MAJOR JOHN HOWELL PATTISSON, O.C.. 26TH BATTERY R.F.A. KILLED IN ACTION ON THE GALLIPOLI PENINSULA, APRIL 28TH, 1915. AGED 40. At the School, 1888—92 (Day Boy). John Howell Pattisson was the only son of Admiral Pattisson and Mrs. Pattisson, of Rodboume, Tonbridge, and was a member of one of the most prominent of Tonbridge famihes. His grandfather, Jacob Howell Pattisson, LL.M., came to Tonbridge in 1859. There were ten sons, and Mrs. Pattisson was justly proud of her " sixty feet of sons." Admiral Pattisson was not himself a Tonbridgian, but seven of his nine brothers were educated at the School, where they all distinguished themselves as scholars and athletes. In after life they all made their mark in the various vocations which they followed, and they have always been conspicuous for their loyalty and attachment to the old School. A pavilion has been erected on " the Fifty " as a memorial to Walter Badeley Pattisson, the seventh son, who was at the School 1863—67, and was President of the Old Tonbridgian Society when he died, November 6th, 1913. In 1911 he captained the O.T. XI. against the School, when his second son, C. A. S. Pattisson (Sc. 1907—11; XI. 1909—11; XV. 1909—10; Sch. Prae. 1911), was Captain of the School XI. C. A. S. Pattisson came home from South America to serve, and obtaining a commission in the Special Keserve of the Royal West Kents, served in France with the 1st K. O. Royal Lancaster Regiment in 1915, and in Mesopotamia with the 2nd West Kents till he was seriously wounded, October 29th, 1918, at Hamar; but W, B.'s youngest son, A. E. Pattisson (P.S. 1914—19; XV. 1917—18; Sch. Prae. 1919), was too young to serve. The eighth son, Pierre Bouillier Pattisson, who was at the School 1865—73, and who, when he entered the Royal Irish Constabulary was first in the Examination with a record number of marks, retired from the Constabulary in 1908; but he had come forward to serve his country in its crisis and was in May, 1915, gazetted a Temporary Captain in the Ajmy, and commanded a Company of the Chinese Labour Corps in France from October, 1917, to July, 1918, and again from April to July, 1919. They belonged to the days when the School did not have to be content with doing its best for its boys in a Public School life averaging less than three years. As was pointed out in THE TONBRIDQIAN in December, 1913, in an article on " W. B.," which the present members of the School should read, the average length of the School days at Tonbridge of six of these brothers worked out at eight and a half years. What wonder that the School meant so much to them! With regard to Major J. H. Pattisson himself, the following is "An Appreciation by a Master of Tonbridge School" that appeared in the Parish Magazine for June, 1915. It was from the pen of Mr. Goldberg, one of the last friendly duties performed by him whose irreparable loss so dominated the thoughts of the School, both masters and boys, and of old Tonbridgians in 1915. " Howell Pattisson," wrote Mr. Goldberg, " was one of my first friends and pupils at Tonbridge when I came here twenty-five years ago. And from that time till he was killed in action in the Dardanelles the other day, dying the death he would have chosen, and fighting in the post of honour, our friendship had resisted the weakening influence of prolonged absences, and the wear and tear of other associations. " His was a quiet and reserved disposition, and I well remember my earliest feeling for the boy of fifteen was one of respect. Often in later days, when I have spoken or thought of the value to Great Britain of her sons who talk little and do much, I have had Howell Pattisson in my mind. As a boy he was not physically strong, and a year before he was a candidate for the Entrance Examination to the Royal Academy, Woolwich, he obtained leave of absence from School to accompany his father, then Captain Pattisson, on a voyage to India in H.M.S. Euphrates. This interruption of his studies had a most salutary effect, and he passed the Examination successfully, joining the ' Shop ' in 1892. From that time to the last he maintained the high promises of his young life: he entered the R.A. in 1895 and the R.F.A. in 1897, served in the South African War (medal and four clasps) in 1902; he became Captain in 1901 and Major in 1912, commanding the 26th Battery. His devotion to duty was marked by scrupulous observance of all the minutest details of his work. This quality was so characteristic of him that I cannot refrain from quoting a little episode in illustration of the feature. He was home on leave from India a few years ago, and was dining with me after he had visited the Boyal Academy. I asked him what he liked best among the pictures. " ' There's a fine portrait of Lord Roberts,' was the answer, 'and I was particularly glad to see the painter had got the medals absolutely right.' " I am not sure that the dear fellow would have approved of this hasty delineation of himself: but I know he does not mind my saying now that in all respects he was what a soldier should be, and that he maintained the highest ideals and the best traditions of the British Army in peace and war." After the Boer War Major Pattisson was Captain in the 72nd Field Battery in India, but was transferred to the 52nd at Mean Meer on the former being ordered home to Bradford. In August, 1914, he was commanding the 26th Battery at Allahabad, and returned with it to England. We know through a brother officer that when sixteen batteries were put through a severe test prior to going to the Front, the 26th was the only one of the sixteen that received unqualified praise in the formal report issued next day. They were the first Battery to land on the Gallipoli Peninsula, on the morning of Sunday, April 25th, following immediately on the heels of the infantry and taking up a position in line with them till the 28th. The artillery advanced a little each night, threw up breastworks, fired all day, and advanced again by night, the 26th always leading. On May 28th, 1915, Major Pattisson received an order to send, two guns half a mile forward to support an infantry attack. He took the two guns, giving the command of one to the Lieutenant from whose letters these details are obtained, and moved forward into the open, to be met with a terrible fire. He stood gallantly behind the guns, giving what cover there was to others. Very strangely, not one of the men was hit, but Major Pattisson was killed and the Lieutenant severely woimded. Though he died almost immediately, he had time after he was struck to tell the men to " stick to it." As has been said of him, he not only knew his duty, but did it, and did it thoroughly.