Minot, L

Captain Laurence Minot

Born on July 21^st 1896, Laurence was the son of factory manager John Minot, his only child with then wife, Ada, although he had older children from previous marriages. When Laurence started at Dulwich in the spring of 1909 he was in the unusual position of having a brother-in-law on the staff, as Lillian, one of his elder half-sisters, was married to Lewis Hutchings, a master at the College. Indeed, their son, John, would himself become a pupil less than a year later. He spent time as a boarder in The Orchard and served as Head of the house in 1914-15. That year, his last as a pupil, also saw him playing for the 1^st XV, as well as winning the long jump at sports day. After leaving at Easter 1915 he went to Hall’s Flying School, based in Hendon, and qualified as a pilot that summer.

In October 1915 Laurence, as a newly qualified pilot, was given a commission in the Royal Flying Corps, and not long afterwards sent over to France. In the summer of 1916 he was promoted to Captain, and later was awarded the Military Cross. His citation made particular note of an occasion on which he had been flying one of five British planes to encounter a group of twenty or so enemy craft; in the ensuing dogfight he personally brought down two enemy planes, as well as causing four to lose control whilst attempting to follow his manoeuvres, ultimately allowing four of the five British machines to return safely to base. He was brought down on July 28^th 1917, over Meulebeke, just a week after his twenty-first birthday.