Floreat 2014 - Obituary Supplement

The Cheltonian Association & Society

FLOREAT 14 O B I T U A RY S U P P L E M E N T

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Alastair Arnold Barr (Xt ’44) Alastair Barr died on the 11th November 2013, aged 86. He was the grandson of Professor Archibald Barr, whose Glaswegian optical engineering firm, Barr & Stroud, invented the range-finder and prismatic binoculars. Alastair excelled in music and drama at College. The report in the Summer Term Cheltonian on the College Concert stated: ‘The unaccompanied vocal quartette, “I loved a lass” -16th Century words set to music by George Dyson and sung

by D.J.M. Watson, D.L. Lament, Mr. Davidson and A.A. Barr, was perhaps the most outstanding performance of the evening.’ He was involved in the 1944 College Play, ‘Lady Precious Stream’ and the Cheltonian report stated: ‘Barr as the narrator was beautifully bland’.

Alastair also took the part of Lucifer in ‘Dr Faustus’.

On leaving College, he served in the Merchant Navy from 1944 until he went to Wadham College, Oxford, to study PPE. After earning a meagre existence as an itinerant pianist, Alastair stumbled into modelling when he was discovered by Norman Parkinson in a lift, leading to work in England’s burgeoning advertising industry. However, his true calling was the sea. He took a West Country Ketch out to the West Indies and set up a business shipping cargoes between the islands, which soon lead to work for larger shipping companies.

In later life Alastair settled in Stamford, where he and his second wife, Jeannie, set up a fabric business that flourished throughout the 80s and 90s.

He will be sadly missed by his daughter, four sons, nine grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Brigadier Denys Lloyd Glynn Begbie OBE (JS & PBH ’39) Denys Begbie, son of Major Ronald Phillips Glynn Begbie DSO MC, (PHB 1902) a life member of College Council, and brother of the Rev Lt Col Richard James Glynn Begbie OBE (EDB ’38) died on the 5th December 2013, aged 92. He was a Dobson Exhibitioner at College and won a place at Bristol University in 1939 to read Civil Engineering.

Denys joined the Corps of Royal Engineers in 1940 and was commissioned two years later. In 1943, he survived unscathed the sinking by torpedo of the troop ship taking him to war in North Africa and then led his platoon of sappers in two months arduous and dangerous battlefield engineering with the First Army in Tunisia. In January 1944, he joined the Eighth Army in Italy and commanded a platoon of 56th (London) Infantry Division engineers at the battle of Anzio. This desperate conflict, during which he and his men had sometimes to fight as infantry, lasted for six weeks and he described it afterwards as “perhaps the crucible of my career”. He and his sappers then fought their way northwards with the tanks, infantry and artillery, bridging river after river, clearing and laying mines, building and repairing defence positions and roads. They worked at night and under fire, in extremes of weather and with little respite.

On the 16th September 1944, Denys, then a Lieutenant commanding a platoon of 501 Field Company Royal Engineers, was sent to repair a strategically important bridge, east of San Marino, which was on the main divisional axis of advance. After work had begun, it became clear that, contrary to intelligence reports, the village of Trarivi, overlooking the bridge and only 1,000 yards away, was still in enemy hands. From this perfect vantage point, the Germans directed heavy and accurate mortar and shell fire for five hours. Throughout this period, Denys kept his sappers on the job and the work was completed within the time originally estimated. The citation for the award to him of an Immediate MC stated that he had shown inspired leadership and dauntless courage.

In 1946, he returned to England to complete his degree at Bristol.

Postings to Cyrenaica, the Canal Zone and HQ Far East Land Forces

followed and it was in Singapore that he suffered the loss of a daughter in infancy. This led to a compassionate posting in London and two years engineering design work, constructing a nuclear weapon test base at Christmas Island in the Pacific. The project’s success, ultimately under his direction, laid the foundation for his later employment as a senior military and civil engineer.

Ten years later, while serving at Nato HQ in France, he was transferred in an emergency to relocate the HQ from Fontainebleau to Brunssum, Holland. For many months he worked under great pressure and was appointed OBE in recognition of his achievement.

In 1976, after three years at the MoD as Director, Engineer Services, Denys resigned from the Army and joined Rendel Palmer & Tritton, engineering consultants who, at that time, were busy overseeing the final stages of construction of the Thames Barrier. In 1980, he moved to the Institution of Civil Engineers, initially as Director of Professional Interests; two years later he was promoted to become Director of Education, Training and Membership.

After leaving the Institution in 1986, he was elected to the West Sussex County Council. In retirement, he was Deputy Chairman of the RE Association and then Vice-President of the Institution of Royal Engineers, a Governor of four schools and President of the local British Legion.

In his spare time, Denys enjoyed golf, skiing and sailing. He was also an assiduous watercolourist, a skilled bridge player and co-author of Vol XI of The History of the Corps of Royal Engineers.

Denys is survived by his wife of 65 years, Rosemary, and their three daughters.

Major Peter Clarence Bird (NH ’40) Peter Bird, father of Christopher (NH ’67) and Philip (NH ’68), died on December 30th 2013, aged 90.

Blindon Newman Blood (NH ’52) Blindon Blood, son of Charles Newman Blood (JS & PBH 1902) and nephew of Bindon Blood (S 1899), died on the 20th May 2011, aged 77. On leaving College, he went on to Trinity College Dublin and then qualified as a civil engineer. Thereafter, he enjoyed a very distinguished 32-year career in design and construction, mostly in Ireland, doing work of national importance – this included the supervision of the construction of drainage in the City of Dublin – and was a member of six engineering societies. He is survived by his wife Lesley and their daughter Marjorie.

Oliver Harry James Blizard (Xt ’48) Oliver Blizard died on the 7th of November 2010, aged 78.

John David Blount (JS & WDB ’39) David Blount died on the 24th January 2013, aged 92.

Born in Bournemouth in 1920, the family eventually moved to Cheltenham, when David was 10, where his father was a Bank Manager.

On leaving College, he was awarded an Exhibition at St Catherine’s College, Cambridge, where he read Classics.

David was called up to join the army in 1941 and, having gained a commission in 1942, he was sent to London University to spend a year learning Japanese at their School of Oriental Studies. In 1943, he was posted to India as a Captain in the Intelligence Corps, spending time in Delhi before moving on to Army Headquarters in Burma, where he was involved in the campaign against the Japanese invasion. After the Japanese surrender in 1945, David was posted to Tokyo, where he was used as a translator in the War Crimes Trials. He then spent a period in Singapore before returning to England on his demobilisation in 1947.

