Michael Stuart Page
Many people have helped me with this profile. Taking Michael's life chronologically, thanks to Kirsty Farrow at St Thomas's Church, Southborough; to Sarah Earl of Hilden Oaks Preparatory School and Nursery; to Marlborough College but especially Grainne Lenehan; and to Tonbridge School, especially Beverley Matthews. Thanks for permission to use photos to Mark Hickman of the Pegasus Archive (click here) and to Paul Pariso, a contributor to the WW2 Talk forum. Above all thanks to Susan Barker, Michael's surviving daughter for the information she supplied.
Michael Stuart Page died on 20th September 1944 on the fourth day of the nine-day Battle of Arnhem. He was an officer in the British Army, specifically Major in charge of the HQ Company of 156 Battalion, The Parachute Regiment. Not that, by that stage of the battle, there was a company or even a battalion left to be in command of.
To capture a bridge over the Rhine, the 1st Airborne Division had landed by parachute and glider to the west of Arnhem planning to march into the town against what was assumed to be light opposition (at worst). The opposition was extremely strong and responded quickly, so instead of the whole division (around 10,000 troops) reaching Arnhem, one battalion reached the bridge (less than one-tenth of that number). The reasons why are many and debated but outside the scope of this blog.
Much of the fighting was on the western suburbs of Arnhem, in Oosterbeek and the area of sandy heathland and light woods to the north and west. The red circle on the map above shows where Michael was killed, emphasising how far from their objective his brigade was. The bridge held by the British battalion for several days is now called John Frostbrug after the commander there, and is in the bottom right corner of the map.
While the rest of the battalion parachuted in on the second day, Monday 18th September, Michael had been sent in advance so that a senior officer of the battalion knew the situation when the others landed. They tried to advance into Arnhem on the 18th but the landing had been delayed by poor weather for four hours and then the advance ran into German positions, so the plan was to attack early on the 19th. When they did so, they found the German defenders extremely capable and British casualties were very high. Michael's role in charge of Headquarters Company would not normally have seen him in the front line, but the heavy casualties taken led him to taking command of a group of troops and attacking again. This would have been terrifying to you or I, involving leaving safety in holes in the ground or behind trees and advancing towards the Germans through light woodland with the enemy difficult to see let alone fight as they aimed machine gun bursts from concealed positions.
This photo is approximately the site given in John O'Reilly's book, "From Delhi to Arnhem". Michael and his men would have been attacking from the left and managed to push the Germans out the trees to the left of the road across to the right. But the Germans were using half-tracked vehicles to fire down the line of the road.
The battalion had to retreat and was in danger of being surrounded. Sensing this, men began to hurry and there was a danger of a free-for-all run starting when all order would have been lost. Realising something had to be done, Michael stopped with his arms outstretched and shouted, "I will shoot any man who runs past me!" It had the necessary effect.
Later on the 19th and during the 20th, the survivors of the battalion moved south to join the rest of the division. Fighting most of the way, they reached a position in the woods called (by the British) The Hollow, a shallow crater offering some limited cover (see below).
The 150 survivors took up defensive positions, virtually surrounded by German troops, and held out all day but with half their number being killed or wounded.
Michael was one of the very few surviving officers and was moving calmly among the troops, encouraging them. He was coaching them on how to spot smoke when a German gun was fired, to aim at it, but never to fire from the same place twice. Then he took the rifle from a soldier and moved into his position to shoot, when he was in turn shot in the head by a German and died instantly.
An aerial view of the position of The Hollow today (photos are property of Paul Pariso from the WW2 Talk forum).
Michael was born on 5th August 1912 at The Vicarage of St Thomas's Church in Southborough, Kent.
I have not been able to find a photo, but note the building in the background to the left of the church in a very early photo shown below - could this be the vicarage?
