FABIAN S WOODLEY
Fabian Strachan Woodley (Resident 1938-1953)
Fabian S Woodley was born in 1888 in Bristol. He went to Cheltenham College and then University College, Oxford where he was awarded a B.A. in 1910.
In 1914 he joined the Royal Munster Fusiliers and became a Captain. He was awarded the Military Cross in 1916 for 'Conspicuous gallantry during operations. By his skill and determination he beat off three counter-attacks of the enemy, who were endeavouring to reach his trench. Four days later he led his men in two attacks with great pluck’.
In 1917, Fabian married Ida Leonora Lees, born 1892 in Bristol. They were divorced in 1922.
Fabian was a member of the Uranium poetry movement, and had 'A Crown of Friendship', a book of his poetry, published in 1921.
Before and after the war, he worked in journalism, particularly with his father on the Somerset County Gazette. In 1921 he embarked on a career in teaching with a role as Assistant Master at Wellington School, Somerset. He moved to be Senior English Master at Peter Symond's School in Winchester in 1924.
Fabian moved to Down Cottage in 1938 and lived there until 1953. In 1939 he is shown as living there with his man servant, Albert E Pearson.
Fabian died in 1957, in Winchester. In his will he left £500 to St. Peter's Church, Winchester 'for the good of the poor of the parish'.
He is buried at Madalen Hill Cemetery, Winchester, plot Q87. The inscription on the grave is now largely illegible, but according to the HGS MI records it says:
In Loving Memory of Fabian Strachan WOODLEY _ _ 1957 aged 69.
For further information and his poems see https://ganymedes.webs.com/.
