Almost immediately after his mother's death Lewis was sent off to England to a succession of schools, first to Wynyard, which proved an intolerable place run by a tyrannical staff, then to Campbell College and to Cherbourg. He never quite forgave his father for this harsh and abrupt severing of the family at a time when it was needed most, and their relationship would remain strained forever after. He matriculated at Malvern College in 1913 where he began to master both Latin and Greek. However, the most significant educational experience of his youth began when he withdrew from school altogether in 1914 and entered under the tutelage of his father's former headmaster, William Kirkpatrick--"the Great Knock" as he was affectionately called. Kirkpatrick was a brilliant and demanding teacher, perfectly suited to the task of preparing Lewis for the Oxford entrance examinations. Lewis had already demonstrated that he was a prodigy; he read broadly and thought deeply. This time with Kirkpatrick he was later to refer to as "those blessed days."
In 1917 Lewis matriculated at University College, Oxford, but after but a single term there he was called to the war front. On 15 April 1918 he was wounded at the Battle of Arras in France and convalesced for several months after.
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