the first surgeon in the world to open a chamber of the heart to stretch the organ’s mitral valve, which later became a basis for modern heart surgery. Sir Souttar also met Madame Marie Curie in Paris to discuss the use of radium, and then persuaded the Medical Research Council to give The London the first precious gram of radium which he used to treat breast cancer.”
The School Roll of Service 1914-18
The transcript below is of a talk was given by Professor Adrian Gregory, the guest speaker at the COSA Annual Luncheon of 2017. It is a comprehensive review of the participation of Old Boys and Staff in the First World War.
Continue reading “The School Roll of Service 1914-18”T E Lawrence (1896-1907)
A Speech by Mr Churchill
If you have not landed here from that page, you can read about the circumstances of this speech here
“Mr. President: Although more than year has passed since Lawrence was taken from us, the impression of his personality remains living and vivid upon the minds of his friends, and the sense of his loss is in no way dimmed among his countrymen.
Continue reading “T E Lawrence (1896-1907)”A T Pollard 1881 -1898
From the unfinished School Historyby Geoffrey Hart
Chapter 1: A Very Good Start – The Headmastership of A T Pollard
The following résumé on the History of the School is taken from the work of Geoffrey Hart (COSA’s first Chairman) just before he died. These cover the first years of our School until Mr Cave succeeded Mr Pollard as Headmaster.
Continue reading “A T Pollard 1881 -1898”