During the summer of 2012, the Headmaster of Bristol Grammar School presented the Archive Department with a survey from Anthony Seldon and David Welsh, for a book written by the same, entitled “Public Schools and The Great War, The Generation Lost”. The survey asked for basic data on the OBs during the Great War – how many of the OBs had served, how many killed, decorations, and more.

 

At this point, the only readily available source was the War Memorial, and the Roll of Service in the School Chronicle. It was immediately apparent that there were discrepancies, as the numbers didn’t add up. So they began to delve deeper into the research and the project grew exponentially.

 

As part of this project the Department went on two road trips to France and Belgium in 2013 and 2015, in order to visit and photograph as many of our OBs’ graves and memorials as possible.

 

It was agreed that Anthony O'Callaghan, from Overlook Films, would accompany them on the 2015 trip to film their visits to over 40 cemeteries and memorials and to then create a series of films for both promotion, archive and general interest purposes. This resulted in work being carried out on a new website to showcase the photographs, historic details and films.