The Discovery Our Group Made about Douglas Bader

[John Paul Hansen]

I emailed Bader's old school in England.  They were SUPER NICE and emailed me back with this essay (that I'm convinced they wrote just for our research purposes) It contains quite a few facts that History's forgotten about Mr. Bader.  I imagine we'll have no lack of such information from this document alone, and I'd LOVE to see if we can cram it all into a single powerpoint presentation.  Anyway, here's the transcript.   

Dear Mr. Hansen

 

John Coles has passed your request of 10 April to me regarding Douglas Bader.

 

Throughout his life Bader was a remarkable and very visible person and this was particularly so at St. Edward's School where he was a boarding student from the Michaelmas Term of 1923 to the Summer Term of 1928. He was a member of Cowell's House named after Wilfrid Cowell, the school's longest serving teacher, who Bader knew well. His actual Housemaster was 'Freddie' Yorke, a handsome rather dour man from the north of England, whose reputation was legendary as being a shining example of how a House should be run. Guy Gibson V.C. of 'Dambusters' fame was another member of the same House, but some nine years later.

 

The other key influence on Bader during his time at the school was the Warden (Headmaster) Henry Kendall whose second instinct saved the young Bader from being expelled several times. Kendall was also a key influence on supporting Bader after his crash and loss of his legs.

 

St. Edward's was a medium sized Public School and was not considered then as being in the top echelon of such establishments (such as Eton, Harrow,Wellington, Winchester etc). It had however started to grow upwards and outwards from the time of Kendall's arrival in 1925. There were around 250 boys then in total (nearly 700 today boys and girls today) and discipline was strict enforced by caning or even birching if necessary. It was a school based on very high Anglican beliefs and has originally been intended to produce as many churchmen as possible with the parents being mostly middle class clergy themselves.The School Chapel was the centre of the school's raison d'être. Life was very tough especially for the new boys aged 12 years who had to learn endless rules very quickly and run errands for the Prefects (always in double time). For the first two years of any boy's existence at the school he had hardly any time to himself.

 

Against this background the 12 year old Bader arrived as an Open Scholar from the Temple Grove Preparatory School and his ability in Latin and Greek was evident from his first days and he 'absorbed poetry with obvious pleasure'. He was very poor at Mathematics and had to be 'crammed' by Freddie Yorke before he was able to enter Cranwell at the end of the school days. He was also a rebel, very belligerent and was apparently caned on his first day at the school for kicking his 'Basher' (School straw Hat) repeatedly and being requested to stop several times.. He was very quickly indentified as one who needed 'knocking into shape' by the school authorities both at Prefect and teacher level. He was an unruly student throughout his life at the school and despite being disciplined and caned many times continued to rebel, including leading the destruction of the school's 'Tuck Shop' as a protest at having to write weekly letters (supervised) to parents - it didn't help that Bader was not close to his parents! Throughout all this turmoil both Yorke and Kendall (who both had to cane him) saw the potential as well as the mayhem. As Bader grew older he was encouraged to do the things he liked and did well in and sport was top of the list. Here is where St. Edward's and Bader came together; the school was extremely sports orientated and much was forgiven if the individual was gifted and Bader certainly was. At the very young age of fifteen he was already a member of the school's elite Rugby Football and Cricket sides and remained as such until he left. In 1928 he captained the Cricket XI - he also represented the school at Boxing and Squash as well as excelling at athletics. He was even appointed a Prefect in his later days! After leaving the school and before his accident Bader played rugby for Cranwell College, the Harlequins R.F.C.and the Combined Services, he was also expected to win an England Cap in due course.

 

As stated earlier it was perhaps the Kendall-Bader relationship which saved his youth from destroying anything that was to follow and here I quote:- "When Henry Kendall arrived as Warden in 1925 he immediately established a rapport with Douglas. It was not Kendall's style to dwell on frequent misdemeanors but to look beyond to qualities and potential, and his influence clearly played a major part in the development of the young Bader's attitude to the important issues in life. The affection which soon developed for Henry Kendall he equally felt for the school itself, described in one biography as 'his cherished haven' and his later affection and interest never waned and has shown itself in many ways".

 

He was never easy company but convivial nevertheless and his friends never spoke him down, He later returned as a School Governor from 1970-82 and as ever was not slow in coming forward with his views and ideas and if time was passing too slowly was known to prod the Chairman in the ribs and whispering 'lets get on with it, old boy'. He made regular appearances at Old Boys dinners and school events and in 1963 made a memorable speech at the school's centenary. In 1980 he headed an appeal for several new buildings in the school, including a Sports Hall named after him (!982).

 

Regarding his wish to become a fighter pilot - there is nothing written down which can prove conclusive. The Officer Training Corps at the school was run on army lines and the other services were not introduced till the Second World War. However opposite the school was Port Meadow a large public area of grassland leading down to a canal (where the school rowed), and here flying lessons were offered by outside companies.While strictly off limits to the school, this had no effect on Bader and others like him from partaking and here is where the desire to fly was born.

 

The Second World War produced a plethora of RAF heroes from the school led by Gibson and Bader, all of whom captured the 'flying bug' while at the school it was as the Historian Max Hastings has written: "The privilege of being granted access to the sky fulfilled a supreme romantic vision, for which young men were content to make payment by risking their lives".