Floreat 2015 - Obituary Supplement

The Cheltonian Association & Society

FLOREAT 15 O B I T U A RY S U P P L E M E N T

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Lt. Col. John Grahame Allardyce MA R.E. (DB, 1935) John Allardyce, father of G.J. Allardyce (H, 1974), died on the 5th July 2014, aged 96.

John excelled at Mathematics at College and was a winner of the Abbott Maths Prize. From an early age, he had a love for all things mechanical and his ambition was to become a Royal Engineer, and this, by way of an engineering degree from Christ College, Cambridge, and officer training at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, is what he became.

Shortly after receiving his commission, the Second World War broke out and he saw his first service in Orkney. As a young subaltern of twenty-two, he was commissioned with setting charges on the airstrip at Stromness so it could be blown up if necessary. From this visit he developed a lifelong love for Orkney.

In 1940, he was sent to Northern France with the 1st Army. Prior to leaving for France, he was billeted in a hotel in Farnborough where he met his future wife, Effie (they married in 1942), who was staying there with her family, who were seeing her brother off to war.

John was then sent to North Africa, where he landed in Algiers, before joining up with Montgomery’s 8th Army in Tunisia. In the course of the fighting in Tunisia, he oversaw the building of the first operational Bailey bridge. He fought through North Africa with the 8th Army and then crossed to Sicily and onto the Italian mainland. He was involved in the largely forgotten Battle of the Sangro in the heel of Italy, where they endured a winter of extreme conditions reminiscent of the WW1 trenches. The following two years were spent slowly heading north through Italy, where he crossed the Rubicon - by way of a pontoon bridge he had built and finally on into Austria where the war for him ended.

During the course of the Italian campaign, he was awarded a Bronze Star from the US military, a rare honour for a nonAmerican, for repairing a stretch of exposed road in daylight conditions with no air support while being shelled and fired upon.

In this action he lost a couple of trucks and several of his men. He was also Mentioned in Dispatches, twice.

After the war, he remained in the Army and had postings in Britain and abroad in Gibraltar and Malaya. Later he was assigned to NATO and was posted to France. Back in Britain, he subsequently worked at the War Office (now the MoD), and finally retired from the Army in 1966.

John then worked for the International Standards Organisation (ISO) in Geneva as director of the Technical Deptartment. For many years he spoke more French than English. While at ISO, one of the world standards he was instrumental in establishing, was for the now ubiquitous shipping container or “one of my containers” as he liked to call them. His job involved attending conferences regularly and he travelled to Russia, Tokyo and Ankara.

In 1979, he retired to Nairn. He and his wife enjoyed travelling with trips to France, where they had a house in Provence, Italy, the Yemen, the USA to name but a few, and later by himself, after his wife’s death, he travelled regularly to France to visit his daughter.

Understandably reticent to talk about his years in the war, he in time overcame this and the family began to hear of his experiences. In recent years he also retraced his wartime steps in Italy and Tunisia with family members. Very moving trips for all concerned and an incredible one-off History lesson for the party.

One funny story he told of his time in Italy, was when his company came upon a Cinzano factory. One of their tanker trucks was 1.

driven in, relieved of its water and filled with Cinzano. This tanker was labelled as “drinking water” for the next few weeks! His old army sweater had a bullet hole through a fold by his stomach.

Where many would have framed it to celebrate such a close shave, he had it darned up and continued using it! This wartime mentality extended into his value system and he hated to see the wastefulness of our disposable culture.

Although an engineer by trade, he was well versed in the arts, and was particularly fond of opera that he learned about and grew to love in Italy, was well read - in French as well as English. Last year, he took on Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables in French as his summer reading.

John was a very practical man who, in his Heath Robinson kind of way, could keep just about any piece of machinery going indefinitely. In his eighties, he treated himself to an old Fergie tractor, and like a kid with a new toy, he could often be spotted early in the morning on his back underneath with a set of spanners.

A keen gardener, he created an incredible vegetable garden that anyone would be proud of. He was also a keen beekeeper with many 1st prizes for his honey at the Nairn Show over the years.

John was predeceased by his wife, Effie, and is survived by his daughters Elspeth, Fiona, sons Kenneth, Gavin, seven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

Michael Andrew-Jones (JS, 1941 & Xt, 1946) Michael Andrew-Jones died on the 25th January 2014, aged 85. On leaving College he did his National Service. After a hard slog in the ranks at Barnard Castle in the great snow of 1947, he was commissioned later that year into the 17th/21st Lancers as a Second Lieutenant. He spent most of his very enjoyable time with them in Palestine, during the resettlement period in that, even then, dangerous country. His brother, who was in the RNVR during the war, knows of no great operation in which Michael was involved, but he apparently kept clear of major knocks or bruises until going up to Clare College, Cambridge, two years later.

Michael followed his father into a career in Architecture, which subsequently led to another long-running period of service as Hon. Sec. to the Royal Institute of British Architects’ Golfing Society (RIBAGS), a role he still held at the time of his death.

He maintained a strong and constant link to College through a long-standing dedication to the OC Golfing Society. OCGS President, Robert Macleod-Smith, writes: ‘Michael has been a friend and huge contributor to OC golf for as long as any of us can remember. He told me he was simultaneously elected Captain and Secretary in 1979 and remained Secretary until 2005. At some stage a long time ago he also became Treasurer which he handed over only a short time ago. He was an ever present supporter at the Halford Hewitt, Mellin Salver and Grafton Morrish as well as numerous OC golf meetings and matches. He carried out his Secretary and Treasurer duties with great commitment and efficiency and his careful stewardship ensured the OCGS has remained financially healthy.

He combined his work on our behalf with a wry sense of humour, especially in dealing with some notoriously unpredictable and unreliable OCGS members! He had a fund of stories of OC matches lost and won in extraordinary circumstances and he especially enjoyed recalling the eccentricities of OC golfers from ages past. Since giving up playing himself he could invariably be found in the bar or halfway house with a glass in his hand when not out on the course supporting the OC team. At home, he

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continued to use Moor Park Golf Club as his local to meet up with his many friends.’

Michael was unmarried, and is survived by his brother David and nephew Gareth.

Major Peter Clarence Bird (NH, 1940) Peter Bird, son of Lt-Gen. Clarence Bird RE (S, 1902), died on the 30th December 2013, aged 90. He was born in India and went to Fonthill Preparatory School in East Grinstead before coming to College. He was always destined for a military career in the Royal Engineers. He served in the Army until 1973, in India and elsewhere, rising to the rank of Major. After that he worked in London as a Training Officer with Edward Nuttall Ltd, civil engineering contractors. One of his great interests was in environmental design, construction and management, and he was Chief Executive of the Landscape Institute from 1976-1987.

He also had a great interest in politics and public affairs and during his retirement in Sevenoaks he worked for the Democracy Movement. He greatly enjoyed music, especially singing, and was a member of a choir almost everywhere he lived and latterly a member of the Sevenoaks Philharmonic Chorus. He was also a strong supporter of the Stage Community Arts Centre Theatre in Sevenoaks. Throughout his life he was committed to the principle of service. He is survived by his wife Mollie and their sons Christopher (NH, 1987), Philip (NH, 1968) and daughter Alison and their families.

Michael Templeton Brett (NH & DB, 1941) Michael Brett, son of Cyril Brett (NH, 1905), brother of Brig. John Brett (NH, 1936), uncle of Adrian Brett (NH, 1965) and Christopher Brett (NH, 1967), died on the 22nd March 2014, aged 89.

Sir Nicholas Walker Browne KBE CMG (H, 1965) Sir Nicholas Browne, son of E.G.W. Browne CBE (H, 1934), brother of R.E.B.W. Browne (H, 1958), G.R.W. Browne (H, 1961), and J.W. Browne (H, 1970), died on the 13th January 2014, aged 66. Bill Simpson (College staff 1965 - 92) reports that: “As a newly appointed Head of History in September 1965, it was my good fortune to have Nicholas in the Oxbridge Upper Sixth. He was a delightful, hardworking and friendly pupil who helped me through my first term and showed all the qualities that made him such a successful diplomat.” Nicholas won an open scholarship to University College, Oxford, where he read History and captained the College rugby team (he played in the 1965 College 2nd XV) - despite being 6ft 2in tall, he proved a deft hooker, able to get the ball back from seemingly impossible positions. He joined the Foreign Office immediately after graduating.

Nicholas made his mark as a diplomat in the difficult arena of Iran, where he served twice as Chargé d’affaires, then as Ambassador (from 1999 to 2002); he was also the author of a highly influential internal report investigating why Britain had failed to anticipate the fall of the Shah in 1979.

When the Shah was toppled by supporters of the 77-year-old Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in January 1979, Western governments were taken by surprise, and the then Foreign Secretary, David Owen, commissioned a Foreign and Commonwealth Office report on British policy towards Iran in the years leading up to the revolution. How, he wanted to know, had

Britain failed to predict the event; and might a different policy have saved the regime? The task was given to the then 33-year-old Nicholas, who had served in the Tehran embassy for four years in the early 1970s and was now on loan to the Cabinet Office.

He spent the next year preparing his 90-page report, which was labelled “secret and confidential” and only released 30 years later.

Nicholas did not pull his punches as he described the “failure” of the British embassy in Tehran: “The conclusion that the embassy drew from their analysis [of the Shah’s position] consistently proved to be too optimistic.” It had “overstated the personal popularity of the Shah... knew too little about the activities of Khomeini’s followers... saw no need to report on the financial activities of leading Iranians... [and] failed to foresee that the pace of events would become so fast”. He also singled out for criticism Sir Anthony Parsons, Ambassador to Iran from 1974 to 1979, saying that he had been woefully uninformed: he did not know that the Shah was terminally ill with cancer, and had not sufficiently pursued contacts with opposition groups (in particular, supporters of Khomeini). Consequently he had “underestimated the attractions of [Khomeini’s] simple and consistent message that the Shah must be overthrown”. Parsons later accepted that he had been at fault.

It is possible that the embassy had been inhibited by Britain’s reputation for interference in Iranian affairs - a reputation which Nicholas acknowledged in his report. It dated back to at least 1953, when Iran’s elected Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh was overthrown in a coup in which many Iranians suspected the American and British intelligence services of having been involved.