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In the early post-war years, David worked for a short period as a proof-reader for the Cambridge University Press, before joining GCHQ in Eastcote, London, in 1951, having learned sufficient Russian to work in the Russian department. In 1953, GCHQ moved to Cheltenham, where David continued to work until 1966, when he retired at the early age of 46. He continued to live in Cheltenham until his death.

The eulogy at his funeral was given by a friend, John Nettleton the actor, one of whose most notable roles was that of Sir Arnold Robinson, the Cabinet Secretary, in Yes Minister. John’s elder brother had worked in the same GCHQ department in London with David and when his brother died, John informed David. He replied and that sparked off a long correspondence between them. David wrote beautifully polished English, his letters reflecting his wide knowledge of so many interests – music, especially opera, literature and international drama.

David, it emerged from his letters, had been a keen actor at Cambridge, where he was a member of the Marlowe Society, as well as taking part in many amateur productions at GCHQ. He had also been an avid theatre goer in London’s West End after the War and later in Cheltenham at The Everyman.

David is survived by his partner of over thirty years, Frank. As David’s health began to fail more and more in recent years, Frank’s devotion in caring for him was selfless and constant.

Rex William Burdett (H ’55) Rex Burdett died on the 23rd January, aged 74.

Lt Cdr John Chalcraft RNR (NH ’49) John Chalcraft died on the 1st July 2013, aged 81.

David William Couch (BH ’47) David Couch died on the 17th July 2013, aged 84. On leaving College, he read Medicine at Pembroke College, Cambridge, (where he was cox of Cambridge’s reserve boat, Goldie) before qualifying as a Doctor. He was then called up for National Service, and volunteered to go to the Far East where, as a Flight Lieutenant Medic in the RAF, he was one of a small team parachuted into the Malayan jungle to rescue crashed aircrew in the ‘bring them back alive team’. It was during this period that he met a young nurse in the WRAF, Sue Bathgate, who later became his wife after their return to England. Married life got off to a good start when they and their wedding guests were all snowed-in in Edinburgh in January!

They set up home in Norwich, where David became a GP partner in a local practice. Although a GP by profession, David will be best remembered for his electrical and mechanical inventiveness, which led to a reputation as ‘Mr Fix it’. He never threw anything away, and used recycled parts to create various ‘Heath Robinson’ devices, including an automatic curtain closer for when away on holiday, and a mechanical arm that pressed switches at timed intervals to turn things on and off. He never left home without the essential necessities of life in his pocket - a tape measure and penknife. The latter was used for everything from peeling an apple to lancing a boil – so you were always cautious about accepting a slice of fruit if David offered it to you!

After retiring, he and Sue travelled extensively visiting New Zealand, Canada, Japan and the Galapagos Islands. They also discovered the joy of motor caravanning, which took them around the UK and Europe, as far as Croatia.

Unfortunately their holidays had to change when Sue developed Alzheimer’s, and increasingly David became a devoted carer as well as a devoted husband. He became a proficient cook, even making his own jams and marmalade, and his raspberry hazelnut meringue will be

sadly missed at Christmas.

David always hoped that he would outlive Sue and care for her to the end, but sadly, in late May, David was dealt a very bitter blow with the diagnosis of acute Myeloid Leukaemia. This was borne very stoically, but the disease progressed rapidly, taking away his enjoyment of life as he became increasingly exhausted.

He will be sadly missed by his wife, two daughters and their families including his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Christopher Raymond Buller Curtis (Ch ’50) Chris Curtis died on the 23rd October 2013, aged 80. He was the son of J.O. Curtis (S 1902), had three brothers. J.M.O. Curtis (Ch ’37), I.R.H. Curtis (Ch ’43) and R.B.P. Curtis (Ch ’39) who predeceased him, and was the uncle of J.N.B. Curtis (Ch ’80), W.T.B. Curtis (Ch ’73), R.A.B. Curtis (Ch ’76), D.R.B. Curtis (Ch ’73) and D.M.B. Curtis (Ch ’72).

On leaving College, Chris won an open scholarship to Christ Church, Oxford, to read English. Whilst there, he enjoyed beagling and played rugby as scrum-half for the Christ Church 2nd XV. After National Service, served in Germany, he decided on a career in architecture. He joined a practice in Bath as a first step to qualifying as an architect. This proved to be a long and somewhat tortuous process. At the RWA School of Architecture in Bristol, he encountered a tutor who always stressed that architects required ‘tenacity of purpose and resolution’, two qualities with which Chris was well endowed. Having finally triumphed, he announced to some dismay, that he would now add a qualification in Town Planning to his portfolio. This showed that he had not only tenacity of purpose and resolution, but also a fair share of stubbornness!

His twin professional qualifications, along with his degree, made him one of the better educated members of his profession. At that time architects were more likely to be a little wayward academically, whilst Chris’ immense charm was backed by considerable reserves of knowledge. Exceedingly well read and enthusiastic, he could have turned to a career in teaching but he chose a route of public service.

His sharp mind and quick wit left most behind and, when he began to talk about the things he loved, his knowledge was encyclopaedic.

Instead, he joined a number of respected practices, though not all respected by him! Eventually he became a conservation officer for the City of Bristol, a post requiring more than the ordinary level of diplomacy and determination. He combined this with membership of the Bristol Diocesan Advisory Committee, an organisation with the delicate task of preventing arbitrary alterations to churches. His DAC attachment helped to ensure that many churches achieved the adaptation required to meet current needs.

Chris and his friend, Christopher Bayne, retired from full time work at the same time in 1993. Their respective wives felt that it might lead to a more peaceful life if they were not hanging around the house all the time, generally getting in the way; hence the two wives hatched the idea of the two of them travelling together. Their first trip was six weeks covering Moscow, St Petersburg, a portion of the TransSiberian railway and much of China, including a Yangtze cruise.

Their second trip was to Latin America, their third was around the world to Australia, Argentina and Uruguay, the fourth was less ambitious, to Germany and European cities and their fifth was to Thailand, then down the Upper Mekong River into Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. On their first trip to Russia, Christopher had not expected Chris to insist that they put their clocks back, instead of forward, on their way to Moscow! This meant that they were very late down to breakfast! Nor had he realised Chris’ old fashioned insistence on being entirely dependent on good old Thomas Cook’s travellers cheques that lead to many queues in banks!

