A bronze memorial at Treloar's in Holybourne honours 122 boys with haemophilia given infected blood at the school. The Inquiry says around 30 survive.

A memorial to the boys with haemophilia who were infected with HIV and hepatitis at Treloar’s school was unveiled on Saturday 26 September. It stands at the school’s entrance in Holybourne, on the north-east edge of Alton. That is about 11 miles north of Petersfield.

The memorial is a bronze statue of two boys on a stone plinth. It sits in a landscaped garden with seating and accessible paths, according to Treloar’s. Sir Brian Langstaff, who chaired the Infected Blood Inquiry, unveiled it.

It remembers 122 pupils. The Inquiry’s final report says only around 30 of them survive.

Why there is a memorial at Treloar’s

Treloar’s took boys with haemophilia from 1953, and by the 1970s it had around 50 boarding with the condition. That history is set out on the memorial’s own website. An NHS haemophilia centre at the school treated them with factor VIII, a clotting product made from pooled donor plasma. Much of it was imported from the United States.

The Infected Blood Inquiry published its final report on 20 May 2024. Its chapter on Treloar’s found that:

  • research was carried out at the school “to an extent which appears unparalleled elsewhere”
  • pupils “were often regarded as objects for research” rather than children whose treatment should serve their own best interests
  • the risks of viral infection were well known to the clinicians but were not explained to parents or pupils
  • pupils were tested for HIV without their knowledge or their parents’ consent
  • some pupils and parents were never told by Treloar’s that a test was positive, which the report called “unconscionable”
  • probably about 70% of the pupils with haemophilia who attended the school died as a result of their infection

The memorial website says 87 of the 122 boys were infected with HIV, and that 90 former pupils have now died. Those figures are the memorial committee’s own and are more recent than the Inquiry’s 2024 estimate.

Bronze plaque on the memorial reading: Remembering 122 haemophiliac pupils of Treloar's. Infected as children. Victims of unethical research. This disaster was not an accident, Sir Brian Langstaff, 20.05.24. Sculptor: Tom Murphy 2026.
The plaque quotes the words Sir Brian Langstaff used on the day his report was published. Photo: via the Treloar's Memorial website.

Who made it and who paid

The sculptor is Tom Murphy, whose earlier work includes the Hillsborough memorial. The memorial website says the statue took two years from commission to completion. It was cast by Bronzecast.

The Inquiry recommended “a memorial be established at public expense, dedicated specifically to the children infected at Treloar’s school”, agreed with former pupils. Treloar’s says it is the first of the four national memorials the report recommended.

Former pupils led the project. The school’s chief executive, Martin Ingram, said Treloar’s had “provided land, logistical and financial support”. Neither the school nor the memorial committee has published the cost or how the rest was funded.

“The bronze sculpture provides a fitting and lasting tribute to the young people whose lives were so tragically impacted by infected blood products,” Mr Ingram said.

What it means for you

  • If you want to visit, the memorial is at the entrance to Treloar’s, Powell Drive, Holybourne, Alton GU34 4GL. The school describes it as a public memorial but has not published visiting times, so check with Treloar’s before a special trip.
  • If you or your family were affected by infected blood and have not yet claimed, the Infected Blood Compensation Authority is on 0141 726 2397 or ibca.org.uk. By 25 August 2026 it had paid 3,512 people just over £2.25 billion, according to its latest update.
  • If you want to understand what happened, the Inquiry’s Treloar’s chapter is volume 2 of the report, and the memorial website tells the story in the former pupils’ own words.

Sources