In the course of his work, Nicholas trawled through thousands of diplomatic cables, and concluded that British policy in Iran had been anything but sophisticated - according to one diplomat who read the report: “More often than not, the sense you get is that it was the Shah who was running rings round the British, not the other way round.” More to the point, however, was Nicholas’ suggestion that British policy in the 1970s had been driven by economic problems which encouraged export sales – particularly arms – to the Iranians. So anxious was London to court the Shah that diplomats showed him the draft of a ministerial answer in the House of Commons on torture in Iran “in case he should object to it”. It was, Nicholas said, only four months before the Shah fell and fled into exile that Parsons spoke to him frankly about the political dangers he faced. Nicholas observed: “By then, most of the damage had been done.”

His report has proved highly influential, and has been studied by a generation of diplomats posted to the Middle East. They are now expected to extend their contacts beyond the elites to include both the wider society and opposition movements, and to be aware of the dangers in allowing potential arms exports to drive policy at the expense of crucial political judgements.

Nicholas’ experience of Iran had begun with his posting as Third Secretary in Tehran from 1971 to 1974. He would return there in 1989, nearly a decade after submitting his report. His arrival, however, coincided with the furore over Salman Rushdie’s novel The Satanic Verses (1988), which provoked angry protests across the Islamic world. Ayatollah Khomeini was quoted as offering a $1 million reward to anyone who killed Rushdie - the reward to be tripled if the killer was Iranian - and in February 1989 thousands of demonstrators gathered to throw stones at the British Embassy.

Nicholas was in place for only five weeks before Tehran broke off diplomatic relations, and ties between the two countries were restored only in October the following year, by which time Nicholas was beginning a four-year posting as Counsellor (Press and Public Affairs) in Washington, and head of British Information Services in New York.

Nicholas was appointed Chargé d’affaires in Tehran in 1997, after 2.

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a spell as head of the Middle East Department in London. By now steeped in the history and culture of Iran, he formed a good relationship with Khatami, who once remarked that Browne spoke Persian “like a nightingale”. Two years later, following the New York agreement between Robin Cook and the Iranian Foreign Minister, Kamal Kharrazi, which resolved the Salman Rushdie issue, diplomatic relations were upgraded and Nicholas became Ambassador. He trod a difficult path with characteristic aplomb, having to deal in the year 2000 with Iranian accusations that Britain was harbouring an anti-regime terrorist group, while for their part the British raised concerns about Iran’s human rights record and its uncompromising attitude to Israel.

There were also complaints by the Iranians about what they saw as unflattering comments in the British press about Ayatollah Khomeini - comments for which Nicholas expressed his regret.

But there were also areas of progress: Iran agreed to disavow the fatwa against Salman Rushdie; the Foreign Minister, Kamal Kharazi, visited Britain; and the two countries signed an agreement on limiting drug trafficking. After 9/11 Nicholas was instrumental in forging a serious dialogue with Iran over Afghanistan, the high point of Western/Iranian cooperation.

Nicholas’ exit from Tehran after four years, however, saw a revival of old tensions. His chosen successor, David (now Sir David) Reddaway, was rejected by the Iranians, who claimed that he was a “spy”. The Foreign Office refused to budge, and there was a stand-off of several months before London appointed Sir Richard Dalton, formerly Ambassador in Libya. By now Nicholas was suffering from the early stages of Parkinson’s disease. He spent a year as Senior Director (Civil) at the Royal College of Defence Studies, and ended his career as Ambassador to Denmark (2003–06). He was appointed CMG in 1999 and KBE in 2002.

Throughout his career Nicholas was noted for the succinctness of his dispatches. He was also popular with his colleagues, who relished his keen wit, sense of humour and love of parties. Among his other postings, he served as First Secretary and Head of Chancery in Salisbury (now Harare) in 1980–81, and, from 1984 to 1989, as First Secretary (Environment) at the British Embassy to the EU in Brussels.

He is survived by his wife of forty four years, Lady Diana, whom he met at Oxford, their sons Jeremy, Arthur and daughters Jasmine and Abigail.

Pamela Cadbury (Past Parent, Member of College Council, 1999-2008) Pam Cadbury, mother of Charles Cadbury (S, 1998), Tim Cadbury (S, 2000), Douglas Cadbury (Xt, 2003), Tor Cadbury (A, 2005), James Bull (Xt, 2006), Nicholas Bull (S, 2008) and Philippa Bull (JS, 2006), passed away on 7th November, aged 62.

Pam was born in Canada in 1952, one of four daughters of Sir Robert Hunt, who became chairman of the Dowty Group. On the family’s return to Cheltenham, where Pam subsequently lived for most of her life, the family moved to Charlton Park Gate, which at the time backed onto the Reeves playing fields.

Every year, the Hunt family holidayed at Rock, in North Cornwall.

Their house was within a stone’s throw of the Cadburys’ holiday home and from Pam’s early years the holidays of the two families were intertwined. It wasn’t long before, as teenagers, Bruce Cadbury and Pam starting seeing one another. They were to marry in 1972 when Pam was 20 years old.

After attending Airthrie School and New Court School in Cheltenham, Pam boarded at Malvern Girls’ College from 196470. She went to university in Manchester in 1970, moving to 3.

London in 1973. Pam joined the leading accountancy firm Deloitte, qualifying as a Chartered Accountant in 1976.

Pam was one of the very few women in the firm but this did not intimidate her. When the male partners invited the women to leave at the end of dinner, she would remain and drink whisky and smoke with them! In the early 1980s Pam left Deloitte, shortly before giving birth to son Charlie, and she and Bruce moved back to Cheltenham where she became a significant figure in the business community. For many years, Pam ran her own accounting practice in Cheltenham, before becoming a partner at Hazlewoods in the town.

Whilst at Deloitte, Pam had met fellow graduate Michael Bull. They formed a lifelong friendship, becoming godparents to each other’s children. In 1988, Pam and Bruce Cadbury divorced, and after a period bringing up four children by herself, Pam and Michael decided to set up home together in Cheltenham in 2001. They bought a hotel, Lawn House, near College on the London Road, to accommodate their large family of seven children. Pam loved nothing more than being on the touchline, going to Chapel or catching up on the College gossip over coffee. She also became a matriarch to an extended number of College pupils who used to stay at ‘Chateau Cadbury/Bull’ on the weekends. She always made her children’s friends feel welcome; especially when they missed their own families.

In 2003, Pam went into business with Michael, setting up BPC Partners, now a well-established accountancy practice in Leckhampton. Michael said: “She treated our staff and clients like family as well. It has been nice that many of our current clients are the children of people we’ve advised in the past.”

In addition to her service on Cheltenham College Council, Pam had a child at Cheltenham College or the Junior for 21 consecutive years. And so, it was very fitting that Pam’s funeral service was held in Chapel, the attendance of over five hundred testament to the respect she had in the wider Cheltenham community.

Pam was a member of the College Council from 1999-2008 and was Chairman of the Financial & General Purpose Committee.

She was also a Governor of Malvern Girls’ School from 1988-96, Governor and then Chairman of Governors of Berkhampstead School 1993-95, and a Founding Governor of Finton House School where she served from 1987-95. Additionally, Pam was a member of the Development Board of the University of Gloucestershire from 1998-2002. She also assisted the Prince’s Youth Trust as a mentor to small businesses seeking funds and later became a Board Member of the Gloucestershire Group.

Pam was taken ill with leukaemia in 2010 but recovered after receiving a bone marrow transplant. Unfortunately the disease returned in July 2014 and Pam died peacefully at home, surrounded by her family. She is survived by her husband Michael, children Charles, Tim, Doug, Tor, step-children James, Nicholas and Philippa, and grandsons George and Pierce. Pam also remained exceptionally close to her children’s grandmother, Anne Cadbury (Member of Council from 1969 to 1996).

Pam’s son Tim said “We can’t say how grateful we are that someone went through the pain to donate bone marrow, giving us all another 4 years with our mum. It would be very fitting if even just one person who reads this is able to sign-up to help someone else through the Anthony Nolan Register at www.anthonynolan.org.”

Robin Capon (Past Junior School Staff, 1965-69) Robin Capon died on the 17th November 2013, aged 71. He studied at the University of London Goldsmiths’ College School of Art and Brighton College of Art. At

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Goldsmiths’ he won the David Murray Travelling Scholarship for landscape painting from the Royal Academy, the Adrian Ryan Landscape Prize, and exhibited with the Young Contemporaries.

After College he enjoyed a successful career in teaching for 23 years, having been recruited for his first job by the then HM of the JS, W.P.C. Davies. Phil Davies has written in to say: “He was a great success, very practical in his teaching technique, suiting the 10-13 year age range that he taught and keeping up a strong and in those days unusual tradition for art involvement in a Prep School.

He taught with quiet industry and dedication, undaunted by each new challenge. We got on well and I was sad that he left but was pleased at his promotion.” Robin left the JS in 1969 to become Head of Art at Wellingborough School. He was there for four years before he left to join Maidstone Grammar School for Boys, where he spent the remainder of his teaching career.

In 1988, he gave up teaching to concentrate on his freelance work. This initially included painting, examining work for two examining boards and tutoring for the National Extension College, as well as writing. But it wasn’t long before he was able to focus exclusively on journalism and writing books. Over the last 25 years he wrote for a variety of publications, although he is best known for his monthly features in The Artist magazine (written under the pseudonym of Oliver Lange) and Leisure Painter magazine. He also wrote occasional features for Dorset magazine. His work included reviews, information features and articles on technique, with his specialism being interview features on the work and working methods of well-known contemporary artists. Additionally he wrote 36 books. Robin’s family are immensely proud of his professional achievements and the respect in which he was held in his field.

Robin is survived by his wife of 49 years, Patricia, their son Simon, daughters Rachel, Sarah and Amanda-Jane.

John Victor Peacock Cresswell (Ch, 1936) John Victor Peacock Cresswell died on the 24th November 2013, aged 94. On leaving College, he returned to his native Ireland to read Law at Trinity College, Dublin, and on graduating went on to study at the King’s Inns. He then practised, first as a Barrister and then as a Solicitor as Law Agent of the Royal Bank of Ireland until he retired in 1982.

John was a very talented actor, performing many lead roles in several amateur dramatic societies. He had a wonderful stage presence and a thrilling voice. His voice was also well known in his local parish church, where he was a regular reader of scripture and poetry. He had the ability to bring readings to glowing life and enthral his listeners. He was jokingly known in the parish as ‘the Voice of God.’ John loved all God’s creatures from tiny bugs to giant leviathans.

He and his wife, Aideen, campaigned to stop whaling and other abuses of wildlife. This led to the adoption of a vegetarian diet which John enjoyed for more than 40 years. He was a passionate environmentalist, and hated all waste and destruction. He was an active member of An Taisce, The National Trust for Ireland, and other conservation groups.

