THE VICTORIA CROSSES OF ASHBY SCHOOL
In September 1917 the 9th Battalion of the Leicestershire Regiment entered the trenches in front of Polygon Wood, a German strongpoint fortified by a formidable machine-gun emplacement.
It was the time of the Battle of Passchendaele. The British Army was trying to burst through the German line but had come up against these impregnable obstacles. The Germans had prepared these areas very well and the British attack stalled.
In September 1917 the Germans put in a strong counter attack using flamethrowers and grenades. The 9th Leicesters reeled backwards out of their trenches. It was then that their Colonel, Philip Bent, former Head Boy of School House and pupil at Ashby School rallied his soldiers and led them back to face the German onslaught. With rifles and bayonets the Germans were made to retreat from the British trenches. At the very moment of victory Philip Bent, the youngest Colonel before or since in the British Army, was killed by a machine gun bullet to the head.
Colonel Philip Bent - click image for larger version
He has no known grave. It is likely that his body was buried by shellfire or blown to pieces like thousands of other men who died in that horrific battle on the Western Front. His name is recorded on the Tyne Cot memorial along with all those who have no known resting place.
For his selfless action in leading a charge which saved the entire flank of the British Army, for his courage under the most extreme pressure and for his complete lack of concern for his own safety he was awarded the Victoria Cross. In 1923 his mother sent the medal to the School as a permanent reminder to future generations of courage and devotion to duty.
Colonel Bent’s medal hung for many years in the school. In 1972 it was sent on permanent loan to the Regimental Museum of the Leicestershire Regiment. Thereafter there was no memorial in the school to this outstanding former pupil who, before winning his posthumous VC, also won the Military Cross and Bar and DSO and Bar.
Recently it was decided by Clive Jones, Chairman of the Governors, to recreate a memorial not only to Colonel Bent but to all those from Ashby School who gave their lives in the two great wars of the twentieth century. Among them is another holder of the Victoria Cross, Lieutenant Colonel Bernard Vann who won his medal posthumously in the great German retreat of 1918.
Clive Jones, Chair of Governors, unveiling the copy of the Victoria
Cross awarded to Colonel Philip Bent - click image for larger version
Copies of the Victoria Cross were obtained and were placed in frames which contained the citation Bent received posthumously in the London Gazette which records his gallantry.
On the morning of the 19th of November the medal was unveiled by the Chairman of the Governors in School House. Another is to be unveiled very shortly in the main school buildings and they will both serve as a tribute and memorial to those fallen students of both world wars. In accordance with Mrs Bent’s instructions they will also serve as an example of outstanding courage, loyalty and devotion to duty for generations to come. It seems very fitting that this tribute is paid once more not only to Colonel Bent but to so many others.
Guests from the Royal British Legion were present at the ceremony - click
image for larger version
To accompany this memorial a short video film was made to illustrate the life and times of Colonel Bent. The film was made in the school by Jen Burnett and Andy North using a script created by John Williams. It was shown to all students in the school assembly in the week leading up to Armistice Sunday.
The film was also shown to assembled guests from the British Legion, from other schools, from the town and to former teachers and pupils during the unveiling of the Victoria Cross in School House. At the moment the film was due to be played the lights in School House suddenly went out. Perhaps Colonel Bent, who has no known grave, was acknowledging that, after so many years, he had a fitting memorial and final home.
