Tribute to Anthony Harcourt

TRIBUTE

Anthony Harcourt

Tony was a qualified osteopath and acupuncturist, having graduated from the British College of Naturopathy and Osteopathy in Hampstead in 1970. His interest in acupuncture commenced when he worked at the Tyringham Clinic, set up by Sidney Rose-Neil, one of the early pioneers of acupuncture in the UK. Tony was inspired by Mr Cecil Chen to study acupuncture, realising his dream in 1981 when he travelled to China, attending the Zhongshan Medical College in Huangzhou.

Prior to this he had a year out and worked his passage to South America. From there he hitch-hiked through Mexico and into California, then headed up to Seattle and joined a fishing fleet which took him to the Aleutian Islands off Alaska. On his return he worked at Enton Hall in Surrey where he met Jean, whom he married in 1977. He moved to the Dundee area, where he worked until 1979, then joined Clifford Davies in Wotton-under-Edge working two days a week in his practice and setting up another practice in Bath. In 1994 he started his own practice near his home in Chipping Sodbury until his retirement in 2019.

The love of his life, other than wife Jean, was history. He was a doyen of Hawkesbury Historical Society, sometimes known as the ‘Hystericals’. He loved being part of a similarly minded group, greatly enjoying the monthly history evenings in Hawkesbury Village Hall. Medieval re-enactment was his forte and he was never happier than when chatting to the public about the battle of Agincourt, and with Jean he attended the 500th anniversary in France.

He had a passion for archery and woodworking at which he excelled. He was not only a longbowman, which requires considerable strength, but brilliantly made his own arrows – the ancient art of ‘fletching’ – which took him all over Britain and abroad. He regularly participated in the Jane Austen Festival in Bath, dressed as a sailor (Austen’s brother ended up an admiral), and helped the Long John Silver Trust with its activities, either on The Matthew or at Blaise Castle.

Tony discovered timber framing when he came across the Silk Wood Barn project at Westonbirt Arboretum in the 1990s, a community project run by Carpenter Oak and Woodland in Wiltshire. In 2002 he began working voluntarily every Wednesday and became known as ‘Tony Wednesday’. He was hugely popular for his quiet, dry humour, great strength and enthusiasm for the craft. In 2018 he joined the Charpentiers sans Frontières on the Château d’Harcourt bridge project where he spent many happy hours hewing. He introduced the group to traditional fletching, one of his major pursuits, and spectacularly defeated the French in the archery to reclaim his ancestral seat! He was, in fact, distantly related to French and Russian aristocracy. He enjoyed walking in the Gloucestershire countryside, finding a seat somewhere along the way, and often picked up some wood to be taken home and used.

I knew Tony because we’d both been to the same boarding school, King Edward’s in Witley, Surrey (KESW). It was more a boarding school than a public school since it was founded in 1553, along with Christ’s Hospital, by Edward VI to educate children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Many of the children there were paid for by their local councils or were on a bursary so the school was a real mix of different social backgrounds. Tony had, like many there, a difficult childhood. His father died when he was quite young and his mother struggled in 1950s Britain to find work but managed to get him into KESW on a scholarship basis. Tony excelled there in swimming and woodwork. His mother worked in nearby health hydro Enton Hall, and this was where he was inspired to take up osteopathy as a career.

Tony was several years my senior so wouldn’t have mixed with a mere minnow like myself at school. However, I caught sight of his name badge at a BAcC conference and recognised him as a fellow survivor of KESW. We attended some of the same lectures and sat together at the Saturday night banquet. Like me, he was very reluctant to dance so we had very interesting talks about acupuncture, osteopathy, KESW and much else besides.

A fellow Old Witlean provided this anecdote. Whilst cutting wood on a plot of woodland he was managing, a very posh lady passed by with her dog and asked Tony what he was doing. After a little explanation the lady commented on Tony's faithful hound – a long-haired, gingery sort of cross between a Jack Russell and a Lurcher – and enquired as to its breed. Tony’s quick response was, ‘He's a Stroud Otterhound!’ There’s no such thing… but the lady replied, ‘Oh yes, I've heard of those!’

He leaves his wife Jean and many grateful patients, former school friends and colleagues.

Marek Urbanowicz Member: East Sussex