A High School Family and the Great War

At the start of November, the School unveiled an intimate, personal exhibition outlining the impact of the Great War on FP Daniel Stalker, and his family. His great-niece Morag Stalker, also an FP of the School, kindly provided the fascinating material for this exhibition.

Daniel Stalker was born on 14 December 1890 in Dundee and was the second child, and eldest son, of Alexander and Jean Stalker. He attended the High School of Dundee from the mid-1890s until 1908 and, in his final year, he was Dux of the School as well as Dux in Mathematics and Classics. Come1913,DanielhadgraduatedfromtheUniversityofEdinburgh having completed his MA with a First Class Honours. Shortly after the outbreak of war in 1914, Daniel applied to serve in the British Army and received a Second Lieutenant’s commission in the Royal Field Artillery. Serving on the Western Front in France from 1915 onwards, including at the Battle of Loos, Daniel returned to the UK on leave in November 1917 and again in March 1918, by which time his wife Gladys Pettyfer, whom he married in April 1917, was expecting their first child, Mary. Sadly, less than two weeks after returning from leave in March 1918, and two days before his first wedding anniversary, Daniel died from wounds received whilst tending to his men who were wounded during an artillery attack near Gentelles, Amiens, in Northern France. He is buried in St. Pierre Cemetery in Amiens and is remembered in two ornate stained glass windows in what is now Dundee West Church, and also in St Helen’s Church in Hangleton, where he and Gladys were married.

Alexander (Dan’s father) with Daniel & James

Lieutenant Daniel Stalker

During the war, most correspondence was done via letter. Many letters were sent to Gladys and Daniel’s parents following his tragic death, including Daniel’s comrades on the front lines. He was described by Major Sutherland, Daniel’s Commanding Officer, in a letter to Gladys as being ‘one of the best of officers, efficient & resourceful & a true comrade & friend to all. We all miss him so much…’. Daniel’s former teacher at the High School, Mr. J. B. Meiklejohn, wrote an emotional letter to Daniel’s father describing how ‘the passage of time has not blunted the edges of my sorrow. Not a day passes without helpless regret forcing itself onto my mind… I regret Dan’s untimely death within my own soul’. Despite the sorrow of losing Daniel so young, life somehow went on. Gladys remarried in December 1922 to James Hant. They had one son, Ian, who is still alive today. In the 1960s, Gladys moved to Ireland to live with her daughter Mary, breeding Pekinese dogs, before returning to England in the 1970s. She first went to Sussex, where she met Daniel’s great-niece, Morag, and then to Gloucestershire to live with Ian. She passed away in 1988. Mary went on to breed horses, working in Newmarket in Ireland and also in France. She never married and died in Cambridge in 1998. Like Daniel, the rest of the Stalker family very much contributed to the war effort in their own ways. Two of Daniel’s brothers, James and Ken, both served in the RAMC (Royal Army Medical Corps), his younger sister Elsie trained as a Nurse and was awarded the BRCS Medal for War Service for those who had served in the UK and his youngest brother Philip joined the RAF in 1918. Daniel’s uncle, George Miller, also served on the front lines and James’ wife Jeannette treated returning wounded soldiers in both Dundee and Edinburgh. Speaking to Daniel’s great-niece, Morag Stalker, she has said how ‘wonderful it was to see all the items on display. It was a privilege to be able to share the material with the School and I hope people enjoyed the Exhibition’.