In his younger days he was a very accomplished oarsman (a skill that he learned at College) and rowed for Trinity many times, earning a Pink (similar to an Oxford or Cambridge Blue). He was also a keen yachtsman, as was Aideen, and they honeymooned together in her Howth 17 Footer (a tiny, beautiful racing topsail keelboat that looks like a toy yacht), sailing from Dunlaoghaire to Dunmore East, where bad weather stopped play.

John loved literature and was very widely read. His knowledge of Shakespeare would put many a scholar to shame. He was a

charming and brilliant conversationalist, jewelling his discourse with esoteric references and quotes from all sorts of sources. This in a lesser man might seem pretentious or boring, but John also had a sparkling sense of humour and an ability to laugh heartily at himself. All of this, which flowed so naturally from him, made him the most wonderful company, and he was beloved in his wide circle of friends. He was a member of the Royal Irish Yacht Club, the Kildare St and University Club and a little known but ancient club called the Peripatetic Society, of which he was the Honorary Secretary for many years, keeping marvellously whimsical and cleverly written minutes in his inimitable angular hand.

John served for a time as the secretary of the Irish branch of the Cheltonian Society. He was a very proud Old Cheltonian, and always spoke with great affection of his time at College.

He was predeceased by Aideen, his wife of 67 years. His passing has left the world a poorer place and he will be sorely missed by all who knew him, especially his nephews and nieces.

Peter Thomas Currie (Xt, 1941) Peter Currie, son of T.C. Currie (Former staff (1906-41)), died on the 5th February 2014, aged 91. He was born in Christowe, where his father was Housemaster from 1917-1930. Peter was Head of House in his last year and played in the hockey XI. The end of season report in the 1941 Cheltonian reported: “Currie started in uncertain fashion, but became the outstanding forward. Frequently turned the most promising positions to advantage by his resources and trust.” He was also a member of the winning House Pots team.

On leaving College, Peter went up to Oxford as an exhibitioner to read French at Trinity College. He was of that generation whose university education was interrupted by the war, during which he joined the army and served in Italy. Oxford provided Peter with a life-long interest in French Literature. College hockey, cricket, squash, golf (his mother, Mabel, was a distinguished golfer) and fives were all important parts of his Oxford life, along with concerts, theatre and the Bach Choir. Peter won a half blue for athletics, a blue for hockey, and captained the Oxford hockey side In 1946, he married Hazel Lauder who had been stationed at Boars Hill as a member of the Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD).

In 1947, the year he played hockey for Scotland, Peter took up a temporary teaching appointment in Sherborne, Dorset, where he remained an active member of that community for nearly seven decades. He was a much respected, inspiring and dedicated teacher, as evidenced by the number of former pupils who became friends and continued to visit him into his old age. Further testimony to his lasting effect as a schoolmaster is offered by the throng of his former pupils, as well as family and friends, who came together in Sherborne Abbey on 16th May 2014 to celebrate and give thanks for his life and who attended later that day the 50th Anniversary Dinner to celebrate his founding of a pioneering school house, The Digby.

When he retired from The Digby, he took responsibility for running the School’s golf and served on the committee of the Old Shirburnian Golfing Society (OSGS). In 1985, he was pleased to play as an Old Cheltonian against Sherborne for the Mellin trophy.

In the deciding match he and his partner fought back to all square on the 18th. From the 19th tee, according to the Society’s record, “Currie played a four-wood of truly Ballesteros quality, soaring over the trees and finishing five yards from the pin.” Cheltenham won, and there is now an annual Old Cheltonian match against the OSGS for the Peter Currie Plate.

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Peter was a man of wide interests and much enthusiasm.

Former pupils have described him as a great schoolmaster, great company, a great listener and raconteur, a connoisseur and a polymath. He was noted for his courtesy, wise counsel and generosity and was much loved by a wide circle of friends and by his family.

Until he lost consciousness, Peter was delighting in his surroundings and literally counting his blessings. He died as he had lived – gracefully, graciously and with calm acceptance. Peter was predeceased by his wife Hazel in 2001 and is survived by his daughter Judy and son Mark, children-in-law, five grand-children and a growing number of great-grandchildren.

Charles Dickins (JS, 1950 & L, 1953) Charles Dickins died on the 22nd August 2014, aged 79.

Anthony Melville Donner (NH, 1957) Anthony Donner died on the 29th of March 2011, aged 71, at his home in South Africa, after a long struggle with cancer, fought with courage and great dignity.

After leaving College, he worked for his stepfather on Bunkers Hill Farm (Rothewick, near Basingstoke) and obtained his blockman’s licence. Later he became a cruise courier and travelled around the UK and Spain. He left England in November 1969 and moved to South Africa (Durban). He often told the story of how he decided to leave England – he took a world map and placed it down on a table, closed his eyes and decided that wherever he put his finger, that would be his destination. His finger pointed to Durban, South Africa! He arrived in South Africa in January 1970 and joined a Travel Agency, Musgrove and Watson, in Durban, where he worked for many years. He then left the agency and became a travel broker preparing itineraries for his own clients. Anthony also arranged tour groups and would accompany them on their tours all over the world. He was very meticulous and excelled in his job, was known for his punctuality and perfectionism. He was very outspoken and loved approaching people to start a conversation. This was how he met his wife, Bev! After retiring from the Travel business in 1993, he spent 9 months of every year from May to December in the USA (Texas and Kentucky) working on various farms (to keep busy and to meet people). In January, he would ski in Leadville, Colorado, and would return to his home in South Africa from February to April. In 1997, he sold his home in Durban and stored all of his furniture.

In May 1999, he sent all of his belongings back to England to be stored until he had done enough travelling and work in the USA as he intended to retire in the UK. In April 2000, just before returning to the USA from one of his three month breaks in South Africa, he met Bev who was on holiday with her daughter, Jessica. He returned to South Africa in November 2000 and he and Bev lived in her home in Springs and were married in 2002. They moved to Zimbali Golf Estate, Kwa Zulu Natal, South Africa in 2003.

Needless to say, all of his belongings were returned to South Africa from UK storage.

Anthony loved wildlife and nature, the beach, the ocean, sun tanning, going for long walks on the beach and driving through the Zimbali forest on the golf cart. His favourite pastime was planning holidays. He and Bev enjoyed many memorable holidays in Mauritius, UK, USA, Europe and South Africa (Phinda Game Reserve). His favourite holiday was cruising. They went on numerous cruises out of South Africa to Madagascar, Mauritius and Seychelles as well as various cruises from Southampton to Fjords, Sweden, Iceland and Ireland and Mediterranean cruises 5.

from Southampton to Venice. Their last cruise to the Eastern and Western Caribbean was their most memorable. Despite his failing health, he insisted on taking Bev on the Caribbean cruise he had so carefully planned months before and that she had so looked forward to. Everyone marvelled at how he was able to cope with the 3 week cruise, despite enduring a bout of bronchitis whilst on board the ship and being stuck in the terminal at Heathrow Airport for two days during a snow storm!

Anthony remained active until about two weeks before his death. He is survived by his wife Bev and his stepdaughter Jessica.

Andrew Gordon Elmslie (NH, 1978) Andrew Elmslie, son of K.G. Elmslie (NH, 1941) and brother of I. Elmslie (NH, 1980), died in January 2014, aged 53. It is fitting that he will be remembered at College by the Elmslie Drama Award, established by the Elmslie family, awarded at Speech Day for the most outstanding contribution by a member of Lower College to College Drama.

Dr Felix Henry Gordon-Clark (JS, 1948 & Xt, 1954) Henry Gordon-Clark, brother of M.R. Gordon-Clark (JS, 1946 & Xt, 1951), died in Australia on the 28th April 2014, aged 78. He both admired and liked Harry Boutflower, his Housemaster. He laughed about the fact that Boutflower had allegedly an unexploded shell as a doorstop in his study. In schoolboy legend it became (of course) a German bomb that could have destroyed Christowe! Henry was the OC representative in Melbourne for many years.

Henry was a true gentleman, one who valued friendships in the company of his fellow man. He was a keen golfer, and as a keen Historian he was only too happy to share his considerable insights. His love of History was inspired by his upbringing and his earlier surroundings. His parents’ home in Cirencester had been built 400 years earlier using stones from the Abbey, following Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries. He was proud that his forbears included four County Court Judges and two ViceChancellors of England, and he knew from an early age that he intended to follow his father’s profession as a Solicitor.

On leaving College, he read Law at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where he balanced his studies with other broadening pursuits such as appreciation of music, art and avid support of the College Boat Club. He travelled extensively in the long vacations, absorbing Ancient History in Sicily and Modern History on the American Civil War Battlefields. On graduating in 1957, he moved to London and commenced his Articles with Curry & Co, specialising in Tax & Estate Duty, which he found boring! He subsequently found his niche on transferring to another Law firm, Theodore Goddard, focusing in litigation, passing his final solicitor’s exams in 1960.

He met Jan, an Australian, and on marrying in 1961 they moved to Jan’s home city, Melbourne, where a solicitor’s job awaited him. His focus was always on litigation, sometimes appearing in court; always the gentleman, he regarded his prime duty to be to his clients, and never swerved from the ethical beliefs he had acquired through his upbringing. When he eventually retired in 2002, he had practised continually as a solicitor for 42 years.

Henry was very much a family man and he and Jan were very much involved in the local community. He was Treasurer, then

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Secretary and finally President of the Fathers’ Association of the school where their two sons and two daughters were educated. To Jan’s delight, as she and her theatrical family had occupied virtually every position in Melbourne theatre over three generations, Henry was invited to join the Board of the St Martin’s theatre, subsequently becoming its Chairman. He was heavily involved in Anglican Church affairs in the Diocese of Melbourne, serving on numerous committees and the synod.

Henry was involved in the inception of the Cambridge Society in Melbourne and designed the constitution for the Society’s incorporation in 1995. Over his 20+ years with the Society, he established a niche as a speaker at the monthly luncheons.

In 2004, he pointed out a string of centennials, starting with the 300th anniversary of Marlborough’s Victory at the Battle of Blenheim. So for the next ten years he entertained with talks covering historical events as diverse as the Napoleonic Wars, Wilberforce & the Abolition of Slavery, the American Civil War and, closer to home, the Rum Rebellion. His talks were never dry recitals of historical fact, rather he would look at the events and ask why they occurred, putting a different and refreshing perspective on the stories. He took this approach in the 90s when for his Master’s Thesis he set out to find out why a Royal Pardon had been granted to the poet, and scoundrel, Richard Savage in 1727 following his conviction for murder. He then wrote his Ph.D. Thesis on the American Civil War, about the CSS Shenandoah and commerce trading, a thesis that combined history and law.