A lifelong love was photography where Chris’ eye was both masterly and quirky. Mostly, it was based on taking an average of 36 coloured slides a day, but sometimes it involved long periods lying on the

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floor of a Church, Palace or Museum taking ceilings from many different angles. Often there would be a large notice close by saying ‘Photography Prohibited’. Chris took no notice of this and on their travels Christopher’s role was to keep tipping the local attendant with small and then slightly larger notes. In a beautiful town, Chengdu, north of Beijing, that went just too far and Christopher informed the attendant he’d better take Chris off to prison since they had exhausted the budget for that sort of thing!

Chris held a deep belief in goodness of human nature. On one of their trips they were in the delightful town of Arequipa in Peru. It was dusk, and they were walking down a dimly lit street in the Old Town.

They were accosted by a fairly elderly lady who explained that it was a dangerous street and they might be mugged; she told them they should walk down a different street. Chris’ immediate reaction was to thank the lady profusely and take her advice. Christopher, on the other hand, thought she was the front for muggers out to catch them!

However, he then accepted that Chris was right as he believed always that mankind was kind and good.

Chris was a gentleman with a big heart who shared his time and talents generously with others. He is survived by his wife Lydia and their daughters, Clare and Frances, and will be sorely missed by them, his wider family, and many friends.

Owen Hartel Darrell (L ’40) Owen Darrell died in Bermuda on the 27th December 2012, aged 92.

He initially attended Saltus Grammar School and then College for the Sixth Form. Although his mother, Elsie Hartel, was American, Owen resolutely determined to plough his own path and to further his education much further away, in England. He often spoke of his time there, which was when they were evacuated to Shrewsbury. He was billeted with a dear lady who baked wonderful Victoria Sponges! On leaving College, he was awarded the Rhodes Scholarship for 1940 and attended Magdalen College, Oxford, from 1940-1941 and 1946-1948, reading Philosophy, Politics and Economics.

He was born on Pitt’s Bay Road in a cottage overlooking Hamilton Harbour. His father, Watkin Owen Darrell, was a keen yachtsman who taught Owen and his sister, Ilys, to sail and swim, and Owen’s heart was never far from the sea. Thus, he served in the Royal Navy during the Second World War. He was the only Bermudian known to have served on the dangerous Arctic Convoys. He rose to the rank of Lieutenant in the RNVR and ended his time in command of a ship that he returned to Rio de Janeiro after its war service. In addition to his Royal Navy service on board the HMS Bulldog, Owen also spent time on HMS Packice on minesweeping operations in the Mediterranean (for which he was awarded an Italy Star medal), and took part in the liberation of Greece. He was hugely proud of his Naval service and was an active member of the Royal Naval Officers Association. He died just one week after Britain’s Prime Minister announced that medals were to be awarded to the surviving veterans of what Churchill called “the worst journey in the world”. Owen had already received a Russian commemorative medal in July 2005, for his service, with a letter which read: “Dear Sir, herewith you receive a commemorative medal, ‘The 60th Anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945’. It comes to you as recognition of your contribution to our common fight against fascism.” His service on HMS Bulldog had taken him through snow, fog and heavy seas laden with icebergs to the North Russian port of Murmansk, escorting ships carrying war supplies to ensure that they made it through the German blockades to the Soviet Union.

An estimated 3,000 seamen lost their lives on the Arctic Convoys, but Owen was one of the lucky ones, something he never forgot. He revisited Murmansk with his wife in 1994, an emotional experience for him, especially when their Russian guide hailed him as a hero!

One of his interests in later years was family history, and with the help

of a professional genealogist he discovered that his family could trace its line from the village of Airel in Normandy, France, which Owen and his wife visited in 1993. Owen was 29th in descent from Sir William Darell (English spelling) who had crossed the English Channel with William the Conqueror in 1066. Seventeenth century Darrells were some of the earliest settlers in Bermuda, a source of great pride for him.

He met his wife Pamela on a student trip to Switzerland in 1947. She had worked in the code-breaking centre at Bletchley Park as a Wren during the War, and Owen was extremely proud of this too when he eventually discovered, after many years of probing, the nature of her secret work there. They settled in Bermuda in 1951, on a hill in Spanish Point, where they had a house built with a cherished view of the Great Sound. Owen devoted much time, thought and energy to developing an exposed and windy site into a wonderful rambling garden surrounding the house that they had named appropriately ‘Clamber Up’. He worked for American International (insurance) until 1971 and then became Company Secretary and Manager for Michelin Investment Holding Company, a post which he held until ten years ago, ‘not believing in retirement’ he said!

Owen took family life very seriously, particularly the education of his three daughters, but he took time off to enjoy his membership of the RBYC, and in his younger days he sailed IODs in the weekly races.

For the last 25 years the fellowship of Christchurch, Warwick, was important to him, as was his previous service as a member of the Cathedral Vestry, and during his life he took an active part in many associations, including the Saltus Old Boys’ Association. He was on the governing body of the Bermuda High School for Girls for many years, and spent time as Chairman of the Bermuda Historical Society, the Royal Commonwealth Society, the Sailors’ Home (now the Mariners’ Club) and the Pembroke Parish Vestry. For 37 years, he was a member of Hamilton Rotary Club, where he is particularly remembered for his unique sense of humour, and he was President for a year. He founded the Probus Club (for professional and businessmen on or near retirement) in 1983, and he wrote a booklet about Sir George Somers, which he devoted much time and energy to promoting. The St George’s Foundation benefits from sales of this, and will continue to do so. It is fitting as Owen’s sense of his family’s roots and his love of Bermuda informed his whole life.

He is survived by his wife Pam, and their three daughters, Joy, Jill and Nicki, their grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Arthur Nigel Davenport (BH ’46) Nigel Davenport, son of Major A.H. Davenport (BH 1907), brother of P T Davenport (BH ’43) and father of Jack Davenport (BH ’91), died on the 25th August 2013, aged 85. His acting ability was very evident at College. In his last play at College, the 1946 Speech Day Play – The Government Inspector - he played the part of Ivan Alexandrovich Khlestakov. The review in the Cheltonian said: “A N Davenport made the knave Khlestokov into a credible being.

One saw him, right from the start, as the sort of desperate, dandified, dynamic creature Davenport meant him to be. One had hopes that he would develop into more even than this. How superb was his retort to the waiter’s ‘Is there anything you want, sir?’, ‘Yes. I want courage….’

