Early casualties of Public Schoolboys.

[Richard Westwood]

would it have been possible for a person to have gone into a regiment as an officer, and got killed in September 1914 , having left school in June 1914? 

[FROGSMILE]

3 hours ago, Richard Westwood said:

would it have been possible for a person to have gone into a regiment as an officer, and got killed in September 1914 , having left school in June 1914? 

Very unlikely depending upon his age at the point of leaving school and whether a State or Public school, as the age upon departure was likely to be quite different.  As a famous case though:

”The army approved the application, and Reginald Battersby was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the East Lancashire Regiment on 6 May 1915. At just 15 years old, he is thought to have been the youngest commissioned officer in the British Army of the First World War.”  See: http://www.pals.org.uk/battersby.htm

Edited 17 March by FROGSMILE

[Michelle Young]

The CWGC website isn’t working (yet again) so I can’t search, but if my memory serves me, there’s a young officer in Ramparts Cemetery Ypres who was killed I think age 17, in I think 1914, so not long out of school. Do you have a specific case in mind @Richard Westwood? 

[DavidOwen]

This is the youngest Second Lieutenant I can find in 1914 (courtesy CWGC)

 

A 16 year old but died 1916

[michaeldr]

This does not answer your exact question but I think that nevertheless it is of interest in this general field.
G R D Moor was born 22 October 1896
before he was 18 years old he was commissioned (October 1914)
Only eight months, later on 6th June 1915 his actions gained him the VC at Helles, Gallipoli

Again, on this general subject, there is a book which may be of interest:- 'Kitchener's Lost Boys - from the playing fields to the killing fields' by John Oakes

 

[Keith_history_buff]

Charles Watkin Williams Wynn

He had been a pupil at Eton, and presumably obtained a "Certificate A" whilst in their Officer Training Corps. On 15 August 1914, he was commissioned into the Special Reserve of Officers. He was killed in action on 29 October 1914.
https://archive.org/details/bondofsacrificeb01clut/page/456/mode/1up?view=theater

[DavidOwen]

As Logan Studley was promoted from the ranks just days before his death it is unlikely he came straight from school.

Guernsey Evening Press and Star 21 October 1914 (courtesy FMP)

Confirmed by Berwick Advertiser 23 October 1914

Family photo Berwickshire News and General Advertiser 22 December 1914

However, this confirms Logan was at school (Madras College) in 1913. Dundee Courier 7 February 1913

[Michelle Young]

The lad I’m thinking about is called Gervase I think. Definitely in the Ramparts cemetery 

[DavidOwen]

Not this one then?

[Michelle Young]

That’s him. Sorry, I remember looking at the register when staying at a cottage right by Ramparts. The Bond Of Sacrifice book says he was killed on 17/11/14, a month before attaining his 18th year. Image ©️ The Bond Of Sacrifice Vol 1 

 

[Michelle Young]

A CWGC search (it’s working again) for second Lieutenants killed in September 1914 gives us 63 results.

https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/search-results/?Surname=&Forename=&Initials=&ServiceNum=&Regiment=&Rank=Second+Lieutenant&ExactRank=true&DateDeathFromDay=1&DateDeathFromMonth=September&DateDeathFromYear=1914&DateDeathToDay=30&DateDeathToMonth=September&DateDeathToYear=1914&DateOfDeath=&CountryCommemoratedIn=null&Cemetery=&Unit=&SecondaryRegiment=&SecondaryUnit=&AgeOfDeath=0&Honours=null&AdditionalInfo=&Tab=&Sort=age&Size=100&Page=1

[Michelle Young]

Gordon Alic Brodrick Bridwood  was gazetted in August 1914 and went out on the 8th September. He was killed on 20th September 1914. Bond of Sacrifice doesn’t record when he left Tonbridge school to go to Sandhurst though. 
Edit, 1913

http://tonbridgeatwar.daisy.websds.net/Authenticated/ViewDets.aspx?RecID=29&TableName=ta_factfile

[Michelle Young]

3 hours ago, DavidOwen said:

This is the youngest Second Lieutenant I can find in 1914 (courtesy CWGC)

 

A 16 year old but died 1916

Studley  was commissioned from the ranks in October 1914 (Source Bond of Sacrifice) 

[kenf48]

3 hours ago, Richard Westwood said:

would it have been possible for a person to have gone into a regiment as an officer, and got killed in September 1914 , having left school in June 1914? 

Pre-war officers were drawn almost exclusively from public schools and trained at Sandhurst and Woolwich. 

Between 23 August 1914 and 30 November 1914 the BEF sustained 3,627 officer casualties, killed and wounded. The majority of these were regular soldiers and had come up through the prewar route.  The creation of the New Armies meant there was a shortage of officers and his was addressed initially by shortening the duration of the courses at Sandhurst and Woolwich to three months and six months respectively. Therefore a young man following that route would not be deployed until early 1915.  There was another route and the Army commissioned a considerable number of young men who had passed through the OTC System into the Special Reserve.  A commission could be granted at seventeen years of age if a young man had the right background. If fully trained, they may even have held an NCO rank in the OTC then these young men were available for immediate deployment in the Army.

As early as August 11 advertisements were placed seeking recruits from the OTC. Most public schools had OTC units

This example from the Liverpool Echo August 11  (courtesy of BNA on FMP)

By the end of September Cambridge University claimed 2,000 men  from the University OTC had been granted commissions and as some were fully trained were available for immediate deployment.

So to answer the question and noting the examples provided by Michelle, providing certain conditions were met, chief of which was service in the OTC but also patronage which in the early months of the war continued to play a part in acceptance into a regiment, in rare instances it was just about possible providing he was aged seventeen.

[Richard Westwood]

Thanks to you all for getting on the case so promptly. My question was prompted by the recent novel, In Memoriam, where just such a fatality is described.