His father was Meaburn Staniland Page, a 'clerk in holy orders', who worked at Tonbridge School; he was also curate (assistant to the vicar) at St Thomas's from 1909 to 1912. He had married Marjorie Susan Stuart Darroch the previous year; her father was the Vicar, Charles Darroch, so Michael was born in his grandparents' house.
The 1921 Census records Meaburn and his family at 38 Dry Hill Park Road, Tonbridge. The Census entry was a long one: apart from Marjorie there were four children, Marjorie's parents, and four servants (one with her young son).
Maeburn was a school master at Tonbridge School, a job he seems to have had all of his working life.
Number 38 in September 2024, clearly a substantial property.
The following year, Michael's brother Geoffrey became ill with influenza, which lasted for several weeks. On April 6th 1922, he died, aged 8.
Michael may have been educated at Yardley Court, a local school for pupils aged 7 to 13. In September 1926 when aged 14 he went to Marlborough College. He was in B3 House where the housemaster W Pitts-Brown to 1930, then EGH Kempson. He was an MC Foundation Scholar (which was a scholarship for children of Church of England Clergymen), a prefect and he played for the College's Rugby XV in 1928 (when he was only 16 so would have been against boys two years older), in 1929 and in 1930 when he was the captain.
Reports of his rugby play survive:
1928 season
‘M.S. Page (forward), B.3. – A very promising player indeed. His packing and dribbling are very good ; and the assistance he gave in the front row to the hooker was extremely useful. He is apt to lose his head when he is in possession of the ball, and must improve his tackling. A fair place kick.’
[ref The Marlburian, vol LXIV, no 893, February 13 1929, p9]
Sixteen-year old Michael is on the right end of the back row.
1929 season
‘M.S. Page (forward) – A cheery front row forward. He led the forwards with great success. Gives great assistance to the hooker and breaks up so quickly that he can often tackle the fly-half. A fine-dribbler and a safe tackler. A miraculous place-kick.’
[ref The Marlburian, vol LXV, no 901, February 13 1930, p6]
Michael is sitting on the right of the boy with the ball (his eyes half-closed!)
1930 season
‘M.S. Page (forward) – A heavy forward, not fast, but with a good knowledge of the game. Was not playing most of the term, up to his previous year’s standard, partly owing to his preoccupation with Scholarship work, partly owing to leading. As a leader he allowed nothing to escape his eye, whether in the loose or tight, and as a captain was most conscientious. Towards the end of the season his own play considerably improved and his place-kicking was always a great asset to his side.’
[ref The Marlburian, vol LXVI, no 910, February 1931, p4]
Sadly, no photos of the 1930 team are known to have survived.
He left Marlborough in July 1931 and then went to Christ's College, Cambridge, presumably to read mathematics.
He married Isobel Jocelyn Stevenson, on 16 July, 1938 in Chelsea (Borough of Kensington, London). He was aged 26 and she was 22; I think she may have been known as Jocelyn. Her father was a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the Indian Army (and one time pupil at Bedford School), and lived at Farthings, Rivacre Road, Hooton by Ellesmere Port.
Around this time Michael started teaching mathematics at Glasgow Academy and bought a house at 59 Mosshead Road, Bearsden. The 1940 Valuation Roll shows his neighbour at 91 Hawthorn Avenue was Nathaniel Clapton, renting the house, and also a teacher.
Nathaniel was the senior maths teacher at Glasgow Academy, with Michael in his department. (Nathaniel left Glasgow in the summer of 1940 to take up a headmaster post in Warrington, see this link for a precis of his career.)
Michael and Isobel had two children, Gillian born in 1940 and Susan, born the following year.
Michael had also been active in the Territorial Army. Following the start of the Second World War, he joined the Black Watch and was posted to India. This part of Michael's career is still unclear.
