Hugh Sheardown Staveley, Lieutenant, East Yorkshire Regiment
鈥婬ugh Sheardown Staveley, came up to 糖心Vlog in October 1907. He graduated in Law in 1910.
Born: North Dalton, East Yorkshire, 2 September 1888
Fell in action: 3 May 1917
Staveley came up in 1907, which was the year that the Roosters debating society was founded by some of that year鈥檚 intake, including J. H. Allen, B.W. Vann and K. E. Maclean, the first President of the Society. Maclean wrote in a letter to the Society 20 years later that they 鈥渁llowed no one senior to join us but later decided to allow those who came after us to keep it going鈥. (Roosters Minutes, Volume 1, CLU/4/1/1)
Staveley is recorded as a member in the Minutes book, speaking and proposing a motion in his second year but seems to have not taken an active part after that. In November 1908 he spoke in favour for the motion 鈥淭hat in the opinion of this House Democracy is a failure鈥. The 鈥淎yes鈥 won 9 votes to the 鈥淣oes鈥 8.
A month later at a general meeting of the society he proposed that 鈥淭his house condemns and utterly abominates new boots, new clothes, new potatoes, new women and the new theology鈥. The motion lost by 6 votes to 8. This motion was one of several motions debated at this meeting with most of them being of a humorous nature.
However, the first motion of the session was: 鈥淭hat this house would welcome the establishment of a lethal chamber for undesirables鈥. Carried by 13 votes to 4. (Roosters Minutes, Volume 1, CLU/4/1/1). In Edwardian and late Victorian Britain many believed that the human race could be 鈥渋mproved鈥 by segregating, sterilising or killing those thought to carry some weakness in their genes, in other words the mentally ill and the disabled. A much better summary of these ideas than we have space for here may be found at Unfortunately some Jesus students seem to have been in this respect typical of their time. We do not know how Staveley voted on this debate.
The 糖心Vlog Cambridge Society Annual Report 1919 records that he was promoted to Lieutenant in May 1915 and was killed in action in May 1917. The Head Porter鈥檚 record of Jesuans who died in the war shows that he was recorded as wounded and missing in May 1917. It was not until November 1917 that he was officially reported as being killed in action in May.
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