Wimbush's Luck by John Malone

Wimbush’s Luck

"Haileybury College, Inter-House Team Race, 1915, L.E.B. Wimbush." These words are engraved on an antique pewter beer mug that somehow found its way from England 7,280 miles across Europe and Asia to an antiques flea market in Jalan Surabaya, Jakarta, Indonesia, where it was discovered by my wife sixty-two years later in 1977. Here is the story behind this mysterious trophy, mostly fact but partly fiction:

Haileybury College, originally founded in 1805 as East India Company College and subsequently renamed Imperial Service College (1845) and later United Services College (1874), has traditionally served as an elite preparatory school for the upper ranks of military and civilian leadership of the British Empire, both at home and abroad. Seventeen Haileybury alumni have received the Victoria Cross, placing Haileybury a close third among British public schools, right behind Eton and Harrow. And 1,436 Haileybury alumni have given their lives while serving their country in the military.

Let us imagine L.E.B. Wimbush as a handsome, dark-haired, rosy-cheeked English schoolboy in running shorts and singlet. He is standing in the center of a similarly-clad group of schoolboys. It is early fall in 1915, and they are gathered on the terrace behind The East India College Arms, the oldest public house in the tiny village of Hertford Heath, just a convenient six hundred yards from the four Haileybury College Quad Houses. As a sixth former and house prefect, Wimbush is allowed by the House Master of Melvill to drink "small beer and cider in moderation." He lifts his new trophy, not yet engraved with his name, to celebrate his team’s victory. He drains the beer, burps with satisfaction, licks his lips and smiles beatifically at his teammates.

It is the afternoon of the annual Inter-House Team Race. They have just defeated their traditional rivals from Bartle Frere House across the Quad, captained by Barker, Wimbush’s best friend and greatest rival ever since they attended Berkhampstead Grammar School together. Bartle Frere actually finished the course just ahead of Melvill, but were disqualified for failing to touch hands at one of the relay points along the course.

"Remember, chaps, we Melvillians are always good sports. Moreover, we only won the race by sheer luck, not by running faster. So let’s not rub it in when we meet the Bartle Frere boys. If I hear of any ungentlemanly behavior, there will be lots of lines to write! Understood?"

The other boys reply to their house prefect in unison, "Yes, Wimbush."

Later, Wimbush meets Barker on the Quad, and they shake hands.

"Hard luck, Barker! Your boys ran a fine race."

"Thanks, Wimbush. Decent of you to say so. But let me ask you, if I may be so bold: Do you really intend to display that ridiculous little tin cup you won?"

"I see your point, Barker. No, I rather think I will just keep the handsome pewter mug in my room as a reminder of the importance of my continuing good fortune. But I really must take issue with your calling it a 'little tin cup.' That’s a bit unfair, isn’t it, old man? After all, the inter-house team race has been Haileybury’s favorite athletic event ever since it was first run eleven years ago. Apart from rugger and cricket, that is."

It is June, 1916, and the war is going badly for the Allies, with Hindenburg’s army advancing deep into northern France along the valleys of the Somme and the Oise. Wimbush graduates from Haileybury and is now a man of eighteen years, volunteering, along with most of his classmates, to fight the Germans. He and the other brand new Probationary Flight Sub-Lieutenants (temporary) have purchased their uniforms, kissed their parents and girlfriends good-bye and arrived to learn how to fly at the Eastbourne Royal Naval Air Station, perched on the low cliffs above the beach twenty miles east of Brighton. Wimbush carefully unpacks his kit and places the pewter mug on a shelf above his bed in the room he will be sharing with Barker.

Pages: 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5

Relationships and Going Places, History, Travel, Senior Women Web, Articles, John Malone, Authors Add comments

Wimbush’s Luck

More Articles