Cohorts of 1912 & 1913

The Magdalen students who matriculated in 1912 and 1913 had their studies disturbed by the Great War more than any others. Most of those who matriculated in 1912 anticipated coming up for their final year in Michaelmas 1914, and those matriculating in 1913 were coming back for their second year. But this was not to be. Many did not return to Magdalen, either being killed in action, or perhaps, in some cases, because they saw little point in returning to study after all they had experienced.

Of those who survived the war only a minority took a degree, some taking the shortened war-time degree, and a few returning to complete their studies. Seventeen (45% of survivors) of those matriculating in 1912 and eleven (39% of survivors) of those matriculating in 1913 obtained a degree of one kind or another.

Here we summarise the fate of the two cohorts. More than 25% were killed in action, one on the German side. Of the majority who survived the war, perhaps surprisingly after what they had been through, 8 continued soldiering;   11 went into political or civil service, including three Ambassadors; 10 became landowners or farmers; 8 went into business, in its broadest sense, and 8 into teaching; 6 became poets, artists or art collectors; 4 went into law; there were three Members of Parliament, two becoming cabinet ministers; two became engineers;   there was one medical doctor; and one, briefly, became King. In many cases they rose to the top of their profession. The figures do not add up as some men fall under more than one category and it has not been possible to find the fate of a few of the others. However, this gives some indication of what the 23 who were killed might have achieved.

These men came from wealthy backgrounds. The average value of the estate left by their fathers has been calculated, from the published Probate records, as £6,097,000 adjusted by the annual rpi to 2012 values. This is the average of 57 estates over the two cohorts, the other estates were either, abroad, not published or were sealed. But, this hides the unequal distribution of wealth, with the least valuable estate being worth £9,000 and the most valuable £96,000,000. However, these are the published values and cannot take into account any arrangements, or distributions of wealth before death. Perhaps not surprisingly, those with awards and who were given places on academic merit came from less wealthy families than the commoners whose academic excellence did not feature greatly in their admission to Magdalen. The average value of the estate of the fathers of commoners was £7,862,000 while that of award holders was £645,000. An even greater difference was found if we compare those who went into teaching and those who did not.

Seven men did not see active service.