Empire and Harrow’s “Epic of War:” British Officers and Imperial Culture in the First World War

In the middle of the Great War, General Horace Smith-Dorrien, an Old Harrovian, published Harrow’s Epic of War, a short book which explained “how the school on the hill covered itself with glory.” The Great War has long been connected with public school boys, especially in its British literary tradition. Harrow is a school especially deserving of the association. Nearly 3000 Harrovians served in the military during the First World War and over 600 were killed. In the first years of the war, many of Harrow’s fallen had fought before, in the Boer War, other African campaigns, or in India. This chapter explores the links between Harrow and empire in primary sources from the war, especially The Harrovian, a paper for current students and alumni with contributions from both. Such an exploration can help establish the relationship between the ideal of the imperial soldier, so well described in Edward Berenson’s Heroes of Empire, and the ways that British men interpreted and experienced soldiering in the Great War. The prior imperial service of so many officers surely shaped their understanding of the First World War. With its tradition of military service and its wartime publications, Harrow provides the perfect location to begin exploring these connections. These findings will help us comprehend the ways in which empire framed the wartime experience and the extent to which British soldiers were consciously participating in imperial culture.