But Gogol is not a Wilde. He allows himself no more in that strain. A pity.

In his supreme moment of ecstasy, with the vision of social eminence as strong upon him as the fumes of many toasts, Davenport was magnificent in precisely the same posture as the first. It made the action seem deliberate and rehearsed just when a contrary impression was most required. Otherwise his performance can stand honourably beside those many others that have already earned him high praise here. It is sad that we shall see him no more in Mr Davidson’s productions”.

Richard Morgan (HM 1978 – 90), in a tribute in the Times, said:“Nigel Davenport was one of those star actors who did not need to be the

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centre of attention when he was not on the stage. He was modest and delightful, interested in other people and gave of his time very generously.

In the late 1980s, he came back to his old school, Cheltenham College, to give a VIth form lecture. This he relished almost as much as the audience. Memorably, he gave us the golden rules about acting - one of which was that if one had drunk too much before the performance, and was drunk on stage, it was crucial never to fall down.

The success of the lecture guaranteed a hugely convivial dinner. All was well until I realised that he was intending to drive home later in the evening. Confiscating articles from boys was always a sensitive matter; the thought of confiscating car keys from the visiting lecturer, who also happened to be an Old Boy and a former parent, was not a happy one.

However, this wonderful man was easily persuaded to stay the night and he was as good company over breakfast as he had been over dinner”.

On leaving College, Nigel undertook his National Service with the British Forces Network in Germany (1946-48) and then read English at Trinity College, Oxford (1948-51), where he acted with the OUDS. It was there that he decided he would make acting his life. His first professional acting job was as an understudy in a Noël Coward play, Relative Values (Savoy, 1952).

Nigel will be best remembered for playing dark, strong, rakish toffs, aggressive heroes, scowling villains – and for what he himself called his “dodgy” eyes. Whether in films, plays or on television, his power largely derived, some thought, from his expressive gaze. It could be even more striking in close-up. Amiable or disturbing, it caused tough guys to wilt and pretty girls to sigh. Whether he glanced, or glared, grinned or grimaced, Nigel had an unusual magnetism. He also had a kind of rasp in his voice which some called gravelly and others abrasive, and altogether added to his authority.

One of the most versatile and busy of British character actors, after a strong theatrical start Nigel alternated between films and plays for nearly five decades. He appeared in more than 40 feature films, ranging from a detective in Peeping Tom, via a tough guy among conscripts in The Virgin Soldiers, to a resourceful psychopath who in Play Dirty wipes out a whole army encampment on the grounds that “I didn’t like the tea”. He was also the game warden in Living Free who resigns in order to capture lion cubs and transport them to a distant game reserve, and Lord Birkenhead in Chariots of Fire.

Something of a political magpie, Nigel started out on the Left before becoming an early supporter of Margaret Thatcher. He switched allegiance to the SDP (Shirley Williams had been a bridesmaid at his wedding) before returning to Labour and then declaring himself a “Radical”, declining to vote at all. He was always, however, a staunch believer in the rights of his fellow workers, and for six years from 1986 was president of British Actors’ Equity Association, the actors’ trade union. It was a role in which he did not mince his words. At the TUC Congress in 1988, for example, he was cheered when he described Rupert Murdoch as a “toxic waste dispenser with his global collection of refuse tips in the media and television”. Deregulation would lead, he said (to further applause), to “tabloid television” and “pathetic drivel”.

Though steeped in the values of his family’s military tradition, Nigel was also fascinated by true-life villains, and when in London was known to drop by at the Turk’s Head, a pub frequented by both actors and the criminal fraternity. Blessed with a fine sense of humour, he was often to be found at the centre of a conversation about the day’s horse racing – a lifelong passion.

Having moved to a farmhouse in Suffolk in the 1970s, he spent the last years of his life in Gloucestershire. Though happy in his own company, he delighted in taking on guests in fiercely competitive games of backgammon, scrabble or monopoly.

Nigel is survived by his sons Hugo and Jack (BH ’91) and daughter Laura. It is fitting that he will be remembered at College by the Davenport Drama Award, established by Nigel and Jack, awarded at Speech Day for the most outstanding contribution by a member of Upper College to College Drama.

Robert Stebbing Du Pontet (L ’51) Robert Du Pontet died on the 6th December 2013, aged 81. He played at fly half in the 1950 XV. The Cheltonian reported on the Clifton game which College won 6-3: “from the ensuing maul, Robinson whipped the ball out to Du Pontet who sidestepped a would be tackler and dropped the neatest of goals” and on the Radley match which College won 9-8: “Du Pontet was especially noticeable with some long touch finders which drove Radley on the defensive time and again”. Robert also played in the 1950/51 cricket XIs and played at Lord’s against Haileybury. He was a talented slow off-spin bowler. The Cheltonian reported on the win against Repton that: “When Repton put the shutters up, Du Pontet’s teasers came in useful (2 – 31) and it became a question whether Repton could play out time”. He was also in the House winning Pots team in 1950.

In later life, Robert became involved with the management of Oxshott Cricket Club. He was Vice-Captain, committee member and honorary club carpenter. He designed and built two new sightscreens, which are still in use today, a testament to his craft and engineering skills.

On one occasion he took 9 wickets for 33 runs for Oxshott, against East Horsley, and then held a good catch on the boundary to give the home team a victory.

On leaving College, Robert did his National Service as a Lieutenant in the Royal Artillery from 1951-3 and worked for Shell Petroleum from 1954-61. In March 1960, Robert went to an exhibition by the photographer Ida Kar and this proved to be a turning point in his life.

In 1962 he answered an advert from someone who planned to cross the Sahara and wanted a photographer in the team. He got the job and it proved to be a hair-raising trip! He fell out with the expedition leader, who was a complete rogue, within a few days. The car they were travelling in, an old Ford Zephyr, was in pretty poor condition and Robert and the rest of the team had to melt the soles of their sandals to mend the punctures. And then there was the issue that they were right in the middle of the Algerian Civil War. However, Robert came back with lots of good photographs and was able to mount an exhibition in Oxford Street, which was also shown on the BBC. Shortly after this, he became a full-time professional photographer.

In 1979, Robert and his wife, Patricia, moved to Taunton where he ran a successful photographic business. He was a long-term member of the Taunton Camera Club, of which he was President when he died.

