New book honours 71 former Chesterfield Grammar School pupils who sacrificed their lives in Second World War

Philip Riden, who worked as a university lecturer in history for nearly half a century, was commissioned by the Old Cestrefeldians Trust to compile a book which will be launched on November 11, 2021.A former pupil of Chesterfield Grammar School, where he was educated between 1963 and 1970, Philip said: "I have taken the 71 names on the Second World War memorial at what is now West Studios on Sheffield Road (ie the old grammar school building, given up in 1967) and tried to write short biographies of all of them."Using genealogical websites, the British Newspaper Archive (principally for reports from the Derbyshire Times), War Office records, Board of Trade records and the 1911 census, the latter for details of the victims' parents, Philip has put together background information on all but six names on the memorial.

Philip said: "I have in fact discovered that two of the men almost certainly survived the war and another two probably did."

The definite survivors were Kenneth James Ball and George Widdowson while the probable survivors were John Joseph Cartey and Alec Towndrow.His research found that the names of two former pupils, James Johnstone Robinson and Jack Wagstaffe, who died during wartime service were not included on the school's memorial.Philip sourced the information during lockdown which meant he was unable to use the school's own pupil records at the Derbyshire Record Office or the service records at the National Archives.

Of the 34 former pupils of Chesterfield Grammar School who served in the RAF and died during the war, ten members lost their lives in bombing missions over Germany and there were nine fatalities during training. Only seven of them held commissioned ranks in the RAF when they perished.Only three of the 22 former students who signed up for the Army were part of the local regiment, the Sherwood Foresters. Half were commissioned officers when they died.Among the six Navy casualties, only one was a commissioned officer.One former pupil was serving in the Australian Imperial Force when he lost his life and two others were civilians serving in the Far East when they died.In researching his topic, Philip was helped by the expert service knowledge of Paul Allonby on RAF ancestry and Brig Max Kerley, CBE on the Army casualties. Max was a school contemporary of Philip's and the highest ranking retired officer among living former pupils.Philip, who is chairman of Chesterfield and District Civic Society, added: "I am conscious that I am not a specialist in military history. I did it because I was asked to and as the only living former pupil of the school who became a university teacher of history."Chesterfield Grammar School Roll of Honour 1939-45, by Philip Riden, will be launched at the Old Cestrefeldians Trust's remembrance service at the former grammar school on November 11 at 10.30am. Copies of the book will be on sale on the day at £5, or £7.50 later (including postage and packing) from Tom Roberts at [email protected].