By 1942 he had transferred to the Parachute Regiment, joining a battalion formed from volunteers in exiting British army units, number 156. This unit trained in India and was then brought back to the Mediterranean in October 1942 as part of 4th Parachute Brigade. "Discipline within the brigade was a severe problem at this time, and it was rare for weekly orders to appear without notification of a court martial. Accused soldiers were usually given a custodial sentence and then returned to their original unit [i.e. dismissed from the Parachute Regiment]. Captain Michael Page of the 156 Battalion seemed to be the defending officer in most cases, and was frequently successful." (from Truesdale "Steel Wall at Arnhem).
As the Allied forces invaded Italy in September 1943, there was a plan for airborne forces to land (by ship!) at Taranto in the south-east heel of Italy, seize the naval base, and advance up the east coast. Italy surrendered the day before but German forces in Italy were still fighting. Michael was mentioned in despatches, which would be for one or more pieces of outstanding conduct that (for whatever reason) did not qualify for a medal. Sadly no documents seem to have survived to say what this was for.
Map showing the airborne troops seaborne invasion on the right of the map.
The unit then returned to the UK and was held in readiness through most of 1944, frustrated to miss out on the airborne element of D-Day (the other British Airborne Division, the 6th, was chosen) and then to have many planned operations cancelled between June and September.
I have outlined the story of Michael at Arnhem (such as we know it) at the start of this post. Michael features as a character in Geoffrey Powell's memoir of the battle, published as "Men at Arnhem" and using fictional names - Michael is David Unwin and is Powell's best friend; indeed, Michael had been best man at his wedding. I would commend the book to anyone interested as a very readable, powerful and honest account. Yet frustratingly it has very little to say about David/Michael. Early mentions record that Powell "could talk about anything with him" and refer to his "bulky figure". When they briefly meet, Powell says, "Impassive and self-contained, David's solid bulk towered over the men around him. He seemed untouched by the horrors of the day."
Michael was buried along with the other dead of The Hollow in a mass grave, recorded as being 30 yards into the woods. I infer from this they were most likely buried by the Germans (or Dutch) after the area was captured; the term 'mass grave' may imply a trench grave with the bodies being placed in side by side. When the war finished, bodies were reburied in a CWGC cemetery on 23rd October 1945; at the time Michael's body was unidentified, but someone must have deduced his name and rank.
See Michael's name added in red ink in the final row.
Can you help?
To post this profile in time for the 80th anniversary, I have had to leave more gaps than usual. I've mentioned some of these in the text but others include:
Are there more photos of him?
Why did he choose Glasgow (and Bearsden) as a place to work?
Did he read mathematics at Cambridge and what else is known about his time there?
He was obviously a brave soldier, mentioned in dispatches twice - is there a way to find out what acts led to these recommendations?
At which church was he married to Jocelyn?
What became of his wife and children after 1944?
Footnote 1: Meaburn, Michael's father
Meaburn obtained his degree from University of London. He was an assistant master at various prep schools but in 1907 we can definitely place him at Southborough:
Kent and Sussex Courier 27 September 1907
He joined the staff at Tonbridge School in 1910, and was married the following year:
An account of Michael's parents' marriage in The Queen, a weekly society magazine.
Just before World War One started, Meaburn was made a Second Lieutenant in the Territorial Force of the army:
It's unclear whether he served in the First World War; genealogists beware, there is another man of the same name also born in Lincolnshire who served in the infantry and was killed in 1918. It seems unlikely because in 1917 he became Housemaster of Day Boys A, a role he held for two years. However, in 1920 he was promoted to major and was in charge of the school's officer training corps (OTC) from 1920 to 1924.
As recorded above 'Pagger' lived at Dry Hill Park Road in the early 1920s, and parties of boys visited the family home. One recorded: "An hour in a summer evening at his house in Dry Hill Park Road could be nerve-wracking, for he kept bees, and in all innocence, I think, he would lead his pupils down the hill and into the fields for a stroll amongst them. As a result of his being a smallholder, however, [we] enjoyed ... a supply of eggs that satisfied all but the greediest!"
