On 25th September 1948, a service was held in College for the ‘dedication of the memorial to the men who died in the war of 1939-1945’. The memorial was unveiled by the Master, Sir Lionel Whitby, and dedicated by the Bishop of Ely in the presence of relatives of the fallen and members of the Association and their wives assembled for the Annual Meeting. The Order of Service from that day reads:

“Brethren, we are gathered together as one family to remember before God the men of this House who in the years of the war laid down their lives for our deliverance and for the freedom of mankind: and to dedicate this place where their names have been recorded as a lasting memorial of their sacrifice. In so doing, we shall not fail to have in remembrance those who in the earlier war made the same sacrifice in the same cause.

We shall affirm our faith in the final sovereignty of God and after commending to his mercy the souls of those who died we shall pray that we who remain may prove worthy of the heritage which by their faithfulness has been defended and preserved.

Let us remember with all honour before God and Man the names of those who died so that we might live:

Robert Frederick Barlow

Richard Stewart Beale

Kenneth Roy Beeching

John Boon

Thomas Maurice Twynam Bostock

Anthony Harley Brindley

Victor Julius Carlton

Richard James David Carrick

Oswald Chan

Frankham Noel John Church

Michael Wilfrid Peter Clarke

Keith Cunningham Cowie

John Michael Darlow

Peter Ewart Davison

John Stuart Devereux

Harry Orme Dooyewaard

Basil Whitfield Drew

Charles Theodore Dufton

William Lionel Edwards

Alexander McKenzie Elliott

John Evans

Horace Marsden Geldard

John Malcolm Glaisher

Ernest Osmond Goulden

George James Harden

William Hind

Louis Alexander Howard

John Douglas Hughes

Cedric Alfred Humphries

Kenneth George Iremonger

Michael Isdell Blyth Job

Francis Alfred George Lascelles

Peter Wyndham Riou Lawford

Thomas Ellis Mitchell

Denis Geach Parnall

Philip Trevor Parsons

John Henry Pearson

Augustus Huws Rocyn-Jones

Errol Devereux Lancelot Shaw

Hugh Templeton Slight

George Stanislaus Sokolow

Noel Geoffrey Sprake

Donald Stevens

Geoffrey Stephenson Stout

John Peter Houghton Stratton

Sim Eng Tan

Harry Varley

Arthur Waymouth

William Robert Humphrey Whiting

Charles Frank Horace Wiessner

John Percival Wilkie

Thomas Stanley Winton

Harold Walter Woodhouse

We also honour and commemorate a member of staff of the College Office:

Maxwell Charles Elsden.”

In addition, H. G. Earl (1902) survived the war but died on board a hospital ship during repatriation after internment by the Japanese.

The memorial tablet was designed by Mr Bamford of Northfield and Company, Cambridge, and was cast in bronze by the Birmingham Guild. It was installed on the eastern portico of the North Range.

Link to Downing College in the Second World War (including digitised history of 'Downing and the two World Wars' featuring WW2 memories of alumni).