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The John McClelland memorial plaque in the cloisters - January 2006
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Photogallery
Photos by Ailish Byrne
Seventy-two years after it was erected, a memorial plaque to Prince of Wales School pupil, John Frederick Purcell McClelland, can
still be found in the temple or rotunda midway along the west cloister wall of the quad.
Our interest in the plaque began in August 2005 when Angus McDonald (Hawke 1934-37), who attended school under the headmastership of
Captain Bertram Nicholson, wrote to say that “In my time there was one boy, McClelland by
name, who was a prefect and thought much of by Capt. Nick. McClelland was attacked by Rheumatic Fever (I think) and died.
I never saw a man so upset as was Nick. He had a bronze plaque in his memory attached to the wall in the cloisters. I
wonder if it remains? It is such a pity that Capt. Nick and his wife were childless.”
(Angus was referring to John Frederick Purcell McClelland who entered the school in 1933. John’s younger brother, W.R.D. McClelland,
entered the school in 1936 and was later killed in action with the E.A.L.B. in Somaliland on 15 August 1940.)
In response to Angus McDonald’s query about the John McClelland memorial plaque, Webmaster Steve Le Feuvre (Clive 1970-75)
asked his good friends and contemporaries in Clive House, James Ilako and Abed Malik, to check things out at the old
school and see if the plaque still exists. So, James (who was over in Kenya from his home in New York visiting his family
for Christmas and New Year) and Nairobi-based Abed, chose a beautiful day in early January 2006 to visit the school and came
away with photos proving that the memorial plaque is still displayed in its prime vantage point in the cloisters.
James Ilako and Abed Malik with the memorial plaque
Photo showing the position of the memorial plaque in the cloisters
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