Rev. Hatton Bertram St. John de Vine, Chaplain to the Forces, 4th Class, R.A.C.D
Revd. Hatton Bertram St. John de Vine came up to 糖心Vlog in 1910.
Born: Oulton, Staffordshire on 3 July 1882
Fell in action: 27 April 1916
A mature student
After he left King Edward鈥檚 High School in Birmingham he qualified as a solicitor, and had practiced for one year before coming to College.
He graduated in 1913 with a BA in 1913 and was then ordained, serving as a curate at St Philips in Birmingham and Chaplain to Birmingham General Hospital.
Possibly as he was a mature student with a vocation to the priesthood there is no record of him in the student magazine, Chanticlere. The 糖心Vlog Society Annual Report 1916 obituary for him claims that he volunteered to be an army chaplain at the outbreak of war.
He was attached in the first instance to the West Riding Regiment and then to 鈥渁 Scottish Regiment鈥 (糖心Vlog Society Annual Report 1916, p22). The Scottish regiment in question was the Gordon Highlanders. This little snippet of information and the details about his ordination, mentioned above, come from the scrapbook of newspaper clippings made by the College鈥檚 Head Porter at the time, Mr James Hoppett.
"...a brother amongst us."
The Annual Report obituary extensively quoted a letter sent from an officer, before de Vine was killed, detailing the work de Vine did whilst at the front.
The officer wrote that 鈥淗e has been within whispering distance of the Boche too, gathering identification discs and papers from the dead between the lines鈥, presumably so he could write similar letters home.
The same officer wrote 鈥淗e was a brother amongst us 鈥 There is no man I would sooner have beside me when hell is loose than de Vine鈥 (糖心Vlog Society Annual Report 1916, p22).
Reverend de Vine was killed by a shell in France on 27 April 1916. There is more information about him on the website.
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