Biography:
Norman Ayris (13/10/1891) Howson’s 1905 – 08 Norman Ayris died aged 24 on 31 December 1916 at Armentiéres. He was born at Rockland St. Mary, Norwich, the youngest son of civil engineer Henry Crowquill Ayris and Fanny Hotblack. The family is registered in Willesden in the 1891 Census, and by 1901, nine-year-old Norman is a boarder in a prep. School in Kirkley, Lowestoft. Gresham’s register records that Norman attended Suffield Park School in Cromer prior to registering here in January of 1905, when D. Hotblack of Norwich is given as his guardian. A comment by a fellow OG following his death hints at the ’insurmountable family difficulties’ Norman was faced with in childhood, and it is perhaps telling that his father was recorded as being single in the US Federal Census of 1900 in New Jersey, and that probate was granted to a Mary Forrester Ayris. Despite his early troubles, Norman fared well at Gresham’s, doing particularly well at sport. He had success at athletics, steeplechase and swimming, and played both hockey and rugby for the School, being praised as “a much-improved forward, especially conspicuous at the touchline” in the latter. He returned to play in an OG rugby match in 1912, and in the following year was playing for the Eastern Counties. Norman also did well in the OTC, being in the first twelve in a musketry course in 1906, and soon representing the School in national competitions. In 1908 the magazine reports proudly that, “the straight shooting of N. Ayris at Bisley is emblematic of his upright and loyal character and conduct”. He made an acting debut as Audrey in the 1906 production of As You Like it, won a prize for English in the following year, and ended his Gresham’s career as a School Prefect. Leaving Gresham’s in the Summer of 1908, Norman goes on to study engineering at London University, and attends a London OG Club dinner in 1909. By 1912 he is an Associate of the Institute of Civil Engineers and articled to the Southend Water Works. He receives his commission in the Royal Engineers in 1914 and is promoted to Lieutenant in June of 1915. A fellow officer, Captain Dewing, gave an account of Norman’s final hours with 98th Company, spent doing dangerous, but necessary, work in which he took great interest, recalling that he asked to go out on the night of 31 December to finish a job and was struck by one of the first bullets in the ensuing fire. He described Norman’s death as ‘almost instantaneous’, but remembered him as always being full of life and energy, earning the devotion of his men. An OG wrote of Norman’s optimism and determination, and claimed, “He was without a trace of selfishness, and by his cheery manner did much to encourage others. He was a man of unimpeachable record and was beloved by all who knew him." Norman Ayris is buried in the New Military Cemetery at Chapelle-d’Armentiéres.