He was always willing to pass on his photographic knowledge by regularly holding indoor portraiture groups and outdoor sessions.

Robert became an Associate Member of the British Institute of Professional Photography (ABIPP), an extremely high distinction. He was a member of the West Country BIPP group and regularly attended the London Portrait Group (LPG) where the top photographers from all over the country came together once a month to exchange ideas, of which Robert joined in freely and enthusiastically. There was a three monthly print critique competition that he won regularly as his portraiture was outstanding. He was made Chairman of the group due to his popularity, personality, style and quality.

Robert was an enormous help in the historic meeting of the American XXV (25 of the most talented photographers in the world) with its equivalent in the UK, namely The Guild of British Portrait Photographers, of which he was the founder member. It was considered that this group was the best of the best photographers in the UK. The meeting would not have been the success it was without his invaluable help with the choice of venue, Laycock Abbey, his knowledge of the people and organising all thirty three period costumes to re-enact the mid 1850 scene in front of where W.H. Fox-Talbot took the first known photograph.

However, photography was not his only talent, Robert had an incredible knowledge of engineering, electronics and optics. He had a fully equipped workshop and could build, repair or modify almost anything – there was always a new project on the drawing board.

For example, he obtained a massive pair of ex RAF lenses that had been used in World War II. Before long, they had been converted

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into a huge trolley mounted stargazing device that would rotate and elevate through an open window. It transpired that the lenses had been mounted on spitfires to film the Barnes Wallace bouncing bomb trials. He also invented a seven light source piece of equipment from just one electronic flash gun which saved precious time, money and space.

Robert was a member of Taunton Rotary Club for 34 years and was awarded The Paul Harris Fellowship – the highest honour that can be paid to any Rotarian in Rotary International. He demonstrated his full commitment to the Club’s activities and filled many functions to demonstrate both fellowship and service. For years the Club ran a vital Talking Newspaper for the Blind and Robert was the key sound engineer required to ensure success. Up to a month before his death, he was the editor of the monthly Club newsletter.

Robert was a much loved family man and will be much missed by his wife of almost fifty years, Patricia, and their daughter Claire and sons Jason and Simon.

Lt Col Timothy Elford OBE (NH ’49) Timothy Elford died on the 9th January 2013, aged 80. An excellent shot, he captained the College Shooting team. On leaving College, he went to Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge, to read Geography and he was awarded a shooting blue – rifle shooting was a major interest during his life.

His National Service was in the Royal Corps of Signals where he was able to become a top class marksman with a rifle, eventually shooting for Britain. He was a member of the Great Britain Rifle team that competed in Canada in 1954. Remarkably, his father was later selected also to shoot for Britain and was a member of the Great Britain Rifle Team that competed in Canada in 1964. For a son to gain such an achievement ten years before father is probably a unique occurrence.

Timothy was a member of the teaching staff at Ardingly College Junior School from 1954 to 1986. He was a Housemaster and was an officer in the CCF, rising to the rank of Lt Colonel as Commanding Officer. He coached the school shooting team and ran the Signals section. The shooting team was of a very high standard, winning several trophies at Bisley.

He was awarded the OBE in 1977 for service as Lieutenant Colonel (Acting) in the Territorial Army Volunteer Reserve, Combined Cadet Force section.

Another of his abiding interests was photography, both still and video. He did a lot of photographic work for Ardingly College Junior School and when Julie Robinson (Head of Junior School) moved to be the Head of Vinehall School, he then continued photographic work at Vinehall, which included countless hours in producing video productions of their theatrical shows. These productions were then rendered to DVDs and made available to proud parents and other interested people. He was also a very keen skier, his favourite resort being Wengen in Switzerland.

Keith Nelson Foster (Xt ’56) Keith Foster, son of Brigadier R.N. Foster DSO OBE (NH ’18), brother of Alan (Xt ’65) and uncle of Charlie (Xt ’89), died on 2nd March 2013, aged 74, after a 7 year battle with cancer. He was Head Boy at College, played at No 8 in the 1955 XV and captained the winning XV in House Pots. He captained the cricket 3rd X1 and took 6 for 9 in the first round of House Pots. He was Senior UO in the Corps and rejoiced in being the base drummer for the Corps of Drums.

There is a strong Foster family link to College, starting with Nelson Beaufoy Foster (DB 1883) through to Charles Forbes Foster (Xt ’91), the 13th Foster to go through College.

On leaving College in 1956, he served his two years National Service in the Royal Engineers and then matriculated in 1958 on a BP Scholarship to read Natural Sciences at Pembroke College, Cambridge. After his first ten years as a research scientist with BP, he spent five years as the co-ordinator between Shell Mex and BP and successfully achieved the separation of the two - BP becoming for the first time since 1932 its own national marketeer. For the following four years, as General Manager of BP Arabian Agencies, he claimed to be proud to be selling oil back to the Arabs! On his return to the UK, just before the fall of the Shah of Iran, he became, sequentially, Director of Jos Bateson’s Ltd and Price’s Candles Ltd. He was renowned amongst his BP colleagues for his interest in computers; a skill which led him in 1984 to be Manager of BP Oil UK’s Information Systems and from 1990 to be responsible for a three year, Europewide, six-nation integrated Information System project for BP which he brought in on time and budget. Retiring in 1994, he set up his own Management Consultancy business specialising in the oil industry and management of IT. What does not appear on his regular CV is that he considered this time also to be “pay-back time”: as tutor, mentor and guide with The Prince’s Trust to younger members starting out in business, even after his first operation for cancer.

A day or two after his first operation, which robbed him of his booming laugh but not his zest for life, his medical team were surprised to find him absent from his room. He was found outside, standing on one leg making peculiar gestures with his arms. Tai Chi was added to the list of his diagnoses, and credited with the unusual speed with which he recovered from his operation. Keith used his cancer experiences to great effect in two directions; firstly, teaching the NHS staff what it was like being on the other end of the stethoscope and, secondly, giving guidance to fellow sufferers about what to expect. By invitation, he joined the Luton and Dunstable Hospital Cancer User Group, whose aim was to work in partnership with the health professionals to improve cancer services within the Trust. He encouraged members of the group to take part in reviewing cancer services at the hospital and he himself was also involved in external verification and travelled to many different hospitals.

