Douglas William McMichael was an Oundle boy from birth, and is the only one of the fallen to be counted as being a pupil at both Laxton and Oundle Schools. His name appears on the Laxton memorial plaque in the Long Room and on the stone plaques in the Oundle School Chapel. He was at Laxton School throughout his school career, but in the Sixth Form, because of his academic prowess, he was allowed to attend lessons at Oundle School. There is no record of him as an official Oundle School day boy or of him being a boarder, though some sources made the mistake of claiming that he transferred to Laxton House in 1910.
In 1912, he won a scholarship in Natural Science to Clare College, Cambridge. He rowed for his college in 1913 and 1914, but left at the outbreak of war to join the Public Schools Battalion. Later he was gazetted as Second Lieutenant in the Bedfordshire Regiment. He survived the Battle of Loos in the autumn of 1915, but died near Ypres on April 20th 1916 of wounds received the day before when his regiment had been on the receiving end of a day long barrage from the Germans.
Promoted to the rank of Lieutenant shortly before, Douglas McMichael was laid to rest in Essex Farm Cemetery north of Ypres where fellow Oundelian, Eric Yarrow was also buried. On his gravestone are inscribed the words ‘We grudge not our life if it give larger life unto them that live’. Douglas McMichael was just 23 years old at the time of his death.
His Colonel wrote: ‘He was one of the best officers I have come across – always cool, confident and self-reliant, and absolutely devoid of fear. I had intended to give him command of the next vacant company. He was a great favourite with all ranks, and leaves a gap which cannot be filled.’
C Pendrill
Yarrow Fellow