Geoffrey Paul Bird (1891- 1965)

Geoffrey Paul Bird, Magdalen 1911
(Magdalen College group photo)

Geoffrey Paul Bird was the son of William James Bird (1859–1903), one-time Captain in the 8^th (King’s Royal Irish) Hussars, and he read History at Magdalen, graduating in 1912 (BA 1912, MA 1917). In his entry in the College Record for 1922, he states under “War Service”: “Red Cross 1915–1916; Foreign Office 1916–1919.” His Medal Card shows that he served in the British Red Cross and the St John of Jerusalem Ambulance Brigade from 10 March 1915 to 29 July 1916, and was entitled to the Victory Medal.[1] But it seems that in 1916 he transferred to the Foreign Office.[2] In 1920 he published a book of poetry, including two poems – ‘Killed in Action’ and ‘Jutland’ – that referred specifically to the war.[3] Neither suggests that Bird was either a pacifist or particularly jingoistic; the former includes the lines:

Grieve not for your sons who have never returned,
O mothers, for smiling they left you.
Be brave, though the young blood be spilt, and
unheard be the sound of their laughter;

We do not know why Bird joined the Red Cross; he may have been medically unfit for military service. But if this was the case, his medical condition did not deter him from being a more than competent golfer.

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[1] Medal Card, WO 372/2/150619 (National Archives).

[2] The Magdalen College Record (1922), p. 20.

[3] Geoffrey Paul Bird, Poems (London: Selwyn, 1920), p. 9. Recently republished as Poems (Classic Reprint), (London: Forgotten Books, 2018).