Lillian K. O. Bradburne

  General Notes:

Those Paris scenes and personalities recalled (see last two paragraphs).


As Adjutant from 1843 to 1849 Captain W. Siborne (see Adjutant W. Siborne) amply demonstrated in his monumental 'History of the War in France' - a detailed history of the Battle of Waterloo (18 June 1815) based on the hundreds of personal accounts of the conflict from combatants of all arms who were there - there are as many accounts of past events as all tho who experienced a particular them. So it is in the case of the school's visit to Paris in the 1950s described above.

Ron Bryant (Wn 1945-51) was one of the party that made the visit. He has written to correct what he contends were a number of inaccuracies in the preceding account as well as to add a number of personal notes concerning the visit. His notes and account of the Paris visit follow. He writes:

The trip was definitely in 1950. I have photograph of us at the Arc de Triomphe. I was a Boy (my rank) at the time, but a Prefect when I left School in 1951, so I could not have taken the trip to Paris after I left.

We were guests of the Anciennes de la Resistance as well as the British Legion. I mentioned Mme Guilbert in an earlier message to you. She was, I understood, President of the A de la R. She came with us on many of the trips we made in France - to the Headquarters of the Foreign Legion, Vincennes Zoo, Versaillles etc. - accompanied by her daughters. Mme Guilbert was a delightful woman whose husband, Dr Guilbert, had been summarily executed by the Germans for Resistance activities, She invited Bruce Cox and me to her home in the Rue Pergolese in central Paris.

The bit about Headmaster Lowe's surprise at us singing the Marseillaise is a load of codswallop. We all learned it (the youngsters phonetically) before we went to France - and I still remember it after all these years. Sorry, but there is no way he could have been in ignorance of that fact. We did it so well we had to encore it.

Regarding proficiency stars, I can't remember what the five pointed star on the drummer's lower sleeve was for. The one on Jannetta's sleeve was for the Army Certificate A. It was a red, four-pointed star awarded in two halves: Part I and Part II, for field craft and weapon training. I know because I got both parts and remember being disgruntled as a new recruit not being allowed to wear it in the Army!

We did not march through the Arc de Triomphe. How could we? Smack in the middle of the Arc is the Tomb of the France's Unknown Warrior - one of the photos shows the flame being rekindled. Therefore, as we could not have marched through the Arc, I recommend that the caption be edited. We marched up the Avenue des Champs-Élysées behind the Gendaremerie/Garde Civile band. How proud of that I was. When we reached the Arc we filed in to take up position under the Arc and returned the same way. The photo I have is of a group on parade under the Arc with me in it and not as a Prefect.

I recall Mrs Barnwell, wife of Commandant Colonel Barnwell, with deep affection. She was a lovely old lady who had a beautiful upper crust accent and called her husband Raiph, not Ralph. Gammy (wonky leg) Barnwell and Mrs Barnwell used to invite some of us to Sunday breakfast - I believe in an effort to educate us in table manners. I wasn't strictly happy there - trying to eat corn flakes silently is stressful! She also helped those selected to read the Lesson in Chapel on Sundays with our reading, pronunciation and projection. When my turn came I forgot my session with her until sometime later. You can imagine the fear with which I ran to the Chapel. She was still waiting and brushed aside my abject apologies with a smile and took me through the Lesson with calmness and kindness. My respect for her was enormous. Furthermore she didn't report my rudeness to anybody.

The Barnwells' son Charles was a lovely fellow, too, a few years my senior. He mixed with us very well and even joined us for Rugby. Harry Goble tackled him round the ankles and he came down hitting his head and rendering himself unconscious for a while. He also hit his nose on the ground and bled like mad. Col. Barnwell came over and said "Charles your nose is bloody" and Charles replied "Yes father. Bloody bloody", which I thought was hysterically funny. They had to take him home so I asked Col Barnwell if I could drive Charles's Velocette motorbike back for him - and he agreed! What a triumph!

Lillian married Colonel Ralph Ernest Barnwell CBE, son of Ernest Frederick Barnwell and Mary Jane Howes, Jun Qtr 1927 in Kensington, London. (Colonel Ralph Ernest Barnwell CBE was born in 1895 in Rugby, Warwickshire and was christened on 19 Apr 1895 in St Matthew's, Rugby, Warwickshire.)

  Marriage Notes:

Register of marriage - Kensington, vol 1a, page 277.