Keith became a reviewer for the National Peer Review Programme in 2009 and undertook a significant number of reviews for the programme. He was also the Chair of the National Cancer Peer Review User Steering Group in 2009. Over these last four years, he made an enormous contribution to the peer review programme. He was well-respected by both service users and NHS Professionals alike. Up until only a few weeks before his death, he was still busy “in harness”. His colleagues have written that he was “a true gentleman and professional of an older era, but had all the enthusiasm of a younger man”, and “that he would be greatly missed by all. Not only would he be remembered for his insight and diligence but be missed for his tenacity and quick wit”.

He is survived by his wife Elizabeth and daughter Deborah.

John Taylor Grassie (JS & DB ’46) John Grassie died on the 29th April 2013, ten days after his 75th birthday.

During his time at College, John a proud and popular Scotsman, and son of a Cheltenham doctor, represented the school in rugby and rowing. After leaving College, he served in The Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders in the UK and Africa. Having completed his National Service, he joined the Ottoman Bank, later to become National Grindlays, working in London, the Middle East and East Africa.

His love of sport, particularly rugby, was ever present. He played in the 1st XV for Kenya Harlequins and also represented Coastal Provinces.

John later joined the Bank Of Montreal in Toronto, working in their retail banking division before moving back to London to work in their UK branches in Threadneedle Street and Waterloo Place. He was then promoted to their International Division representing the bank in the Benelux Countries and Scandinavia.

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In 1967, at the young age of 29, he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Despite this devastating news, he soldiered on in his typically positive way but finally had to take retirement on the grounds of ill heath in 1986. His determination to keep working says a lot about the man and his wife, Diana, whose unstinting support and skills as a professional nurse helped him enormously. Living in Godstone, Surrey, John was an active member of the community and very much involved in charitable work, particularly that of The British Legion. He also gained many friends and pleasure playing bridge.

Like many Scots, he loved travel and he and Diana travelled widely, including many trips to Dubai and Toronto to see their daughters Christine, Caroline and their grandchildren. He was a man who loved life, travel, the countryside and above all his family. His bravery in adversity is an example to all, particularly to those who were fortunate enough to know the man he was.

He is survived by his wife Diana and their daughters Christine and Caroline.

Commander Geoffrey Harold Greenish OBE RN (Xt ’40) Geoffrey Greenish, son of Dr Frederick Greenish (Xt 1903), father of Simon (Xt ’67), Phillip (Xt ’69) and grandfather of Robert (Xt ’94), died on the 14th January 2013, aged 90. Unlike his father, he greatly enjoyed his time at College where he held his Christowe Housemaster, Mr King, in very high regard: “a martinet and strict disciplinarian but with a heart of gold”. He also developed a lifelong passion for Modern History and international affairs. Geoffrey was in the fencing team for two years – the Cheltonian report on the match versus Birmingham Fencing Club, played at Shrewsbury where College had been evacuated to, reported: “There was some excellent fencing with all three weapons, Greenish being in fine form with the foil”. In 1940, he was in the winning College team (beating Westminster in the final) in the Public Schools’ Bartlett Cup competition.

In 1940, he was selected as one of just 15 “special entry” cadets for career entry into the Royal Navy, which had been his ambition from a young age. After much-accelerated initial training, he joined the 24-year-old cruiser HMS Danae in the Far East in early 1941. The reinforcement of Singapore was underway and Danae was involved in escorting convoys in the Indian Ocean. After the loss of the battleships Prince of Wales and Repulse in December 1941, Danae continued her escort role under increasing air attack until the fall of Singapore. Shortly afterwards, she took part in and survived the Battle of the Java Sea in which a number of more capable ships were sunk with significant loss of life. That the elderly Danae escaped unscathed, with its ship’s company of men and cockroaches, was down to luck and in no way thanks to its ancient gunnery systems. It was around this time that Geoffrey began to feel he was going to survive the war.

In early 1943, he joined the small 25-year-old destroyer HMS Vanoc in the Mediterranean that was tasked mostly to escort convoys from Gibraltar along the North African coast. Vanoc survived multiple bomb attacks both at sea and in harbour until one near miss damaged her badly enough to require her to return to the UK for repairs. After a spell in the modern Hunt class destroyer Goathland, fighting “E” boats in the Channel, he joined the large (2,000 ton) and heavily armed Fleet destroyer Meteor in the summer of 1943 and served in her for the rest of the war.

Based in Scapa Flow, Meteor’s main task was to escort convoys through the arctic to the Kola Peninsula. Watch keeping on an open bridge in arctic winter storms and under constant threat of attack was extraordinarily tough, both physically and mentally. But this was a generation of young men who accepted the hand they were dealt and got on with it - an attitude that stayed with Geoffrey for the rest of his life.

On one of many convoys, Meteor narrowly evaded a torpedo attack and destroyed the submarine that launched it for which, as officer of

the watch at the time, he was mentioned in dispatches. By the autumn of 1944, Britain had established control of the North Sea and Meteor was sent to the Mediterranean for the rest of the war, which Geoffrey described as bliss - after Arctic convoys. When the Navy reverted to peacetime operations, life became rather more comfortable and he had successive appointments in cruisers and destroyers, mostly in the Mediterranean and home waters.

With Geoffrey’s deep knowledge of Modern History and International Affairs instilled at College, his first shore appointment in 1952 as an intelligence officer on the staff of the C-in-C Far East, could have been made for him, particularly with the Malayan emergency in full swing. This was followed by appointments in command of the frigates Verulam and Termagent and then promotion to Commander albeit, to his disappointment, on the so-called “dry list”. His second intelligence appointment in the late 1950s was also to an area with an insurgency – this time in Cyprus during the “Enosis” crisis.

After a happy appointment on exchange with the Canadian Navy in the early 1960s, he returned with his growing family to the UK for some less happy years. After the loss of an infant son, he then suffered the death of his first wife, Alice, in 1969. Appointed OBE shortly afterwards, for the remainder of his Naval career he worked as an intelligence specialist in the MOD, again following trouble spots round the world, including South East Asia during the latter years of the Vietnam War and the Middle East. On one occasion, he was trapped and out of contact in Cambodia after the fall of Prince Sihanouk, albeit held in a five star hotel.

Following retirement from the Royal Navy and three years as a civilian intelligence officer, he joined the Joint Intelligence Organisation in the Cabinet Office as a duty intelligence officer. Five retired service officers shared 24-hour watches as the interface between the intelligence providers and Whitehall. His nine years in the role included the Falklands campaign and routine interface with Margaret Thatcher.