He became Housemaster at Parkside in 1924, a role he held for twenty years. "He had a wife, Marjorie, who at once endeared herself to the House, and continued to do so to all who followed us. Between the two of them, and their family of Mike, Tony and Pam, they created an atmosphere of happiness which was felt by boys, Old Boys and parents alike, It is not surprising that he was asked to marry [i.e. officiate at the ceremony] of so many of them, and to christen their children.
Pagger regarded each boy in the house as his personal friend, to be guided and helped, unobtrusively, to the limit of his ability. Many who went persistently wrong still retained his affection and his hopes for them, and few indeed can have failed him in the end. [I'm reminded of Michael defending men on a court martial in Egypt.] If a boy suffered, perhaps because of the death of a parent, he would set off in his Riley for the boy's home , to give what comfort and help he could. His first blue Riley was for some years a rival to a brown one bought at the same time by H.R. Stokoe. Neither drove fast, but we would have backed Pagger in a race.
His jaunty, almost cocky figure, walking down the hill from Parkside to the School, showed his forthright character. He was better able than most to give his honest opinion when he disagreed, yet every boy knew that his hardest comment was a considered one and well-deserved. It is a long time since he left the school [written in 1958], and Marjorie died after a few years of retirement, but to me and to the others who were fortunate enough to be under him, their kindliness and friendliness will remain a cherished memory."
Michael's mother, Marjorie, can be a little overshadowed in the historical record by her husband, so I am delighted the School supplied me with a tribute to her on her death in 1950. This says that to boys who were at Parkside "she will always be remembered as the ideal housemaster's wife, of the ideal housemaster. She had real care and thoughtfulness for every single member of the house, from the youngest novi upwards, and this, with her unfailing kindness and sense-of-humour, made the house a real home to all its members. It was something to look forward to to escape for an hour on a Sunday evening from the rigours of the novi study to sit by the drawing-room fire to listen to Dracula, and later on be invited to dinner and to play rummy until late in the evening. Plenty of small boys arrived at the house as mother's wrecks but grew up sturdy and self-confident, and this was due not a little to her care and influence."
Another tribute referred to "his generosity and kindly common sense" and posed the rhetorical question, "How many mathematical lame dogs have been helped over their stile by Mr Page in his thirty-four years it is bootless to speculate."
He retired with Marjorie to Tinkers Bridge, Ticehurst, Sussex, and their son Michael is also recorded on a war memorial in that community.
Footnote 2: the Page's servants in 1921
I was interested to know what happened to the servants listed as living in the Pages' house in 1921.
Ada Alice Butler 38 from Clapham Junction and son, Henry James, aged 7. Born Ada Alice Thomas on 7th November 1882, Married Garnet Henry Butler (three years her junior and a servant in Gloucestershire) on 10 August 1912. The couple lived at 114 London Road, Southborough and Garnet must have been in the Territorial Army or had joined up because as a private in 2nd Battalion of the Grenadier Guards he was killed in France only six weeks into the war. Their only child, Henry James Butler was born in 1913 and lived until 1994; in the 1939 he is an 'automobile electrician and mechanic'; Ada was working as a cook. She died in 1971.
Victoria Kirkpatrick, aged 29 from Bournemouth. Probably Victoria Augusta Kirkpatrick, born 3rd February 1892. In the 1939 Register she was working as a state registered nurse in Southborough. She died in 1987.
Olive Standen 22 from Tonbridge. Born 13th August 1898. Married Charles Edward Wren in 1925, one son Edwin Humphrey 1930-2006. In 1939 they lived in Camberwell, her husband was a messenger in the civil service - this was someone entrusted with delivering confidential documents such as to a British embassy overseas. She died in 1991.
Annie May Taylor, 17 from Penshurst. Born 25th April 1904. married Roy Warren in 1929. Lived in Lambeth, Roy was a foreman plumber. Died 1984. Son Allan John Warren 1930-2004.
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