ARMFIELD,
ARCHIE SEAWARD
BORN 7 FEBRUARY 1879
Archie Seaward Armfield
was born in Clapham, Surrey, on 7 February 1879. He was the son of Charles Augustus Armfield (b 1820 in London) and Mary Ann Armfield (née Seaward b 1851 in London ). Charles and Mary were married in Westminster in 1873 and their family included Charles William Augustus Armfield (b 1874 in Westminster, London), Arthur Armfield (b 1892 in Bramley, Surrey) and Ivy Augusta Armfield (b 1889 in Clapham, Surrey). Archie entered the School in the Lower Mercantile form on 20 September 1893, aged 14. At that time the family lived at Somerville Road, St Andrews, Bristol. This was an area of large attractive houses built for Bristol’s growing middle class professional population.
South Africa Police, Archie was awarded The Queen’s South Africa Medal Clasps: Rhodesia. His name appears on the Boer War plaque in the Great Hall, a plaque which commemorates those who served in this conflict. Enlisting in 1914 and gazetted on 15 December 1915, Archie served as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Irish Guards, 2nd Battalion. He was killed in action during the Third Battle of Ypres on 31 July 1917, aged 38. At this time, his parents lived at 2 South View, Higher Torrs, Ilfracombe, Devon. His Commonwealth War Grave is in the Canada Farm Cemetery, Ieper (Ypres), West-Vlaandren, Belgium, (grave reference II B 25). His name also
His father was a Surveyor of Taxes. Archie was in the Mercantile stream which was intended to prepare him for a future in the business world. A good sportsman, he appeared in a photo of the 1st XV Rugby team in the School Chronicle of April 1895 and was listed as a member of the Games Committee in the Chronicle of December 1895. Archie left the School in December 1895, aged 16. After serving in the Anglo-Boer War in the II (Bulawayo) Division British Fifth Panel
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