He retired in January 1988 after 47 years’ service to his country.

He married again in 1987 and enjoyed a long and happy retirement with Yvonne, a retired GP. Together, they bought an apartment in the beautiful grounds of a chateau on the Cap d’Antibes where they spent a number of months each year and made many friends.

In 2011, he published his memoire Wet and Dry, principally for his family and succeeding generations. He is survived by his wife and by his five children.

Brian Edward Harris (H ’56) Brian Harris died in July 2013, aged 74. He was the elder son of Ted and Connie Harris. After qualification, he worked for a year at SH Newsome & Co Ltd, and then before Rolls Royce. The Harris family were well-known Builders and Property Developers in Coventry and surrounding area. Brian’s grandfather, Charles Harris, built the Coventry Theatre for the Newsome family, many Churches and other impressive edifices such as the Empress Buildings opposite the Coventry and North Warwickshire Cricket Club.

After College, Brian was articled as a Chartered Accountant to Leech Evans in Coventry. After qualification, he worked for a year at SH Newsome & Co Ltd and then Rolls Royce and Jaguar Distributors in Coventry as an Accountant. He then went on to work for an advertising agency in London as Company Secretary before joining the Bank of America’s factoring division. After many years with Bank of America, Brian set up a practice as a Chartered Accountant and was highly thought of by his clients. He was always calm, considerate and good in a crisis.

France was always Brian’s preferred destination for summer holidays and the family have a house in the South of France.

Brian had a deep sense of humour that brought him many friends.

He joined the real Tennis Court Club in Leamington Spa, was on the Committee of the American Club in Piccadilly and was a member of the Hurlingham Club. Brian was for all his life a Coventry City

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supporter and his family paid respect to this by putting his supporters’ scarf on his coffin.

Brian is survived by his wife of 41 years, Vivien, their children Olivia and Charles and their grandsons Sam and Oscar.

Martin Brian Sandham Henry (NH ’51) Martin Henry died on the 16th March 2013 aged 79.

Alan Ritchie Humphreys (NH ’46) Alan Humphreys died on the 12th February 2013, aged 83. He was predeceased by his wife, Dorothy, and is survived by their son Michael and daughter Jill.

Robert Bruce Hutton (H ’46) Robert Hutton died on the 5th January 2013, aged 84. Although he had a place at his father’s old school, Winchester, in view of the perceived risk of a German invasion, his parents decided to send him to College, from where he could walk home to Prestbury if necessary.

On leaving College, he went up to Trinity College, Cambridge, to read Law, following the family tradition – his father, grandfather and great-grandfather had all been barristers and judges in Gloucestershire. Robert, however, decided to become a solicitor, qualifying in 1955 and retiring in 2000. After stints in London and Bristol, he joined a firm in Stroud, which later became Little & Hutton, where he remained for over 40 years, becoming the senior partner.

In 1951, he moved with his parents and siblings to the family home, Harescombe Grange, near Gloucester. He became heavily involved in local community life, being Clerk to the Parish Council for almost 50 years, and churchwarden for a similar period. He was also a trustee of numerous Gloucestershire charities and Clerk to the General Commissioners for Taxes for 19 years.

Robert was a keen countryman and hunted with the Berkeley. His house, gardens and surrounding farmland and woodland were his passion.

His last years were marred by a long battle against Parkinson’s disease and he is survived by his wife of 40 years, Valerie-Anne, their son and daughter, Charles and Helen, both of whom have followed him into the Law profession.

Michael Norman Brenchley Kipping (NH ’54) Michael (Mike) Kipping, brother of J.P.B. Kipping (NH ’59), died on the 29th April, aged 77. Mike was the younger son of Sir Norman and Lady Kipping. Sir Norman was a senior industrialist who became Director General of the Confederation of British Industries and was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Most Excellent Order of St Michael and St George. Mike was brought up in South Hertfordshire and the North London area.

On leaving College, Mike spent over a year on work experience with the National Cash Register Corporation in Dayton, Ohio. In light of his subsequent career, he must have put up a reasonable show there. He then returned to the UK to enlist, like Philip, in the Royal Engineers for two years’ National Service. He secured a Commission and was posted to a Survey Squadron in Fernhurst, Surrey, and was engaged in the production of what Philip has described as “maps in the field”.

Mike’s military posting in Surrey and his possession of a motor car left him well-placed to participate in a social whirl. He soon found himself part of the County Set, his diary dotted with parties, his memory obscured by excesses and his movements discerned retrospectively only by searching for where he had left his Service Cap the night before. In 1958, as his army service drew to its close, he was invited

to a friend’s 21st birthday party where he had the good fortune to meet Mary. It was held at the Cutlers’ Hall in London, an impressive venue and, not wishing to hide available light under a bushel and leaving nothing to chance, Mike presented himself in his Blues or Number One Dress. Mary didn’t stand much of a chance. They became engaged shortly thereafter.

On his return to civilian life, Mike re-joined the National Cash Register Company in London and was offered a managerial post in Accra, Ghana, which he took up in 1959. After one tour in Accra he returned home on leave and he and Mary celebrated their marriage in Hertfordshire in April 1960 before the two of them started their married life together in Accra. They were to be married for 53 years, celebrating their Golden Wedding in 2010. In 1962, Mary returned to England for Sarah’s birth following which the pair of them sailed back to re-join Mike in Accra. Sometime later, they moved to Victoria in West Cameroon upon Mike’s promotion in the NCR West African management and, before long, Mary returned home for Joanna’s birth, after which the whole family was reunited in West Cameroon.

During his years in West Africa, Mike spent much of his leisure time participating in motor rallies, especially with the Ghana Motor Club.

He saw most of that country from the frantic cockpit of rally cars and won many of these events, collecting a large number of tankards as trophies. The rally courses would have been mostly on unmade roads.

If you have ever experienced Murram roads you will appreciate the importance of being out in front. Otherwise there is nothing to be seen but dust.

In 1967, after eight years in the sweltering heat, Mike and Mary decided to return home to England. They sailed back in a Dutch Cargo boat accompanied by their three parrots, two cars and, rather obviously, their two daughters. It is not clear who or what may have ended up in quarantine. It was at this stage that Mike joined Pilkington Glass and the family moved to Ayrshire in Scotland for three years.

On his appointment as Marketing Manager with a subsidiary, Chance Glass, Smethwick, Birmingham, the family lived in Shropshire for 12 years before taking up residence at The Firs, in Martley.

