Essays

The toll of the First World War fell not only on the 536 Old Alleynians honoured on the College War Memorial and on this website but also on many of the 2,500 OAs who returned…

During 2019 Dulwich College celebrated the 400th anniversary of its Foundation in many diverse ways. The aim was to mark this important milestone in our history by the creation of works of art, our landscaping…

How did life at Dulwich College change during the World War One? In many respects it didn’t. The boys were educated according to the curriculum of the day, they sat exams and brought home reports…

While we know that all of British society was affected, often personally, by the Great War, some groups within society as a whole may have felt that impact more than others. Just how were students…

As all Year Nine boys, past and present, can no doubt recall, in 1914 the Russians mobilised with almost reckless haste to join the First World War on the side of their French and British…

It is unremarkable that the Old Alleynian poets of First World War were very much in keeping with those who have been more celebrated ever since the guns ceased firing almost a century ago. What…

Gordon Campbell was born on 6th January 1886, the son of retired Colonel Frederick Campbell and his wife Emilie. He was the couple's ninth child, and the seventh of what would go on to be…

The battle of the Somme remains one of the most evocative names in British military history, its high casualty lists and seemingly minor gains leading it to become very closely linked with the wider debates…

It may be of surprise to some that for Old Alleynians the worst day of the First World War was not the result of events in the totemic battles of the Somme, Third Ypres or…

Ferry services along the Thames had long provided an important part of London's transport system, but they were rarely been profitable, and often failed after the loss of a vessel with its passengers. In 1904…