Henry then proceeded to turn the thesis into a book, which was published last year, after his death.

Henry’s honesty, humour and generosity of spirit will never be forgotten by those who knew him and he is survived by his wife of 53 years, Jan, their daughters, Helen and Sophia and sons Matthew and Hugh.

Henry Irvine-Fortescue (BH, 1940) Henry Irvine-Fortescue died on the 15th February 2014, aged 91. He was born in Pocklington, Yorkshire, the son of LtCol. Bill Irvine-Fortescue, MC & Bar, who commanded a Sapper regiment in Quetta (then in India), and his vivacious wife Joan, an accomplished athlete. At College, Henry showed his prowess in the sporting arena and played in the cricket XXII for three years. The1939 report on the XI said of him: “A bowler pure and simple. Can make the new ball swing into the batsman, but his arm is not high enough to make him really dangerous and he is inclined to accentuate his pace variations.

Full of promise, if he can raise his arm and improve his run up to the wicket.” He was awarded the Gordon Morse Ball (XXII) in 1939. Henry was also a good athlete and boxer, coming 2nd in the cross-country and 3rd in the mile in the 1939 Sports Day and he won the open light-weight boxing competition which helped his House to win the 1940 House competition. Henry played rugby in the 1939 2nd XV as a flanker and had one game in the unbeaten 1939 XV. The 1939 2nd XV report for the Wrekin match in the Cheltonian said: “Shortly before the end their defence made a mistake and Irvine-Fortesque just managed to score. Lewis converted and we won the game 8-5.” He also played for the Military v Grasshoppers in 1939. All the 1939 games were played at Shrewsbury.

In 1940, he was offered a place at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, but deferred in favour of military service. Henry followed his father into the Indian Army. After nine months at Soas, studying Urdu and Arabic, he was commissioned into the Poona Horse Regiment, an armoured car regiment comprised of Muslim, Sikh and Hindu soldiers. After a spell guarding the Anglo-Persian oil wells, the regiment was redeployed to Northern Persia, where it provided

protection for the American trucks delivering aid to the besieged Muscovites. In 1943 it was re-equipped with tanks and moved to the Mediterranean, taking part in the invasion of Italy. After the war, he transferred to the 5th Royal Tank Regiment (5RTR), rising to the rank of Major and serving in Germany, with UN forces in the Korean War, in Malaya and with Nato in Cyprus.

Army life, with its many opportunities for sport, suited Henry well.

Whilst serving in Germany, he represented the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) in hockey and tennis; he won the BAOR 5,000m race and the ski championship - he first skied at the age of 8.

There was a setback in 1948, however, when during a training run he had to take evasive action to avoid colliding with a lady skier who had lost control. Henry took a bad fall and broke his back, ruling himself out of contention for the Winter Olympic Games held that year at St Moritz. After nine months’ convalescence, he returned to training, and in 1949 tied for first place in the British Ski Championships. In the same year, he proposed to Bridget (Biddy) Awdry, who was in Germany on Foreign Office business, and they married in 1950.

Field Marshal Montgomery took the view that if there were to be a Third World War it would be fought partly in the extreme cold of a Russian winter, and he wanted to improve the British Army’s readiness for winter combat. Watching the Inferno being run in 1949 and 1950, he had been impressed by the way it tested stamina as well as racing technique, and he persuaded the Army to enter a team in 1952. At the same time he presented the race organisers - the Kandahar Club - with the Field Marshal Montgomery Cup, to be awarded to the highest-placed British finisher. The conditions that year were atrocious, and it was impossible to climb on skis to the usual start on the Schilthorn.

The race was therefore run from below the Allmendhubel down to Lauterbrunnen, taking place in a blizzard, bad light and deep powder. The Army contingent included four serving officers who had been selected from the leading performers at the Army Ski Championships held at Bad Gastein 10 days earlier. Henry became the first recipient of the Montgomery Cup presented in its inaugural year by the Field Marshal himself. The Inferno remains the world’s longest — and arguably toughest — downhill race: the course, from the top of the 2,970m Schilthorn to the Lauterbrunnen valley floor is 12km long, has very few gates and includes a vertical descent of 2,000m.

Henry later recalled that the Cup required extensive repair work after being used as a rugger ball at a Mess party, but a reprimand from‘Monty’did no damage to Henry’s skiing career – he was elected to the Kandahar Club’s committee and was still competing in the International Ski Masters races 50 years later.

Henry then won both the British Army and the Inter-Services Ski Championships, and in 1952 he represented Great Britain in the Lowlander Championships. While serving in Cyprus in 1957, he persuaded the Governor, Sir Hugh Foot, to hold an open ski championship in the Troodos Mountains. Henry organised the training, set the courses and won all the races!

Taking early retirement from the Army in 1959, Henry entered the pottery industry, moving with his wife and their three children to Stoke-on-Trent, working first at Spode and then for Wade.

He later had a particularly successful period at Royal Doulton’s hotelware division. The 1960s and 1970s saw falling travel costs and a consequent rise in tourism, encouraging a proliferation of new hotels – potential new customers for Doulton.

As sales director, Henry demonstrated to potential customers the superior durability of his product by smashing a Doulton plate against a German sample while ensuring that his piece survived; the technique proved highly effective in winning new orders.

Perhaps his greatest triumph was wresting from Wedgwood a lucrative British Airways account, with its range for Concorde.

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His wife Biddy died of leukaemia in 1981, and after retiring the following year, he settled in Andorra, where he could enjoy five months of skiing every winter. Visitors to his home were always welcomed. He loved a party, and always had a fire burning and a mischievous twinkle in his eye. In 1985, he heard about a new ski racing organisation, the International Ski Masters, and at the age of 63 he joined and began race training. Representing Great Britain, he competed throughout the Alps as well as in Spain and Andorra. He won the British Masters’ Championship in 1991 and was Catalonia’s veteran champion the following year. He won the Andorran Veteran Championship in 1988 and defended the title successfully until 2006, when declining health obliged him to desist; nevertheless, he continued to give his team his enthusiastic support.

In 2010, to honour his skiing achievements, his family founded a ski club called Team Monty, under which banner his two sons and four grandchildren entered the 2011 Inferno Race. None of them had entered a ski race before, and although all of them fell once, all six finished the course intact.

Henry is survived by his sons Alexander and Ian, daughter Victoria, eleven grandchildren and a great-grandaughter.

Colonel Michael Gordon Douglas Henderson (JS, 1938) Michael Henderson died on the 6th October 2014, aged 89.

Richard Ruegg Kershaw (L, 1952 and College Council (1977-1997)) Richard Kershaw, brother of the late J.S. Kershaw (NH, 1949), died on the 28th April, aged 80. Richard was a very talented all round sportsman and made his mark at College on the playing fields as well as on the stage.

He played in the cricket and hockey XIs in 1951/52 and played on the wing in the XV in 1951. The 1951 Cheltonian report on the match against the OC XV included: “At last a quick round of passing and a cut through by R.R.S. Smith gave R.R. Kershaw a chance to score a good try in the corner.”

Also, in a hockey match against St Edwards, in which they initially struggled to get on top, the report said “Kershaw and Thompson, however, were full of energy and we survived the first half.” and the team went on to win 3-0. He played twice at Lord’s in the Hailebury match, and the XI drew on both occasions. The 1952 Cheltonian cricket report on the Lord’s match included: “When we started our second innings, only two and a half hours remained, including extra time. Though Unwin was soon bowled, neither Thompson nor Kershaw seemed to have much difficulty in staying in, and it was 5.20pm before one slipped underneath Thompson’s bat. Lawrence, though he did give a sharp chance to gully, proved well able to deal with the situation, and it was increasingly likely that he and Kershaw would see the thing through. As six o’clock approached, both Kershaw and Lawrence began to score more freely off the tiring bowling, and when stumps were drawn we felt justified in feeling that we had shown that Haileybury would not have found it easy to dismiss us a second time.”

Richard played the part of Ham in Andre Obey’s Noah, the Speech Day play in 1952. The Cheltonian reported that: “R.R. Kershaw gave a very powerful portrayal of Ham, contrasting his character admirably with that of Noah and consequently gave him valuable support in a difficult part.” He was also part of a jazz group comprising Peter Robarts Arnold (NH, 1952) on the trumpet, Joe Barton (Member of Staff) on the clarinet, Dick Orr (L, 1952) and himself on the banjo. A recording of them playing Perdido Street Blues at College in 1952 was played at his funeral service.

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On leaving College, Richard did National Service in Germany as a Second Lieutenant in the Royal Artillery after which he went on an exhibition to Clare College, Cambridge, to read History. On graduating, he passed the Foreign Office and Civil Service entry examinations, but was denied permission to take up his graduate fellowships at Yale and Virginia; so in 1957, he opted to join the less grand Commonwealth Relations Office (CRO), which allowed him to spend a year at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.

Returning to London, he was assigned to the CRO’s South Africa desk, where he prepared briefs for the British delegation to the United Nations. As Resident Clerk, he was given a huge flat at the Foreign Office overlooking St James’s Park, and put in charge of all FO overnight telegraph traffic as well as Cabinet boxes including those of Lord Home, the Foreign Secretary, for whom he performed numerous duties – ‘some odder than others’, he said.

A year later he was rewarded with a posting to South Africa, but finding himself out of sympathy with British government policy towards that country he resigned, realising that he was not cut out for a bureaucratic career. Instead he joined the Financial Times as a feature writer in Nigel Lawson’s office. A year later Richard moved to The Scotsman as Commonwealth Correspondent, subsequently becoming its Diplomatic Correspondent, a post that offered greater opportunities for travel in the Middle East and Africa.

Awarded the first British Eisenhower Fellowship in 1963, Richard and his first wife, the writer Venetia Murray, spent a year in the United States, starting with a month in Washington, DC, as guests of the Supreme Court judge Felix Frankfurter. Immersing himself in the political and intellectual life of the American capital, he recalled that on his first day at the Frankfurters, they lunched with the economist Jean Monnet, took tea with President Roosevelt’s daughter, Alice Longworth, and dined with President Truman’s Secretary of State, Dean Acheson.

On his return to Britain, Richard took over as editor of Africa Confidential, a private fortnightly newsletter with a tiny circulation which he transformed into the authoritative, influential and profitable publication which it remains. As almost every African Head of State was numbered among his readers, he enjoyed excellent access, which he exploited to the full.

