Memorial Title
Derby School - South African War
Summary
Derbyshire War Memorials: a description of a South African War (Boer War) memorial tablet to the Old Derbeians of Derby School, formerly located at St Helen's House, Derby and now at Derby Moor Community Sports College, Littlover.
Images
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Locations
| Last known location: Derby Moor Community Sports College Moorway La Littleover Derby |
Nearest postcode: DE23 2FS NGR: SK 32765 33162 (From online digital mapping.) |
Location details: In storage, pending new display. |
| Previous location: Derby Moor School Moorway La Littleover Derby |
Nearest postcode: DE23 2FS NGR: SK 32731 33208 (From online digital mapping.) |
Location details: Wall mounted, in an alcove of the school hall. |
| Previous location: Derby School King St (A6) Derby |
Nearest postcode: DE1 3EE NGR: SK 35007 36836 (From online digital mapping.) |
Location details: On the north wall inside the chapel. |
Type
| Overall type: Organ. |
Overall condition: Not known. |
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| Description: A pipe organ installed in the school chapel and accompanied by an alabaster tablet. It is not known whether the organ is extant but the surviving oblong tablet is of very pale grey alabaster suffused with flushes of pale yellow and amber and has an incised inscription in upright capital roman lettering picked out in black. It was originally set into a frame or backboard of "richly coloured dark alabaster" which was "studded with jewels of translucent green Connemara marble" but that is now lost. |
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Inscription
| TO THE MEMORY OF THOSE OLD DERBEIANS WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR THEIR COUNTRY IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN WAR, THIS TABLET AND THE ORGAN NEAR IT WERE DEDICATED, A. D. 1905. COL. JOHN ANTHONY SPRECKLEY, C.M.G. RHODESIAN REGT. BORN 1865, KILLED IN ACTION AT FORT TULI, 20 AUGUST, 1900. CAPT. ALEXANDER FREDERIC WALLIS, DUKE OF WELLINGTON'S REGT. BORN 1867, KILLED IN ACTION AT ARUNDEL, 24 FEBR. 1900. REV. GERARD CHILTON BAILEY, M.A.OXON, VICAR OF DUNDEE, NATAL, ACTING CHAPLAIN TO H. M. FORCES. BORN 1862, DIED OF ENTERIC FEVER 30 NOV. 1900, AT DUNDEE. CORP. FRANCIS HENRY SNOWDEN, SOUTH AFRICAN LIGHT HORSE, BORN 1863, DIED 27 APR. 1900, FROM WOUNDS RECEIVED IN ACTION NEAR ELANDS LAAGTE. CORP. JOHN WHYLEY CHELL, ST. JOHN'S COLL. CAMB. XII REGT. I.Y. BORN 1880, DIED 25 FEB. 1902, FROM WOUNDS RECEIVED IN ACTION AT LEEUW SPRUIT. |
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Administration
Custodian: Not known.
Local authorities:
From 1905: Derby County Borough Council (Derby Corporation) (Unparished)
From 1974: Derby District (later Borough and from 1977 City) Council; Derbyshire County Council.
From 1997: Derby City Council (unitary authority).
History
c1905: The tablet was procured from subscriptions amounting to between £80 and £90 from "past and present boys and masters".
31st July, 1905: The tablet was unveiled by Col R W Chandos-Pole, High Sheriff of Derbyshire.
1966: Derby School moved to a new building at Littleover. The tablet was affixed to the wall of the assembly hall but the fate of the organ is unknown.
1974: The school was changed from a grammar school to a comprehensive school.
September 1989: The school was renamed Derby Moor Community School.
2004: The school was renamed Derby Moor Community Sports College.
c2011: Work started on rebuilding the school; the tablet was removed from the wall and placed into temporary storage.
January 2013: The new school buildings were occupied and the tablet placed into storage there pending creation of a suitable display.
2nd February, 2016: The memorial was surveyed by Roy Branson and Alan Willmot. It was in fair condition.
References
Nottingham Evening Post, 31st July 1905, p4: A report on speech day including the unveiling arrangements.
Sheffield Independent, 1st August 1905: A report on speech day including the unveiling arrangements.
For Remembrance and in honour of those who lost their lives in the South African War 1899-1902, p36; Sir James Gildea; Eyre and Spottiswood, 1911: A brief report on the memorial including a photograph of the organ and the tablet in its original condition.
Old Derbeian Society Report about the Boer War and Its Commemorative Tablet; Barrie Sheard; February 2013.
M Shales, Pers Comm. A series of emails from the Principal providing historical details.
Comments
Thanks to Mike Shales, School Principal, and Maurice Cass, Assistant Archivist to the Old Derbeian Society, for their assistance in researching and recording this memorial.