Sunday 11 November 2018 marked the centenary of the end of World War I. Of the 800,246 soldiers who lost their lives in that war, 490 were Paulines.

In recognition of the fact that 2018 marked the centenary occasion of the end of that conflict, a group of pupils in the Autumn Term of 2018 formed the ‘First World War Research Project’. Working under the auspices of the History Department, the project quickly unearthed some of the hitherto forgotten stories of those who fell in 1918.

This was achieved in part by using online resources such as those of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, in part by exploring the newly digitised archive of The Pauline magazine, and in part because of the work of Hilary Cummings and her team in the Kayton Library who have digitised and catalogued rarely seen historic sports team photographs.

The digitised copy of The Pauline and the War List of 1919 can be viewed here. You can also view the commemorative booklet produced in 2014 by the First World War Research Project.

Working alongside the Geography Department, the Group also used GIS software to map the location of the place of internment or commemoration of each of the 490.

The Art and History departments brought together pupils in making 490 ceramic crosses, each one of these hand-made crosses bears the name of a Pauline who fell in the Great War. These crosses were planted by pupils from both Schools around the school’s War Memorial for Remembrance Sunday to create a living reminder of the supreme sacrifice made by a lost Pauline generation.

The 2018 Thomas Gresham Committee took the initiative to offer each of these student made crosses for a donation in support of The Thomas Gresham Bursary Award. This award was founded in 2017 by four of our Upper Eighth pupils and is a wholly pupil-led bursary appeal, fundraising to provide a 100% bursary for the highest performing boy at 11+ who is in need of financial support.