I was glad to be invited today, for the 20th time, to the Whitehorse Manor Junior School remembrance day service around the war memorial at the front of the school. As with many years in the past, a group from Ecclesbourne Primary School joined us and they were warmly welcomed and joined us for a cup of tea and a biscuit after the service. For me personally, it was good to note that at least six of the adults there today had been with us for all of the preceding 20 years. That continuity is one of the things that makes Whitehorse such a wonderful school. Thank you to Ms. Achenbach (one of the aforementioned six people) for organising the service and to Father Sean from St. Alban’s church for attending and giving the blessing.
We are lucky to have a book by John Seaton named ‘A short history of Whitehorse Manor School’s war memorial‘ in which he has researched all of the 117 names on our war memorial. Each year we like to to highlight one of these. Today we choose Henry Badcock, who despite being born and educated in Thornton Heath, actually served in the Western Ontario Regiment of the Canadian Expeditionary force.
Henry Badcock’s entry in the book reads: ‘Henry (although he is recorded as Herbert on the 1901 census) was born on 28th April 1890 in Southwark. He joined Whitehorse on 26th June 1899 and left two years later. His first employment was with the London Brighton and South Coast railway as a booking clerk and he worked at Norwood Junction, Tulse Hill and Penge earning the equivalent of today’s 85p a week when he resigned in 1910. On the 6th May 1910, he left Liverpool as a 3rd class passenger aboard the ‘Empress of Ireland’ liner to join his elder brother George and younger brother Frank who had emigrated to Canada a year earlier. He enlisted to the Canadian Infantry on the 11th May 1915. His regiment took part in the Battle of Courcelette between the 15th and 22nd September 1916 as part of the Somme offensive. It was during this battle that tanks were used for the first time ever and during the closing stages of this battle Henry was killed. He is buried in the ‘Adanac’ (Canada spelled backwards) military cemetery in Miraumont, France. His grave reference is II.A.25′
The staff and children of Whitehorse Manor Junior School remember Henry today.
Jolyon Roberts
