A SCHOOL is holding a service to commemorate its 119 former pupils who died in the First World War.

Durham School is holding two services to mark the centenary of the armistice.

On Remembrance Sunday there will be a service in the school’s chapel, which was built as a war memorial in 1926. Pupils will hold photographs of the 119 Old Dunelmians who died.

Another service takes place on Friday, November 9, when senior pupils and members of staff will lay wreaths in memory of those who died in both world wars.

An address will be given by Andrew Beales, who will talk about the 536 former pupils who fought in the war, the Belgian refugees the school took in, and those who lived to build the peace after the conflict ended.

When the school opened its chapel, it knew of 98 men who had died during the conflict but thanks to research by school archivist John Malden and development director Andrew Beales, a further 21 names have been added including 16 former pupils of Durham School’s prep school, Bow, which was a separate school at the time.

Of the 119 men who died, three were rugby internationals - Charles Young Adamson, Arthur James Dingle and Alfred Frederick Maynard while two, Noel Hodgson and Nowell Oxland, were war poets.

One of the youngest to die was Private George Hulley, an apprentice organ builder with Harrison and Harrison, who helped to build the organ at St Margaret’s Church, Durham.

He was only just 18 when he joined up in February 1917, and died eight months later on October 11, near Passchendaele.

Headteacher Kieran McLaughlin said: “The traditional Friday evening service is always a moving and meaningful moment for the whole school community, which has the chapel - and all it represents - at its heart.

"One hundred years since the Armistice, we wanted to do something visual to mark the landmark anniversary. The collection of photographs of those who died will be an incredibly poignant addition to our commemorations.”