Dodging machetes and machine guns in the Congo might not have been quite what Richard had in mind when he pursued a career in broadcasting. Yet, equipped with a sense of adventure, he took it all in his stride as an itinerant reporter for ITVs This Week. By the time he joined the BBC’s Panorama in the 1960s, where his interviews with world leaders included Colonel Gaddafi, he had seen more wars than most soldiers.

During his ten years on Panorama he reported on the shooting of Martin Luther King Jr, covered the Middle East wars of 1967 and 1973, and was beaten up by the Royal Ulster Constabulary during a peace march in Armagh (he insisted on following up the case and eventually won a judicial judgement which awarded considerable damages to the BBC). He produced a television profile of Bobby Kennedy in 1966 when it was clear that he was intending to succeed his murdered brother as President. Two years later, his film on Ronald Reagan, who was then starting his political career as Governor of California, proved to be ahead of its time when it predicted that Reagan would become the new icon of the Republicans.

After Panorama, he joined Robin Day and Ludovic Kennedy as a presenter on the daily Newsday programme, which later mutated into Newsnight. Among world leaders he interviewed were Col. Gaddafi, Anwar Sadat, Menachem Begin and the Shah of Iran. Richard also conducted one of the few interviews with Ayatollah Khomeini just before his return to Tehran. In 1980, he was surprised to be invited to join Sue Lawley and Frank Bough

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as a presenter on the popular nightly Nationwide programme, a miscellany of news, serious current affairs and lighter items about such British eccentricities as the infamous “skateboarding duck”.

Richard was told that his appointment, insisted on by the BBC’s Board of Management, would change his life, and it did. It raised his public profile to the extent that he was regularly invited to chair conferences and corporate meetings by banks and similar organisations, a sideline that he developed into a profitable business which ensured financial security.

In 1983, Richard left Nationwide to become one of the presenters of The World Tonight on Radio 4. The post left him time to pursue other interests. For 20 years he served on the boards of the Overseas Development Institute and the Minority Rights Group.

He was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and a much valued member of the College Council from 1977-1997.

Richard’s knowledge of international affairs, especially in Africa, helped him to make his name – aided too, doubtless, by his dashing good looks and natural sophistication. A tall, elegant figure with an impressive physique, he would not have looked out of place on a film set and was once dubbed ‘the poor man’s Tony Curtis”. Instead, he was caught on camera walking alongside Heads of State and government leaders across the world. A gentleman television journalist of the old school, he was cultured, learned, and blessed with an extraordinary memory.

Even in his later years he could recall verbatim conversations from earlier decades, and would remind his fellow reporter and former Panorama editor Peter Ibbotson, exactly what his stance had been on, for example, the miners’ strike. His prodigious intellect made him a sharp interviewer.

Richard had a lifelong passion for cricket, playing for the OCs’, Lords’ and Commons’ team and was a Vice-President of the OC Cricket Club. He was also a leading member of the Lords’ Taverners, both as a player and organiser. Loquacious and funny, he always made good company and would often entertain friends at his house in France, north of Dijon. Though suffering in his later years from a rare form of bone marrow cancer he retained an undiminished enthusiasm for life. Even in ailing health he still managed to enjoy the food and atmosphere at the Beefsteak and Hurlingham clubs.

Richard’s first marriage ended in divorce in 1967. In 1994, he married his long-time partner, Jann Parry, a former dance critic of The Observer, who survives him with a daughter, Sophy, a stepson, Rupert, of his first marriage, and his grandchildren.

Michael Reginald Norrie Martin (NH, 1949) Michael Martin, son of the late Commander W.H.N. Martin (NH, 1927), died in the USA on the 9th June 2014.

Brigadier John Humphrey Montagu CBE (EDB, 1937) John Montagu, brother of Rupert Montagu (DB, 1936), father of Alastair Montagu (H, 1966) and Nigel Montagu (H, 1969), and grandfather of Adrian Montagu (H, 2013), died on the 20th of January 2014, aged 94.

John was a College Prefect and Head of House. He played rugby on the wing for the 1937 College XV. The Cheltonian reported that: “Physically almost perfect. Improved both in attack and defence during the season. However, he is still too orthodox and must learn to run straight: lost tries through cutting in instead of running for the corner flag.” He also boxed for College.

Later in life he also boxed for his battalion and army division and

had his nose broken five times. He used to joke that boxing gave him a rugged look and was sad that his sons and grandson did not aspire to be pugilists.

After leaving College, he went to Sandhurst and then joined the Indian Army in 1938. Initially he was posted to the Northwest Frontier but, when war broke out, he was transferred with the 8th Gurkha Rifles to the Eastern front (now Bangladesh) where he saw active service against the Japanese and was twice Mentioned in Dispatches.

Upon Indian independence in 1947, he was reassigned to the Brigade of Gurkhas in the British Army and, after assignments in Germany, UK and Malaysia he was promoted as Lt. Col. to command the 1/10 Princess Mary’s Own Gurkha Rifles from 196063. Later, in 1966 as one of the youngest Brigadiers in the British army, he was in command of the British forces in Kowloon during the Star Ferry riots.

In 1969, John retired from the army and became, firstly, Bursar of Dean Close and, later, Deputy Bursar of St Edward’s School, Cheltenham, where he continued working until he was 75 years old.

John had three great loves – his wife Brettargh, the Gurkhas and his golden Labrador dogs. Sometimes it was difficult to know in which order he considered his loves to be the most important!

He was fanatical at keeping fit and would never drive if he could walk. His long marches with his dogs over the Cotswolds were legendary and he would disappear for hours at a time only to appear exhausted just in time for dinner. Apart from listening to opera he had few hobbies and was happiest when at work in his Bursar’s office. Not only did this keep him gainfully employed and occupied but, more importantly, it kept him out of Brettargh’s way.

A quiet and unassuming man, he was a great supporter of College and extremely proud of his links to the school. He not only gave a considerable sum of money to College upon his death, but was also involved in the College CCF in the 1980s and collating the extensive College medal collection.

He is buried next to Brettargh, his dear wife, at Dowdeswell overlooking Cheltenham, and is survived by his sons Alastair and Nigel.

Christopher Desmond Neame (Xt, 1944) Christopher Neame, son of Sir Thomas Neame MBE (H, 1898), brother of the late Basil Neame (H, 1939) and Geoffrey (Xt, 1941), nephew of Lt. Col. Philip Neame VC, KBE, CB, DSO (H, 1906), died on the 1st August 2013, aged 86. He was awarded the Ian Marsden Chemistry Prize in the Sixth Form and went on to read Natural Sciences at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge. A keen oarsman, he rowed as bow for his College.

On graduating, Chris joined the family farming business in which he worked until 1991. He was involved, at various levels or in the chair, in the National Farmers’ Union; CLA, an organisation for owners of land, property and business in rural England and Wales; RASE, Royal Agricultural Society of England. He was a member of the Kent River Authority and chaired the Kent Land Drainage committee.

Unsurprisingly for a son of British Mezzo-Soprano Astra Desmond and with Australian Mezzo-Soprano Veronica Mansfield as his mother-in-law, Chris enjoyed a life-long passion for music. It was this love of music that precipitated his first meeting with Liz, in the foyer of The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in February 1955, sparking a love that sustained 57 years of happy marriage and a wealth of shared interests and experiences.

Chris is survived by his wife Liz, daughters Rebecca, Antonia, Victoria and sons Geoffrey and Thomas.

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Barbara Jean Nicol MRCVS (Hon OC & College Librarian, 1974-1984) Barbara (Jonty) Nicol, mother of Peter Nicol (JS, 1969 & Th, 1974) and Alasdair Nichol (JS, 1976 & W, 1981) died on the 5th November 2014, aged 88.

Jonty qualified as a veterinary surgeon at Liverpool University (1943-1949) and worked in various private practices in the North of England from then until moving to Gloucestershire where she worked part time until 1974. College had had a very happy association with Jonty as a parent, so she was approached to see if see would consider running the Library. She was both surprised and apprehensive, but the offer had come at a time when a Veterinary commitment was coming to an end, and she was pleased to have another task to consider, something in the nature of a challenge.

Jonty gave College ten very full years and made an indelibly distinctive mark on the Library. The benefits of her administration were very much appreciated and nothing was ever too much trouble for her, and she welcomed every opportunity to extend the services she was prepared to offer. She launched the bookshop, handled the re-siting, and re-ordering of the Supplementary Library, created an efficient ordering and accounting system, enlarged the book-binding service, and undertook a considerable re-organisation of the Library, so that it was easier to use; further, she helped support and sustain the faculty libraries as they grew and needed help and assistance.

Two whole generations of pupils should be grateful for the concern for their academic welfare she showed. Even when they regarded her regime as draconian it was not! She wanted them to learn to use the Library properly, to get the most out of its impressive resources, for which she did so much.

Jonty was predeceased by her husband Sandy, and is survived by her sons, Peter, Alasdsair, daughter Binna and her grandchildren.

James Michael Robinson (BH, 1948) Michael (Mike) Robinson died on the 14th December 2013, aged 83. Mike played in the XV for two years and captained the 1947 side. The 1947 Cheltonian report on the Wellington game said: “For this match College reorganised the XV. Robinson, the captain, taking over the leadership of the forwards, with Proctor taking his place at scrum-half. The move was a great success, Robinson leading his forwards with great dash and enterprise, while Proctor proved an efficient scrum worker.” He kept wicket for the XI for two years and played at Lord’s twice in the Haileybury game.

Mike joined the Royal Engineers shortly after leaving College, and was stationed in various locations including Cyprus and Egypt.

When he left in 1957, at rank of Captain, he worked for a couple of years for the family laundry business in Stoke Mandeville (the Laundry did all services for local hotels, hospitals and the prison!).

In 1957, he joined Buckinghamshire County Council as a Civil Engineer and worked there until retirement in 1992.

Sport, especially cricket, played an important part in Mike’s life.

He played scrum-half for Aylesbury Rugby Club and later was made a life member for his services. He initially played his cricket for Bucks National Association of Local Government Officers, before joining Wendover Cricket Club, where his son Eddie was a member, playing there for twenty years before retiring at the age of 71! He was an extraordinary wicket-keeper who would regularly perform leg-side stumpings (even at the age of 71). He played 9.

hard to win, but always found time to chat to the opposition in the bar afterwards. Mike was always happy to give guidance to young players and was a great supporter of the club. He organised race nights, bridge evenings and even the Fantasy League!

Predeceased by his wife, Mike is survived by his two sons, daughter and grandchildren.

