Bloxham Encouraged Career in Military Academia
At school, William was an all-rounder: he was a Peer Listener, a Chapel Prefect and in his final year was awarded the Leaf Personal Development Prize and the Senior RE Prize. In sport, he was selected for the cricket 1st XI in Fifth Form where he made a solid impression as a sensible and well-rounded sportsman, “he is a cricketer of considerable talent and potential”, according to Rob Hastings (Staff 06-15 and Master in Charge of Cricket 07-14) in The Bloxhamist (2007). He was also the first ever Bloxhamist to complete the RFU Rugby Refereeing Course and was appointed to referee 12 school matches, covering all ages.
Having read War Studies at King’s College London, he furthered his studies in academia by staying at King’s for a Masters degree and a PhD in Defence Studies. Today, Will is a Lecturer in Defence Studies and is currently writing his first book which examines the Duke of Wellington’s Headquarters during the Napoleonic Wars. He lives in Oxfordshire with his wife Lucinda.
What is your fondest memory of Bloxham?
The community spirit of the School was very special. There were so many great shared experiences, from House Shouts to school trips (The Rhine, Paris, London etc), House Dances, the yearly House trip to glorious Milton Keynes, Third Form camp, rugby and cricket matches, Chapel, CCF exercises on Hobb Hill, and just messing around in the boarding house. All of those shared experiences helped create a friendly atmosphere. Being a small school also meant you got to know most people and there was obviously a particularly close link with those from all years in your boarding house.
Which teacher inspired you?
I was lucky in that all my teachers really helped to inspire me. I think Mr Hatton (History) was key to developing my critical thinking and essay writing, which I am still relying on to this day. Others were also very inspirational, especially during my A Levels – Mr Batten (History), Mr Perrin (Politics), Father Michael and Dr Heaney (RE). Mr Alexander was also important throughout my time at Bloxham with his work with the six of us in the Dyslexia Unit.
What did you read at university?
After my PhD, I was appointed as a Lecturer in Defence Studies at King’s College London, specialising as a military historian. The Defence Studies Department is based at the Joint Services Command and Staff College, Shrivenham, Oxfordshire, where it teaches senior military officers, ranging from Majors to Brigadiers (or their equivalent ranks in the other services) from the Royal Navy, British Army, RAF and the Civil Service, as well as a large proportion of officers from partner militaries from around the world. I have even taught a couple of Old Bloxhamists, and no doubt will teach a few more in the future.
How did your time at Bloxham prepare you for what you are doing today?
Bloxham always encouraged me to follow my interests, which I did at school, and have been lucky to do ever since.
Bloxham set me up to pursue an academic career with the skills it taught me in humanities: all three of my A Levels (History, Politics and RE) have fed into my thinking as a military historian. Much to my, and everyone else’s, surprise, I achieved the highest grades possible in my A Levels, enabling me to do the course I wanted to at university. Famously, in our family stories about Bloxham, Mr Perrin asked me about my surprise Politics exam result ‘How did you do that?’, I just smiled back and replied, ‘I don’t know, Sir’, to which he then said, ‘No seriously, how did you do that?’.
I also think the most important thing Bloxham did to prepare me for what I do today, is to give me good people skills. It taught me to treat everyone individually, to nurture their different skill sets. An essential part of my job is getting on with lots of different people and reconciling their different approaches of academics and the military. When teaching, each person has unique experiences, qualities and difficulties, and each needs to be encouraged in different ways. I feel this is something that Bloxham taught me to do, through its individual approach to everyone at the School.
What has been the most exciting or rewarding moment of your career so far?
I am lucky enough that my job is very rewarding day-to-day. Through teaching the military, I am in one big, continuous conversation about the history and future of warfare, and I think I learn more from my students than they learn from me. A particular highlight of my work is regularly leading ‘Staff Rides’ (essentially battlefield tours) to Normandy, the Western Front and to Napoleonic Battlefields in Portugal, Spain, France and Belgium. These trips are a chance to study military history while looking at the ground over which these battles were fought, but these trips also essentially act as a massive staff away day, with a couple of hundred officers taking part. These offer a great chance to have in-depth conversations in a very different setting to a lecture theatre.
What advice would you give to your past self when you were at Bloxham?
Make the most of the wide range of opportunities at the School, follow your passions and who knows where it may take you. If you are determined to make it work, you can get to where you want to be.
I did lots of different things at Bloxham and we always laughed that I was sometimes literally running to get changed from one set of kit into a different one for another activity and would wave to my younger brother Greg (LS/Eg 04-11).
Outside of the classroom, I played cricket in the 1st XI, was the first pupil RFU qualified rugby referee at the School, refereeing twelve school matches, including a famous 3rd XV encounter against Warwick where Bloxham lost by two points, much to the awkward disappointment of lots of my year group who I was refereeing. I was in the CCF, a Peer Listener and a Chapel Prefect, amongst various other things. I would say these opportunities are one of the things that makes Bloxham so special; that everyone can pursue their own interests and is encouraged to do so many different things.
Describe Bloxham in three words
Welcoming, friendly, encouraging.
What are your hopes and aims for the future?
I hope to continue my career in academia, in particular with King’s College London, and am looking forward to publishing my first book in the near future.
William leading a Battlefield Tour at Monte Cassino on the 80th Anniversary in 2024
William playing cricket for the OBs 2016 (kneeling, second from left)
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