Who was St George?
the College of St George was established in Windsor, when there were 6 Chorister boys and since then, St George's school has played an important role in the daily worship and on State Occasions in the Queen's Free Chapel of St George in Windsor Castle. By providing free education and sustenance for the boys,
a priceless musical inheritance in choral worship has been established and their numbers increased until the Plague
struck in 1479 when the numbers were reduced from thirteen to six again; they recovered however and were back up to
thirteen by Michaelmas in 1482. The choristers pray daily for the the life of King Edward III and the Most Noble Order of the Garter, under his stall in the Chapel above which is the knight's sword, helmet and crest. These services used to be held at St. Georgestide which was also in April.
There is a wonderful cookery book of mediaeval recipes produced for the benefit of St. George's School, which can be
purchased in Windsor. In the ancient City of Salisbury there has been a pageant of St. George held every year, whose
origins can be traced back to the 13th Century. It was in the year 1415 AD that St. George became the Patron Saint of England when English Soldiers under Henry V won the battle of Agincourt. In 1497 in the reign of Henry VIII, the pennant of the Cross of St. George was flown by John Cabot when he sailed to Newfoundland and it was also flown by Sir Francis Drake and Sir Walter Raleigh. In 1620 it was the flag that was flown by the Mayflower when the Pilgrim Fathers arrived in Plymouth Massachusetts. It is also the flag of the Church of England and as such is known throughout Christendom. In the year 1728 AD Maximilian II Emanuel, the Elector of Bavaria, established by Papal Bull The Royal Military Order of St George, as a means of honouring distinguished military service. By this time, his name had become associated with the purity of spirit, selfless devotion to duty and boundless courage and valour in the face of adversity. In more recent times, he was chosen as the patron saint of Scouting, because of the ideals that he represents.
It is interesting to note that he is also the Patron Saint of Barcelona in Catalonia, Aragon, Russia, Bavaria, Beirut,
Czechoslovakia, Portugal, Lithuania and Hungary, to name but a few. Virtually every country in Europe and the
Commonwealth has a church dedicated to St. George.
It was during the last war that King George V1 established the George Cross for outstanding acts of Civilian Valour
and one of the earliest recipients was the Island of Malta, for its outstanding courage in~ the face of the constant
bombardment by the Italian and German Airforce. It is, coincidentally, the Island that was so closely associated
and governed by the Crusaders who arrived from the Island of Rhodes in the 14" Century, following their 200 year [next page]