George Frederick Rothwell (Ch, 1935) George Rothwell, son of R.H. Rothwell (Ch, 1877) and brother of R.F. Rothwell (Ch, 32) died on the 17thApril 2004, aged 97.

On leaving College, he became a Stockbroker with Blount & Co on the London Stock Exchange. He was commissioned into the Beds. and Herts. Regiment in 1940 and in the same year he joined the Royal Signals and served in North Africa (1st Army, 19421943) and Italy (8th Army 1944-1945), returning to Blount & Co after the war. On leaving the City in 1964, he worked locally in the Thames Valley before becoming Bursar at Moulsford Preparatory School for 12 years until retirement in 1976.

George was a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Grocers, Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Dyers, serving on the Court of Assistants for 56 years and Prime Warden in 1963-1964.

A keen croquet player, he played to a high standard representing Berkshire & Oxfordshire, as well as England.

He was predeceased by his wife Rosemary and is survived by his sons James, Gerald and daughters Charlotte and Frances.

Sqn. Ldr. John Naunton Rowland DSO, DFC & Bar (BH, 1937) John Rowland, brother of the late David Rowland (BH, 1936) and Nigel Rowland (BH, 1941), died on the 22nd November 2014, just five weeks before his 95th birthday. John excelled at Maths at College and was twice awarded the Abbott Prize for Mathematics.

On leaving College, John, a good mathematician, went to work at the Atlas Insurance Company in London where he started training to be an Actuary in 1938. He became friendly with a colleague at the Atlas who was in the RAF Volunteer Reserve and taking flying lessons. John went along and became completely hooked on flying. He made his first flight with the Volunteer Reserve on 1st October 1938, from Redhill, in a DH60 Moth. He won a Prize Cadetship to the RAF College Cranwell, by coming top in the entrance examination. On the outbreak of the Second World War, his course was cut short and, after graduating as a pilot, he joined No 613 Squadron, which had been formed shortly before the war started. It was still not fully equipped with Lysanders and half of its planes were still elderly Hectors. On 25th May 1940, six Hectors were sent off on a ground strafing operation to relieve the pressure on the garrison of Calais which was blocking the Germans from advancing up the coast towards Dunkirk and encircled by German troops. Three Hectors flew on each side of Calais and created as much of a diversion as they could by dropping bombs and firing their guns at anything they could see.

This was the only occasion on which such obsolete aircraft were used in Europe in WW2.

In September 1940, John started a three year period as a flying instructor before joining No 12 Squadron in June 1943, converting to heavy bombers, at the height of what became known as the ‘Battle of the Ruhr’. On the night of July 25th 1943, an intense campaign was directed against Hamburg. The radar countermeasure ‘window’ (small aluminium strips dropped to confuse enemy radar) was used for the first time and proved very effective in reducing bomber losses. John flew on three of the four raids that devastated the city and the Blohm and Voss shipyard.

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In the middle of August, Bomber Command launched the first phase of the ‘Battle of Berlin’, a campaign that was to be waged with great intensity throughout the winter of 1943-1944. John flew on the first attack on the night of August 23rd 1943, a sortie of almost eight hours.

Throughout the autumn, he attacked other large cities including Nuremburg, Frankfurt and Munich. On October 8th, the target was Hanover. Just before reaching the city, his Lancaster was engaged by a German night fighter and badly damaged. His rear gunner was killed but he decided to press on to the target, which he bombed successfully - in later life he planted a tree at his old airfield at Wickenby in Lincolnshire in memory of his rear gunner.

John was awarded a DFC twice in three days, both gazetted on the same day. He was awarded a Bar for his gallant conduct during the two sorties to Hanover. His citation stated: DFC 9th November 1943 Flight Lieutenant John Naunton ROWLAND (33577), Royal Air Force, No. 12 Squadron.

Flight Lieutenant Rowland has completed very many sorties and has displayed outstanding determination and devotion to duty. On 2 recent occasions, when attacking Hanover, his aircraft has been damaged in encounters with enemy fighters but each time Flight Lieutenant Rowland has skilfully out-manoeuvred the attackers and afterwards flown his bomber to base. His skill and courage have been worthy of high praise.

On the completion of fifty bombing operations, he was awarded a DSO. His citation stated: Service Order 28 Nov 1944 Acting Squadron Leader John Naunton ROWLAND, D.F.C. (33577). R.A.F. 625 Sqn. This officer has displayed great keenness, skill and courage in his capacity as captain of aircraft. Since being awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross Squadron Leader Rowland has participated in numerous sorties, involving attacks on a wide range of targets important to the enemy’s war effort. He has invariably pressed home his attacks with the greatest determination and his successes have been well illustrated by the photographs secured.

In addition to his fine work in the air, this officer has rendered valuable service in the training of other members of the squadron.

Once a bomber aircrew had completed two tours it was deemed that they had made sufficient contribution to the war effort and so in December 1944 John was transferred to the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC), which was starting to open new routes in preparation for peacetime flying. Initially, he flew on routes to North Africa and the Middle East and these were initially from Hurn airport near Southampton, as Heathrow did not then exist. He was one of the first pilots to land at Heathrow Airport after its opening, remembering it as ‘a field with a long runway and marquees for passengers and customs clearance’. At the age of 30 he left to join the family hotel business, the Rock Park Hotel in Llandrindod. He always claimed that leaving BOAC was his greatest regret.

John ran the hotel for five years and kept pigs in the buildings at the back of the hotel. In 1954, he bought Tan-y-Cefn farm, near Rhayader. In the 1960s he started keeping laying hens at Dolfallen mushroom farm and for many years supplied local shops and businesses with eggs. The hen manure was driven in a trailer from Dolfallen to Tan-y-Cefn through Rhayader several times a week.

John married Jean McMichael, who was a WAAF officer, a week before D Day. Sadly, Jean died in 1982 and after living at Tan-yCefn for 34 years he retired to live in Chester in 1989 and ran a laundrette in Salford for a few years. He then met Pam who was to be his companion for the next 20 years. In 2011, John published a book, ‘Return Flight in War and Peace’, in which he described his experiences in the war.

Robert Cyprian Rust (JS, 1955 & Ch, 1960, Former Staff, 1966-1973) Robert Rust died on the 25th October 2014, aged 72. At College he excelled as an athlete and was Captain of the Club in his final year.

On leaving College, he went to Bristol University to read Mechanical Engineering. On graduating, he joined the United Steel Company in Sheffield where he worked for three years. He then returned to College in 1966 to teach Physics and run the Engineering Club. He was also Master i/c Athletics. He left College in 1973 to join Uppingham School where he taught until he retired in 1997.

As a former engineer he was always happiest with the practical side of the subject and so in due time he became an examiner and then Senior Moderator for A level Practical papers. Here he always tried to reward lateral thinking and initiatives - even when the results didn’t quite fit the straightjacket of the mark scheme. He was described by The Chief Examiner as ‘having a kind manner and a conscientious desire to do the best for the candidates’.

At Uppingham he was a valued Tutor in several boarding houses before being appointed Housemaster of the Lodge, then an allages boys’ house.

On coming out of the House, his administrative skills were soon put to other uses: after resigning from the CCF in 1989 he ran the Adventure Training Stores and he administered the Athletic Standards Competitions for several years as well as coaching field events and in 1995 the whole school athletics programme.

After that he became Careers’ Master (1985-1987). He was of course thorough and conscientious, but this job carries a poisoned chalice as boys advised to study Catering gleefully return to say that they ignored the advice and are now very rich bankers. So it was with some relief that he turned to run the School’s examinations system (1989-2000) where his methodical and thorough approach was ideally suited to mastering the complexities of the change to computerisation of entries as well as timetables, invigilation rotas and security.

Robert enjoyed the opportunities for joining in extra-curricular activities. He did his stint of supervising games but his chief delight was in introducing young people to the Great Outdoors.

This included the major expedition to Sabah in 1984, ski trips (where he could sometimes be even more dangerous to himself than others), CCF camps in the wetter parts of Britain, and Field Days leading hordes of pupils across the bogs of Kinder Scout.

He helped with numerous Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Expeditions where his eye for detail was especially valuable in spotting routeplanning errors (like the footpath straight up Helvellyn which was actually a parish boundary). But his great achievement was perhaps the annual walk for pupils, at the end of their first year, from coast to coast across Scotland, an activity where he could combine his enthusiasm for showing them the joys of walking through rain and midges with his ‘special subject’ – the Malt Whiskies of Scotland.

He had great common sense, and so often found little time for the dafter bits of Health and Safety Regulations, let alone Political correctness - or for school politics. He felt fulfilled in what he was contributing to the pupils’ education in the widest sense, and was happy with that, with no great wider ambitions. Above all, he was a modest man.

Robert is survived by his wife Monica.

John is survived by Pam and his sons Michael and Philip.

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15 FLOREAT

Elizabeth Ryder (Staff, 2010-2014) Beth Ryder died on the 8th October 2014, aged 41. She was a true professional in her role as Higher Education and Careers Advisor. The Chief Executive of COA (College’s external careers company) wrote in to say: ‘Beth was so considerate, thorough and caring in all our dealings with her.’ That sums her up rather well; she had enviable attention to detail and a real capacity to add value, whether to pupils’, parents’ or colleagues’ requests. She had an extensive working knowledge of the university application process, both in the UK and internationally, and guided scores of students through a potentially difficult transition in their lives with wonderful grace, poise and reassurance.

Beth is survived by her three children Alex, James and Adam.

Major Peter George Ellis Sim (H, 1940) Peter Sim, father of Major N.A. Sims MBE (H, 1972), brother of Major John Sim MC (H, 1938) and the Rev. David Sim (H, 1947) died on the 5th April 2014 at the age of 90. Peter was Company Sergeant Major in the CCF. After leaving College, Peter enlisted in the Royal Artillery and was commissioned in 1942. He saw service in India, the Middle East and in North West Europe.

He volunteered for the Glider Pilot Regiment immediately prior to D Day but his application was rejected. He participated in the landings, along with his brother John, who jumped in with the 12 (Yorkshire) Parachute Battalion. He did, however, achieve his ambition to fly by becoming an Air Observation Post pilot after the war and saw service in the Canal Zone flying an Auster during the Suez Crisis. It was in Tripoli, that he met the sister of a fellow pilot, who was later to become his wife.

He retired from the Army in 1961 whilst serving as a Guided Weapons’ Instructor in Manobier, South Wales. The family bought a house in Derbyshire and Peter worked for a while in the textile industry in Derby. A lifelong asthma sufferer, he found that the dusty environment was adversely affecting his health and took the bold decision to take up farming. This was a move that was supported enthusiastically by his wife, who had already established the start of a burgeoning menagerie.

