Oswald Armitage's Story.
Oswald was born on 2nd February 1887, the second son of Oswald William and Kate Carver, of Cranage Hall, Holmes Chapel, Cheshire. After Charterhouse he went to Trinity College, Cambridge. He rowed for Cambridge in the University Boat Race in 1908, and in the Olympic Games that year; the crew won a Bronze Medal. Six boats from five nations competed. Leander (Great Britain) took the Gold Medal, the Royal Club Nautique de Grand (Belgium) the Silver. Oswald became a Director of his family’s cotton business in Lancashire.
He joined the Territorial Force and was commissioned into the Royal Engineers 1st/2nd Bn. East Lancashire Regiment. On 3 September 1914, Oswald’s application to serve overseas with the battalion was rejected by an army medical board at Bury. He was suffering from deafness and it was decided that his hearing would be checked again a month later and, if found to be the same, then it would be considered to be a permanent disability disbarring him from service. However, by 31 December, Oswald had been promoted to Captain responsible for one of the Company's four Sections and in May 1915 was sent into action at Gallipoli. A major attack was scheduled for 4 June (it would later be officially designated as the Third Battle of Krithia). Territorial Battalions of the Manchester Regiment would lead the infantry attack on the Turkish positions. The role of the Engineers would be to follow behind the Manchesters and help to secure the captured Turkish trenches and then start to dig communication trenches back to the original British line and build strongpoints to be used in case of counter attack. As planned, the Engineers were quick to get on with their work. Sometime during the day, Oswald was wounded in his back. He was evacuated down to the landing beach where he received attention from the military surgeons at 11th Casualty Clearing Station. The fact that Oswald was still there when he died three days later, perhaps suggests that the army triage system had determined his condition as hopeless. In such circumstances, he will have been made as comfortable as possible until he passed away
His widow, Elizabeth later remarried to Field Marshal Montgomery.
Taken in 1904 at Charterhouse School, Oswald is on the 3rd row from the front 4th in from the right.
Oswald's brother Basil was killed in action on the 21st August 1916.
Picture of Oswald was taken while he was at Chartherhouse School in Godalming, Cheshire County would like to thank Mrs Catherine Smith Charterhouse Archivist for the house photograph
He joined the Territorial Force and was commissioned into the Royal Engineers 1st/2nd Bn. East Lancashire Regiment. On 3 September 1914, Oswald’s application to serve overseas with the battalion was rejected by an army medical board at Bury. He was suffering from deafness and it was decided that his hearing would be checked again a month later and, if found to be the same, then it would be considered to be a permanent disability disbarring him from service. However, by 31 December, Oswald had been promoted to Captain responsible for one of the Company's four Sections and in May 1915 was sent into action at Gallipoli. A major attack was scheduled for 4 June (it would later be officially designated as the Third Battle of Krithia). Territorial Battalions of the Manchester Regiment would lead the infantry attack on the Turkish positions. The role of the Engineers would be to follow behind the Manchesters and help to secure the captured Turkish trenches and then start to dig communication trenches back to the original British line and build strongpoints to be used in case of counter attack. As planned, the Engineers were quick to get on with their work. Sometime during the day, Oswald was wounded in his back. He was evacuated down to the landing beach where he received attention from the military surgeons at 11th Casualty Clearing Station. The fact that Oswald was still there when he died three days later, perhaps suggests that the army triage system had determined his condition as hopeless. In such circumstances, he will have been made as comfortable as possible until he passed away
His widow, Elizabeth later remarried to Field Marshal Montgomery.
Taken in 1904 at Charterhouse School, Oswald is on the 3rd row from the front 4th in from the right.
Oswald's brother Basil was killed in action on the 21st August 1916.
Picture of Oswald was taken while he was at Chartherhouse School in Godalming, Cheshire County would like to thank Mrs Catherine Smith Charterhouse Archivist for the house photograph