On the eve of ANZAC Day, Mrs Julie Daly, College Archivist looks back at the grave losses Newington suffered during World War I and how the College supported our community. 

The first ANZAC Day was observed at Newington College in 1917.  

On this day 109 years ago, the headmaster, Rev C J Prescott, unveiled two brass tablets in memory of two of our fallen students – Lieutenant Victor Warry (ON 1914) and Sergeant George Lovett (ON 1914). These tablets now form part of the chapel memorial walkway near the Memorial to our Beloved Dead. Originally located in the school hall (now Prescott Hall), these tablets were moved in 1995 to the chapel to create the walkway. Protected from the weather, they provide a place for quiet reflection within the Chapel’s sacred space.  

Those first two memorial tablets unveiled in 1917 commemorate the sacrifice of two young men and ONs, both of whom were Prefects in 1914. Tragically, from the nine Prefects of 1914, four were dead by 1917, killed during the First World War. Their names:  Victor Warry, George Lovett, Alexander ‘Roxie’ Muir and Bob Holliday.  

With the Great War raging, these four young men were greatly mourned by our community as news of their deaths, and others, began to reach our shores. There was deep grief at the news of the death of Victor Warry, who was 19 when he was killed in action fighting at Pozières on 29 July 1916. A College obituary published in September 1916 discussed his popularity, his striking personality and questioned the sacrifices young men were being asked to make. Victor Warry is remembered at Newington through the Warry Cup, the renamed College Cup, which continues to be awarded to the Senior Athletics Champion. He won the cup himself in 1913.  

Likewise, the death of fellow former student, Alexander ‘Roxie’ Muir, also 21 when he was killed, was recorded as an ‘almost personal loss’. He was three years out of school and well known. The December 1917 issue of The Newingtonian included an obituary to Alexander, and news of his death earlier that year. His mother unveiled a tablet to him, also positioned in the memorial walkway, in June 1918. This dedication was also reported in The Newingtonian. 

‘His loss was a bitter blow, for so many of us knew him personally. The everlasting strangeness and pain of death weighed on us with added force. It seemed cruel, unfair that he should be called when everything dear to youth lay before his feet.’ 

Similarly, Bob Holliday was aged only 21 at the time of his death. Killed in action in France and buried at the Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery, Bob enlisted in September 1915 and died the following year in July 1916. 

The first listing of an ON who ‘answered the country’s call’ was in the September 1914 issue of The Newingtonian, and from June 1915 records were held in the College Archives. These include hand-written notes from the Ministry of Defence as updates arrived after fighting began in 1914. 

Of these, Private Richard Stanley Meek, 32, was the first ON to be killed in the First World War. Private Meek joined the 2nd Battalion AIF on 25 August 1914. He died on 29 April 1915 onboard the hospital ship Devanah after being wounded at Gallipoli and was buried at sea.  

The September 1914 issue of The Newingtonian made mention of a student enlisting from school. Clive Julius Kaeppel, a boarder from Mittagong in the NSW Southern Highlands, signed up while in Form V. Although his birthday is unknown, records show Clive was born in 1896 making him 17 or 18 at the time he enlisted. As he was under 21, he needed his father’s signature to enlist. Clive, however, claimed he was 23. He was accepted to join the AIF 1st Battalion in October 1914. He later fought with the British Imperial Forces 29th Battalion at Gallipoli. In 1917 he was fighting with the AIF’s 18th Battalion on the Somme and at Bullecourt in France where he sustained serious injuries. He died from his injuries at Rouen in October 1917 and is buried in St Sever Cemetery Extension in Rouen. 

In total, 111 ONs were killed fighting and in service to their country during the First World War. The Newington community rallied to offer support to the fallen and their families with The Newingtonian September 1918 issue highlighting how these students will be remembered. 

‘In addition to the brass tablets erected in the schoolroom to fallen Newingtonians several fresh war memorials have been donated to the School. The Johnson Oval, the realisation of a long-cherished dream, the Muir Prizes, the Colwel Prizes and the Nolan Prizes are fine contributions and worthy tributes to those whose memory they perpetuate,’ The Newingtonian reported in 1916. 

The College also tried to offer comfort to stricken families through its lamentations. 

‘…when we think of these whom we will never again, and whom once we were so familiar, a sense of sadness – but sadness touched with holy joy, comes upon us. They were Newingtonians, and they are an everlasting memorial to the part Newington played in the war.’  

ONs overseas on active duty from 1914 to 1918, also wrote to the College for support. Sapper T. B. Y Hunt for one wrote to the College to express how important it was to send each ON on the frontlines a copy of The Newingtonian to stay in touch with what was happening in the community they know and love. 

In 1917, following the death of Gunner Jack Johnson (ON 1913) his family arranged for a permanent memorial to their beloved son: Johnson Oval.  

As we prepare to welcome in the winter sports season with Johnson Oval coming to life, on the eve of this ANZAC Day we remember all the Newington students and ONs who fought and gave their life for our liberty in World War I, World War II and all the armed conflicts until this day. 

Lest we forget.   

*Newington College Cadet Corp will take place in ANZAC Day ceremonies across Sydney tomorrow including at Petersham Town Hall, 107 Crystal Street, Petersham from 6.00am; Ultimo ANZAC Day service at the Pyrmont and Ultimo Great War Memorial, Union Square, Pyrmont from 8.30am and CBD City March from 9.00am. 

The College’s ANZAC Day service and parade will take place next Friday 1 May on Johnson Oval from 8.30am   

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