The farm was located near Sway in the New Forest where, as a tenant farmer, Peter took over a milking herd of Jersey cattle and raised pigs. However, with milk prices falling, one bold decision was followed by another, as he moved into the breeding of goats.

The production of milk, cheese and fudge followed shortly. His wife Clare, a keen and competent horsewoman, had taught both their sons to ride and together they enjoyed the freedom of the forest on their own animals.

Clare’s love of animals grew over the years to reach a peak of about 20 dogs and innumerable cats, with parrots, racoons, foxes, crows, squirrels, owls and other exotics thrown in along the way. Peter accepted this with a weary but nevertheless contented resignation. As an old soldier he knew when he was outgunned and by this stage Clare had formidable allies in the shape of their sons. Their life was very happy and they enjoyed considerable success with the herd of pedigree goats.

Peter was sadly widowed in 1987 when Clare died very suddenly at the age of 55. He was never a natural horseman and it was therefore a surprise that he took up pony driving with his beloved and faithful Gus. Together they enjoyed many exciting outings 11.

with a group of local ladies known affectionately as the “Galloping Grannies”. He had a wide range of friends and devoted a considerable amount of time to the charity MENCAP. He is survived by his two sons, both themselves ex Army officers, Nick (H, 1972) and Robin, and his two brothers John and David.

William Frances Tilley (DB, 1950) William Tilley died on the 15th July 2014, aged 91.

Dr Wilfred Treasure (Th, 1973) Wilfred (Wilf) Treasure died in his sleep on the 3rd November 2013, aged 58. Wilf grew up in Cheltenham, seventh in a family of nine. Music and academic scholarships enabled him to come to College where, in addition to playing the viola, violin and piano, he became an accomplished organist. As a sixth-former, he played in the National Youth Orchestra. He was one of a very talented group of musicians in Thirlestaine House. The Head of Music at the time, Will Pritchard, wrote in the 1973 Cheltonian: “The Beethoven Trio once again reminded us that we are fortunate to have a number of promising Strings, including two of the ability of Anthony and Treasure, who can hold a chamber work like this with commendable musicianship.” In the same Cheltonian addition, he also wrote: “The “surprise” vocal ensemble of Treasure, Hollas, Nicol and Anthony were immaculate in technique and in presentation quite professional.”

Taking A levels in Pure and Applied Mathematics and Physics as well as Music, he was tempted to apply for Maths courses. He also seriously considered Medicine as an option, and did some work towards an A level in Chemistry, but he was reluctant to relegate music to a part-time activity and instead was admitted to Clare College, Cambridge, in 1974 to study Music. Wilf loved the vibrant and challenging environment of Clare and the University, where among many other activities he played in a viol consort, and his life was hugely enriched, musically and socially.

Graduating in 1977, Wilf decided to go to Medical School. He moved to London, took A levels in Chemistry and Biology, and within a year had been accepted at Guy’s Hospital. He supported himself with jobs that included refuse collection for Southwark Council and a nightshift in a bakers. At this time, he moved into a house in Camberwell with fellow Cambridge graduates, two of who were studying at the Royal Academy of Music and on their way to instrumental careers. Neighbours were given an early indication of the kind of rowdy behaviour they could expect when they were disturbed at 1.00am in the morning by an impromptu performance of William Byrd’s Three Part Mass.

His decision on graduating to switch to medicine may have been partly motivated by the realisation that his eclectic musical interests didn’t point to any particular career. He was also, however, moved by a desire to be of practical service, and he had been inspired by the example of fellow students who successfully combined music with medicine. For some years after qualifying, he pursued a career as a hospital physician specialising in gastroenterology. He passed the examinations for Membership of the Royal College of Physicians and worked as a Medical Registrar. He was working in Edinburgh and on track to become a Consultant when he decided that General Practice was where he could do his best work and make the greater contribution.

He joined the Muirhouse Medical Group where he stayed for 20 years, working with a group of colleagues whose breadth of medical interests and attributes he greatly valued. It was here that he discovered his vocation.

OBITUARIES ISSUE FOUR J A N U A RY 2 0 1 4

He wrote about his own career transition in the preface to his book Diagnosis and Risk Management in Primary Care: words that count, numbers that speak (London: Radcliffe, 2011): ‘I might have carried from my hospital registrar post into my general practice traineeship the biomechanical model of medicine, and confidently pointed patients towards their diseases: instead I was introduced to a gentler touch, a quieter way of observing, more intelligent listening.’ This did not mean a departure from evidencebased medicine. All Wilf’s professional writing was grounded in research and meticulously footnoted. In the same preface he asks whether there is: ‘a tension between being evidence-based and being patient-centred’, and concludes: ‘if there is a tension… it’s like the tension in a watch spring that makes the hands turn round’.

Wilf was a highly original thinker, inclined to challenge orthodoxy and conformity. He believed in giving patients positive healthaffirming messages and reassurance wherever possible, and minimising investigation and medication. ‘First do no harm’ was one of his favourite dictums. He was a prolific contributor to professional journals, and wrote a learning module on functional illnesses from the British Medical Journal learning. During the last two years, he wrote a series of commissioned monthly articles for the British Journal of General Practice which are pithy and inspirational in exploring how doctors might best respond to their patients.

In 2011, Wilf left the Muirhouse Practice to become the sole GP for the islands of Whalsay and Out Skerries in Shetland.

This surprising and courageous move was motivated partly by a desire to put into practice his own belief in the importance of continuity of care, with the same doctor seeing the same patient over time and knowing the patient’s family, and partly by a love of wild places. His passionate concern for the environment, like his commitment to public health, was expressed in his daily life.

He walked and cycled long distances and drove a car reluctantly when he had to. His lifestyle tended towards the spartan.

In 2008, Wilf married Ann Robertson, a Research Fellow at the University of Edinburgh’s Centre for Population Health Sciences, with whom he had found a new level of personal happiness.

Throughout these years his love of music remained strong. He continued to play the piano and was valued by singers and other musicians as a skilful and sensitive accompanist. To his list of instruments he added the trombone, the piano accordion and the bagpipes. He was a keen chess player and remained an active member of a book club and a philosophical discussion group during leave spent in Edinburgh. In all these activities, his mind was quick, playful and inventive. He enhanced many people’s lives and will be sorely missed. He is survived by his wife Ann and their daughter, Edie.

(This obituary is partially based on the one included in the Clare Association Annual) Henry Stephen Hamilton Venour (H, 1945) Henry Venour died on the 27th December 2013, aged 86.

Mary Amelia Whyte (Former HM’s Secretary 1967-1979) Mary Whyte, mother of Pru Whyte (Cha, 1971) died on the 9th January 2014, aged 96. She was a much respected and very efficient secretary to David Ashcroft. Guy Dodd (H, 1959 & HsM L, 1973-82) has written in to say: “To a newly appointed Housemaster, Mary Whyte was a slightly forbidding figure. She was not only the guardian of the Headmaster’s office but she

allocated prospective parents to the boarding houses and had the power to land us with potential life-long friends or five years worth of problems. For that reason, if for no other, it was worth making your number with Mary, so off I would go. The first greeting was accompanied by a piercing and slightly disconcerting gaze; she knew exactly why I had come. Then there would be just a touch of a grin and she would tell me that she was sending me nice people and I would like them. I don’t think she ever knowingly let me down. She was a strong person and I admired her”.

Mary and her three siblings were brought up first in Cardiff, where her father was land agent to the Marquis of Bute, and later in Liverpool. Mary sang and played the piano, was educated by nuns in Cardiff and subsequently Devon. She was, if her reports are true, bright enough to go to University but chose instead to go to Germany for two years where she lived with German families in the years before the war. On her return, her father insisted that she should get training in something and Mary went to Queen’s Gate, London, where she discovered the joys of typing and shorthand.

This demand by her father was, as things turned out, prescient.

In the early part of the war, Mary worked at the War Office using her German and subsequently went to Liverpool and drove ambulances. During this time Mary met Sandy. Against advice, they were married in 1942. What was not known at that time was that Sandy had inherited Huntington’s Disease (an inherited disease of the brain that causes damage to certain brain cells).

Indeed it was not diagnosed for several years by which time all four children had been born. The diagnosis explained what had seemed to be Sandy’s reckless and feckless behaviour that saw Mary fending for the family with the real risk of no home or income. During the years of Sandy’s illness, with his courageous undergoing of experimental surgery, Mary fearlessly sought the support of both families. She worked as an early Avon Lady to help make ends meet while travelling to wherever Sandy was being treated. Sadly, Sandy died in 1964.

Mary was founder member of the Huntington’s Disease Society in Cheltenham and worked hard to improve the medical profession’s understanding of the disease and its impact on families. Mary fought for her children and granddaughter to have the best of care and was tireless on their behalf over very many years.

On retirement, from College in 1978, she was elected a Borough Councillor for Charlton Kings and became a tireless Chairman of Planning. Mary was a Governor of Glenfell School in Charlton Kings.

She was ‘Catholic Woman of the Year’ and was involved in the Ampleforth Pilgrimage to Lourdes for over five years taking each of her sick children in turn. She was a parishioner in the Charlton Kings Parish from 1975 walking to Mass daily for twenty years.

Mary was for many of those years Eucharistic Minister and an active member of the Parish.

Mary had four children: Susan, Nicholas, Simon and Prue, four grandchildren Catherine, Rupert, Rachel and Roshanna and two great grandchildren Kate and Alex. Tragically Mary’s three eldest children and her eldest grandchild all developed and died of HD. Her granddaughter Rachel died in a car accident.

Mary’s final years were spent in Wyatt House in Stroud and she died peacefully, aged 96, after a number of years of vascular dementia. She is survived by her daughter Pru, sister Margot and her grandchildren.

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15 FLOREAT

Jonathan James Williams (L, 1960) Jonathan Williams died in Spain on the 31st August 2014, aged 71. He was perhaps best known for driving a works Ferrari on his one and only Gran Prix start in Mexico in 1967. A true gentleman, and a gentle man, he will be much missed by his friends. He was born in Cairo in 1942 – his parents ran a school there – and Jonathan’s passion for racing was fired by a trip to Silverstone in 1951. He began racing in 1961 with a Mini, and on one famous afternoon crashed at Mallory Park. He was sitting on the bank watching when another driver, who happened to share his surname, crashed nearby.

Thus Jonathan and Frank Williams met for the first time, and later through Jonathan he met a man who would play a big role in his life, Piers Courage.

