A big thank you to all those alumni who have responded to our recently published Roll of Honour video in which Old Seafordian Neil Rosoman (1969-72) spoke about his research on the 57 former students who died in the First and Second World Wars.

In response to the video, another Old Seafordian, Neil Rogers-Davis (1958-63), an amateur local historian specialising in the history of nearby Angmering village, kindly emailed a short biography of Major George Woodthorpe Chaplin M.C., a former Seaford student who was killed during the Allied campaign in Italy in December 1944.

Below is a short biography of the G.W. Chaplin written by Neil Rogers-Davis as part of his research into Angmering’s first resident doctor, Dr Clement Woodthorpe Chaplin, the father of the Old Seafordian.

(If anyone in the wider Seaford community has information about the 57 they are willing to share, we would love to hear from you. Please email: alumni@seaford.org or write to: Marketing Team, Seaford College, Lavington Park, Petworth GU28 0NB.)

George Woodthorpe Chaplin was born in July 1914 in the village of Angmering, West Sussex, the younger son of the village’s first resident doctor, Dr Clement Woodthorpe Chaplin, and his wife Agnes (née Harris). The family lived at ‘Winona’ in the High Street for over 40 years and it was the location of Clement’s surgery.

George attended Seaford College as a boarder in the 1920s and is believed to have excelled at sports. At 6’5” he was, no doubt, a formidable opponent.

After leaving school, George worked for the Bank of England. He was employed in Birmingham for a while, but later moved to London. He married Jocelyn Paterson in Westminster in January 1940 and their only child, Eugenie (Jenny), was born in 1942.

He volunteered for war service in the late summer of 1940 and, following Sandhurst, was commissioned into the Grenadier Guards as a 2nd Lieutenant in March 1941. After training in Scotland, he was stationed at Windsor and, with the 5th Battalion, fought in Tunisia and Italy. As a Captain, he was Intelligence Officer for the Battalion during the Anzio campaigns of January/February 1944, during which he was involved in action for which he was awarded the Military Cross.  He was promoted to Major later in 1944.

George was killed in action at Monte Sole on 2 December 1944. His MC citation read:

"On 4 Feb. 1944 at CARROCETO, No. 2 Coy which had been heavily attacked by infantry and tanks throughout the night, was completely cut off from the Bn and all communications had broken down. It was not possible to reach the company without going over about 200 yards of open ground in full view of the enemy whose machine guns invariably opened up on any observed movement. The Commanding Officer ordered Lt. Chaplin to go forward to see if it was possible to reach the Company. Disregarding the enemy fire, Lt. Chaplin made his way through heavy MG fire to the company, and personally visited all three platoons, encouraging the men and giving them information about the battle as a whole. This action greatly raised the morale of this company. Lt. Chaplin returned through enemy fire having obtained for the Commanding Officer detailed information about the night's action and the names and numbers of casualties.

On the night of 7/8 Feb, BNHQs was in a gully – to which the enemy penetrated in strength having overrun three coys. The enemy took up positions on the top of the cliff which overlooked the HQ, and started fi ring at short range with machine-pistols, LMGs and hand-grenades into the Command Post. Lieut. Chaplin went out alone on his own initiative, climbed round the entrance to the gully and by throwing hand-grenades at the enemy kept them from the edge of the cliff for long enough for the Command Post to be moved. But for this gallant and spontaneous action, the enemy would have been able from the cliff-top to drop grenades right into the Command Post and would have destroyed Bn.HQ."

In a history of the Grenadier Guards during WW2, Geoge was described as a fearless officer who had given his Battalion great service in Africa and Italy, and was killed by a machine-gun bullet, along with eighteen other casualties in the company at Monte Sole. He is commemorated on Panel 3 of the Cassino Memorial, Italy

George is also commemorated on Angmering’s War Memorial (above top).

He is also mentioned on his parents’ gravestone in St Margaret’s churchyard, Angmering, which reads:

In Loving Memory of / Clement Woodthorpe Chaplin, MD / Interred into rest /
Christmas Day 1949 / Aged 74 / Jesus Lives. /
Also of his younger son / George Woodthorpe Chaplin, MC / Major 5th Bt. Grenadier Guards /
Killed in action in Italy, December 1944 / Aged 30 years / Counted worthy. /
Also of his beloved wife / Agnes / who for 42 years shared his joy and sorrows /
Died 28th March 1954 / Aged 80 years.

For more about Angmering village go to: www.angmeringvillage.co.uk