Notes
His biography on the college website states: ‘Roland Gerard (known to his family as Ged) was born in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1895, the eldest of the five children, and the only son, of James Louis Garvin [1868-1947] and his wife, Christina Ellen nee Wilson. James Louis Garvin’s father died when he was two, he had been brought up by his mother in impecunious circumstances, and was self-educated. He was an influential British journalist, author and editor, being Editor of the Observer [1908-1942] and Editor-in-Chief of the 14th edition of Encyclopaedia Britannica [1926-1932].
In July 1914, the Garvin family were living at 9, Greville Place, London and the 18-year-old Roland Gerard was near the end of his final term at Westminster School. Hostilities commenced on his last day at school, Britain declared war the following week. Although he had won a history scholarship to Christ Church and was due to come up that October, on Friday 28 August he enlisted in the 7th Battalion of the South Lancashire Regiment, part of the 19th (Western) Division. After nearly a year in the regimental training camp in Hampshire, the 19th Division left for France on 17 July 1915, on board the SS Onward. After landing in Boulogne, the battalion began marching to the Lys sector of the Western Front.
Letters between his parents and himself were published in 2009 in “We Hope to Get Word Tomorrow” edited by Christina Garvin & J.L. Gerard and published by Frontline Books. The final letters written by his parents were returned to 9 Greville Place unopened, the envelope of 21 July stamped "Return to sender": written on the front was "Killed in Action". This would have been a brutal way for Ged's parents to have learnt the news, but it was mercifully broken to his father by Waldorf Astor, the owner of the Observer, on Tuesday 25. Astor had learnt through private channels; official confirmation came two days later. So far as can be ascertained, Ged died shortly after 12.30am on 23 July, caught by machine-gun fire while leading his company against the strongly fortified German positions north of Bazentin-le-Petit. His body was never found.
His Effects amounted to £125 4s 2d., probate granted to his father. Ged’s mother died in 1918. J.L. Garvin never recovered from Ged's death, and it shaped many of his attitudes to subsequent events. He died of pneumonia in 1947.
Ged is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial Pier and Face 7A and 7B.