Of the 103 Old Bordenians whose names are now commemorated on the School's war memorials, the most recent casualty is Michael John Simpson. After having left Borden in 1972, he briefly served in the ranks of the Royal Engineers before being selected for officer training at Sandhurst. Commissioned into the Staffordshire Regiment, he was soon posted to Northern Ireland: 'The Troubles' were then at their height and while leading foot patrol in Londonderry, Michael was shot by an IRA gunman on 3 October 1974. He died as a result of his injuries three weeks later, aged only twenty-one, and was posthumously mentioned in despatches for the gallantry he had shown during his final patrol.
As part of his on-going research into the lives of all those Old Boys whose names are recorded on the School's war memorials, Marc Stewart (BGS 97-04) is now collating information relating to Michael Simpson. Unlike the School's casualties from the two world wars, relatively little information is publicly available about Michael. His place of burial, for example, is unknown - and hasn't even been recorded by the Staffordshire Regimental Association - and it has so far proved impossible to track down his family. If members therefore have any memories of Michael that they would be willing to share, especially relating to his schooldays and funeral (which is believed to have been attended by a number of Old Boys), Marc would be grateful if they could contact him via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .