Remembered with pride: Shrewsbury headmaster reveals Old Salopian's habit that identified him on Everest

And the headmaster at Shrewsbury School says 1920s mountaineer Sandy Irvine learned a 'sensible habit' at the school that helped to identify him 100 years after he disappeared.

Mr Irvine's boot was found close to the summit with a sock inside which revealed the owner's identity

Leo Winkley, the independent school's headmaster, said: "Touchingly, the boot found near the summit of Everest contained his sock with a neatly sewed school name tape: A. C. Irvine.

"A sensible habit learned at Shrewsbury has helped identify him a century later.”

Mr Winkley said the school is 'very proud' of Mr Irvine's achievements.

He said: “The discovery of Sandy Irvine’s remains on Everest exactly 100 years on from his disappearance close to the summit is a very significant moment.

"Not only does it bring some closure for his family and relatives but the find could unlock one of the greatest mysteries of mountaineering.

"We are proud of Old Salopian Sandy Irvine as a model of adventure, courage and service that lives on in the current life of Shrewsbury School a century on. "

Mr Irvine was a pupil at Shrewsbury before moving on to study at Oxford University and then found his way onto the Everest team lead by George Mallory.

"It is said that Mallory chose Irvine as his partner for the summit attempt because he was extremely fit, very loyal and the most skilled in operating the oxygen tanks. "

The discovery may also help to answer the question whether they made it to the summit decades before before Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing officially conquered the world's highest peak.

The school held a special event earlier this year which asked those very questions questions.

Mallory and Irvine disappeared somewhere high on the mountain’s north east ridge, having been sighted only a few hundred metres from the summit. In the 100 years since their ill-fated 1924 expedition there has been speculation over whether they could have made it.

Proof that they did would sensationally rewrite history. Mallory's body was discovered in 1999, but Irvine – who was carrying a camera which could provide photographic evidence that the pair conquered Everest – remained missing.

Then, in September, a National Geographic team below the north face of Everest came across an old-style climbing boot, with the foot inside, which was melting out of the ice.

One of the team, Jimmy Chin, examined the sock. It had a label stitched into it reading "A C Irvine."

The team immediately recognised the significance.

“We were all literally running in circles dropping F-bombs,” he said.

The discovery may point to Irvine's body, and perhaps the camera, being nearby.

"It certainly reduces the search area."

It was Irvine who had been carrying the Kodak Vest Pocket Camera, thought to have been on a cord around his neck. Photographic experts believe that the dry, freezing conditions may have preserved the film, meaning it could be successfully developed, revealing the answer to one of the mountain's most enduring secrets.

Birkenhead-born Irvine was a pupil at Shrewsbury School from 1916 to 1921, where he was head of Severn Hill house.

The school has various archives associated with this illustrious Old Salopian and his story remains an inspiration to pupils to push themselves. He is commemorated in a number of ways, including a plaque in the chapel.

A keen all-round sportsman, Irvine particularly excelled at rowing and athletics. His prodigious ability as a rower made him a star of the 1919 "Peace Regatta" at Henley.

It was not until May 29, 1953, that Everest was officially conquered.

Whether or not Old Salopian Irvine made it to the summit 100 years ago, Shrewsbury School has a longstanding history of former pupils climbing Everest.

Sir Robert Charles Evans, an Old Salopian, was deputy leader of the 1953 expedition and made it within 300m of the summit. Dr Adam Booth was the most recent ex-pupil to conquer Everest, on May 12, 2013.