In 1963, Jonathan travelled throughout Europe with a Formula Junior Merlyn, with Frank serving as his mechanic. Alas a big crash in Monaco, where he injured his leg and received a bang on the head, proved to be a major setback. In 1964, he teamed up with Courage to run in the new F3 category, and the pair both bought Lotus 22s. Using the Anglo-Swiss Racing name in an attempt to impress continental race organisers, they raced all over Europe before funding ran out. Help was at hand however, and for 1965 a friend, Charles Lucas, who had recently come into some money, set up his own team, employing Jonathan, Piers and Peter Gethin.

Jonathan always loved Italy, and for 1966 he accepted an offer to join the works de Sanctis team. He was the star of the cut-andthrust world of Italian F3 that year, which caught the attention of Ferrari. He was duly signed up for 1967 and spent the year racing for the Scuderia in sports cars, CanAm and F2. He drove three CanAm races with a Ferrari P4 at the end of the year, at Laguna Seca, Riverside and Las Vegas, without much luck.

During a gap between the last two events he was told to travel to Mexico City where after minimal practice he was given his first and only F1 start, in which he finished eighth. A subsequent testing crash at Modena brought his Ferrari career to an end.

In 1968, Jonathan raced for various F2 teams, winning the Monza Lottery for Frank Williams, who by now had become an entrant in his own right.

Mexico aside, Jonathan’s other claim to fame came in 1970 when he became involved in the making of Steve McQueen’s Le Mans, driving the Porsche 908 camera car in the race itself, as well as taking part in the months of filming that followed.

The death of his closest friend Courage at that year’s Dutch GP was a heart wrenching blow for Jonathan, and the following year his racing career fizzled out after the 1971 Targa Florio.

Having learned to fly, he spent some time as a private pilot for wealthy businessmen before dropping out and spending many years travelling around the coast of France, Spain and Portugal in a small motorhome. In recent years he had settled at a base in Spain, keeping himself occupied by writing magazine articles about racing history, but his plan was always to buy another motorhome and set off again on his travels. Sadly it was not to be.

Quietly spoken, and forever modest about his own achievements as a driver, he was a very special man, and much loved and missed by his loyal friends. We received many favourable comments on his article, Life after Leconfield, in Floreat 14.

Edward Frank Richard Williamson (Xt, 1989) Richard Williamson died on the 2nd January 2015, aged 44. He is survived by his wife Cat and daughters Sophia and Isla.

A full obituary will appear in Floreat 16.

Dr David Younger (Past Member of Staff, 1979-1985) David Younger died on the 3rd February 2014, aged 70. He was educated at Gateshead Grammar School where he was Head Boy, captain of the XV and played for the England U19XV against France and against Wales at the Arms Park, in 1961.

David read Mathematics and Chemistry at Grey College, Durham, graduating in 1964, and stayed on to take a Diploma in Education. In 1965, he married Margaret, whom he had met for the first time on a beach when they were both seventeen. His first teaching post was at Dame Allan’s School, Newcastle upon Tyne, and he then moved on to Wolsingham Grammar School in County Durham. He left there in 1969 and went back to Grey College, Durham, to do a PhD in Inorganic Chemistry. On completing his PhD, he went to Stonyhurst as Head of Chemistry. Whilst there, he continued his rugby career playing for Fylde with a very young Bill Beaumont.

In 1979, David was appointed Director of Studies at College by Richard Morgan, taking over some of Gordon Wallace-Hadrill’s responsibilities and widening the scope of the post to exercise overall control over planning and execution of the curriculum throughout the school. This he did most ably, steering several committees towards the making of far-reaching decisions in a time of unprecedented change. Option schemes in Lower College, the Third Form curriculum, the four-block A level scheme and General Studies programmes were all major innovations that he masterminded. With his wry humour and gentle northern irony, in the 1985 Cheltonian in the Sayings of the Year, he was quoted as saying ‘My squash doesn’t get any better but as a moron I improve week by week’. David was an easy colleague to work alongside; he was ready with good advice, generous with his time and considerate, without over-tolerance, of the short-comings of others. In administration of many aspects of College life he was a model of unflustered efficiency.

As a fine persuasive Chemistry teacher, many of these qualities were appreciated by those who were in his sets, whether least or most able. He was a good experimenter, with a happy knack, envied by less fortunate teachers, of making things work. As an experienced examiner he lent considered support to the introduction of new courses into the Chemistry Department. He strongly felt that you had to like pupils (or kids as he called them) to be a successful schoolmaster. This he did and was highly thought of by the ‘kids’ he taught.

He showed as a tutor, first in Christowe, then for the first intakes of girls and finally in Upper College, the blend of care and firmness that gets the best out of his pupils. Outside the class and committee rooms, David put much enthusiasm into coaching various Rugby teams from the 3rd to the 5th XV and was a dedicated sailor in the summer terms.

During his six years, David was a great ambassador for College.

He prepared an exciting demonstration lecture on Chemical Energy, which he delivered to many of College’s feeder schools. A rugby man, with a dry sense of humour, he was much respected at Cheltenham Rugby Club, helping with their fundraising efforts and sharing his knowledge, experience and friendship with the members.

13.

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It came as no surprise when he was appointed Headmaster of Woodbridge School in 1985, a post he held with distinction for nine years before moving on to the Headship of King’s Tynemouth in 1993.

His Chairman of the Governing Body of King’s School, David Bilton, said at David’s Memorial Service: ‘I had the honour of being appointed to the Governing Body of King’s School in 1994, and was then invited to Chair the Governing Body in 1998 which meant, of course, that I developed an even closer relationship with David.

In the 4 years which we worked together as Head and Chairman, which can often be a tense relationship, I gained an enormous respect for David’s capabilities as an outstanding school leader.

You need to understand that the relationship between a Head and Chairman is not a straightforward one - it has been likened to the relationship between a prisoner and the jailer, with both parties believing that they are the prisoner!

I remember at an early stage in our ‘professional’ relationship together, over the obligatory glass of wine, recounting to David that Bill Gillen (the previous Head) had told me the only qualification for being a Governor was the 3W’s - wisdom, wit and wealth and, that in his experience, most Governors were sadly lacking in the first two of these attributes. David responded to me that he thought Governors were more akin to supermarket trollies – both having an enormous capacity to hold food and drink, although the trolley did have a mind of its own; and that, in his humble opinion, the real test of whether a Governor was an intellectual was if he or she could listen to Rossini’s William Tell Overture without thinking of the Lone Ranger.

as Editor-in-Chief of Medicine and Publishing Director of General and Internal Medicine for W.B. Saunders/ Mosby/ Churchill Livingstone, which became Harcourt Health Sciences in 1999, and was subsequently purchased by the Reed Elsevier publishing group in 2001. In his leadership roles for Harcourt Health Sciences, he developed vital initiatives in the transition to electronic and online publishing.

In 2002, Richard joined the American Academy of Ophthalmology (both his father and grandfather were ophthalmologists) and brought his vast experience in medical publishing to the role of Vice President for Clinical Education (later changed to Vice President for Ophthalmic Knowledge). During his eventful tenure at the Academy, Richard played key leadership roles in the development of the ONE Network, an online source of peerreviewed news and education for ophthalmologists which was launched in 2007. He was also instrumental in the success of the Academy’s journal, Ophthalmology, and in the development and implementation of The Resident Hub, EyeWiki, the electronic versions of the Basic and Clinical Science Course and numerous other programmes and products.

Richard died shortly after receiving the Academy Guest of Honour Award at their annual meeting. He was the first Education Vice President in the Academy’s 118-year history to be honoured with the award. His deep transformational impact on the Academy’s educational programmes will continue far into the future and a Richard A Zorab Memorial Fund has been established to support the ONE Network.

Richard is survived by his sons, Nicholas and James.

David’s tenure as Head at King’s School was remarkably successful. During his time at King’s he was Chairman of SHMIS (the Society of Headmasters and Headmistresses of Independent Schools), hobnobbing with the Prime Minister at No 10, and also involved in Headmasters and Headmistresses Conference on their Sports Committee, although I have to say that there is a curious anomaly when it comes to thinking of most Heads and sport, they don’t usually go together.’

David is survived by his wife Margaret, daughters Louise (Cha, 1984), Vanessa (Cha, 1986), Fritha, sons Nick and Mike, and his grandchildren.

Richard Arthur Zorab (BH, 1964) Richard Zorab, son of Dr E.C. Zorab (BH, 1928) and brother of J.S.M. Zorab (BH, 1947), D.E. Zorab (BH, 1967) and C.H. Zorab (BH, 1970), died in San Francisco on the 20th October 2014, aged 68.

On leaving College, Richard attended medical school for two years at Guy’s Hospital Medical School before transferring to the University of Aberdeen, where he earned a Master of Science degree in Physiology in 1970.

In 1973, he joined Churchill Livingstone, a venerable British medical publishing house in Edinburgh. During his seven-year tenure there, he rose to the role of Senior Publisher. From 1980 to 1983, he served as Editorial Director for Blackwell Science in Edinburgh and then moved from the United Kingdom to Boston to establish the company’s United States office, which he supervised from 1983 to 1988. In 1988, he moved to Philadelphia and joined W. B. Saunders, the largest U.S. medical publisher, as a Senior Medical Editor responsible for the management of publications in 12 medical specialties and subspecialties.

O B I T UA R I E S All the following obituaries have been compiled from ones published in national and local papers, addresses and tributes given at funerals, and in some cases by family members, or those who knew the deceased very well.

I am extremely grateful to Jill Barlow (Archives) for the research she has carried out and for providing some of the photographs.

For those I have missed, if you would like an obituary for them published in Floreat 16, please get in touch.

Malcolm Sloan OC Administrator

A series of editorial positions and consolidations within the medical publishing industry culminated in Richard’s appointment 14.

John Allardyce

Michael Andrew-Jones

Peter Bird

Nicholas Browne

Pamela Cadbury

Robin Capon

John Cresswell

Peter Currie

Anthony Donner

Andrew Elmslie

Henry Gordon-Clark

Henry Irvine-Fortescue

Richard Kershaw

John Montagu

Barbara Nicol

Mike Robinson

John Rowland

Robert Rust

Elizabeth Ryder

Peter Sim

Wilfred Treasure

Mary Whyte

Jonathan Williams

Richard Williamson

David Younger

Richard Zorab

Cheltonian Association & Society Cheltenham College Bath Road Cheltenham Gloucestershire GL53 7LD   Contact Details: Tel: 01242 265694 www.cheltenhamcollege.org