One of Mike’s greatest passions throughout his adult life was vintage cars. His first was a bull-nosed Morris, which he called ‘Bluebell’. We can probably guess why, though it must also have been a term of endearment. He later took over Philip’s Humber, named ‘Primrose’, which was subsequently replaced by another Humber with a minty colour, which perhaps explains its lack of a nickname.

While working in Birmingham, Mike joined the Royal Monmouthshire Engineers, reputedly the oldest Regiment in the British Army, and he took command of 225 Squadron in Smethwick with the rank of Major. He was a holder of the Territorial Decoration and he served on the Worcestershire Committee of the Army Benevolent Fund. He also commanded the Guard of Honour on a Royal Visit by Prince Charles to Chelsea Barracks at a gathering of NATO Generals.

Mike became a Mason in 1972 when he was initiated into his School Lodge, The Old Cheltonian Lodge, meeting in London. He was joined in the Lodge a year later by his great friend Richard Cann (DB ’55).

Both of them served as Worshipful Master three times and Mike held the office of Director of Ceremonies for over 20 years – a role at which he excelled and for which, by his presence and bearing, he was particularly suited. Nine of his school contemporaries were members of the Lodge. In Masonic terms, Mike was a great recruiter.

Once Mike had accepted that he had passed the age for “playing soldiers” as the family was inclined to call it, he put his heart and soul into Freemasonry. At one time or another he was an active member of eight Lodges and two Royal Arch Chapters as well as other Orders and he held high office in most of them. In the Province of Worcestershire he was an acting Provincial Assistant Director of Ceremonies and an Acting Provincial Grand Registrar, and was held in high regard throughout the Masonic community. His passing is a great loss, both to the Old Cheltonian Lodge and to the Masonic Province of Worcestershire. His willingness and his ability to take on even the most demanding of roles in a Masonic ceremony at little or even no notice, and the encouragement and support he gave to others will

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always be remembered.

But above all else, Mike was a great family man who was enormously proud of his three grandsons and their promising achievements. His warm and attractive personality created an aura of happiness among his close-knit family which made him deeply loved and respected.

This was also evident to his wide circle of friends who admired him for his cheerful and generous nature and for his courage and fortitude in adversity. He will be greatly missed and will be remembered for the manner in which he enriched our own lives.

Seldom has the recognition of a mortal illness been borne with such courage and fortitude as by Mike. He is survived by his wife Mary and their daughters Sarah and Joanna.

future generations of doctors. His tireless efforts on behalf of family medicine and improved patient care resulted in many honours and awards, including induction into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame and the Order of Canada.

The College of Family Physicians established the Ian McWhinney Family Medicine Education Award to recognise an outstanding family medicine teacher in Canada. The award continues to be presented annually to a family physician nominated for making unique and innovative contributions to family medicine education.

He published three books: Early Signs of Illness in 1964, An Introduction to Family Medicine in 1981 and a Text Book of Family Medicine in 1997.

Ian is survived by his two daughters, Heather and Julie.

Timothy George Lefroy (NH ’32) Tim Lefroy died on the 3rd February 2012, aged 97.

Jamie Lywood (L ’76) Jamie Lywood died on the 5th May 2013, aged 53.

Major Patrick Morrison Lee Mann (H ’45) Patrick Mann died on the 27th November 2012, aged 85.

Professor Michael George Maunsell (Xt ’60) Michael (Mike) Maunsell, son of Major A.C.K. Maunsell OBE (Xt ’27) and brother of Captain Kit Maunsell (Xt ’57), died in São Carlos, Brazil, on the 21st November 2012, aged 70, after a long and brave battle with cancer, fought with a sense of humour to the end.

Mike, as he was known by most in Brazil and where he spent most of his life, was a great character, usually remembered for his fine sense of humour, kindness and generosity. He was a much-loved and respected tutor to his many students as Professor and Head of the Aeronautics Department São Carlos, São Paulo University, a post he held from 1984. All his former students have very good memories of his lectures and supervision; many of them attended his funeral and were visibly moved and talked about his influence on their professional and personal lives. Mike played an important part in the success of the current Aeronautical Engineering course of the University of São Paulo; his actions had a crucial impact for the creation of the Aeronautical Engineering Department that was one of his dreams back in 1984. In recognition of this, his name has been given to the newly built Auditorium of the Aeronautical Engineering Department.

He is survived by his wife Sueli, their daughters Rebecca and Samantha, son Phillip, and grandchildren Luca and Felipe.

Professor Ian Renwick McWhinney (H ’44) Ian McWhinney died on the 3rd October 2013, aged 85. He was a College Prefect and Head of House. On leaving College, Ian went to Clare College, Cambridge, (1944-46) and St Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical School (1946-49) to study medicine. He served in the RAMC, with the rank of Captain, from 1951-53, and then went on to enjoy a very successful medical career.

Ian entered into general practice in Stratford with his father in 1954 and then emigrated to Canada in 1968 on being appointed the first Professor and Head of Family Medicine at the University of Western Ontario (1968-92). His visionary work transformed family medicine worldwide from an unacknowledged subject into an academic discipline with undergraduate courses. He became a Fellow of the College of Family Physicians of Canada in 1981 and inspired many family doctors to pursue teaching with a dedication to mentoring

Ashley John Miller FRCS MBBS MRCP LRCP (JS & Ch ’58) John Miller died on the 11th June 2013, aged 73. The first signs of his mischievous sense of humour were shown at College, where he was involved in a mock election held just prior to a general election – he rigged it so the communist party won! It made front-page news at the time, and he never confessed! He was leader of the Choir, played the violin in the Orchestra, was awarded athletics colours for two years and 2nd XI cricket colours. John played in the Cheltondale XV that shared House Pots with Christowe in 1956. He also began playing golf, something he would enjoy for the rest of his life.

After College, John attended medical school – he came from a medical family in Ireland and was a 4th generation doctor – and then specialised in orthopaedics. The Miller Elbow was developed while working at Northwick Park hospital with Lester Lowe in the early 1970s and was one of the first prostheses for elbows.

He was appointed Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon at the Mayday Hospital in 1973. Within four years, he was Senior Consultant. As his career progressed, hip surgery changed, with him often leading the way and his practice becoming the norm in other hospitals.

His papers include Metal Sensitivity 1974 as a cause of joint replacement failure – his most important conclusion being that plastic on metal artificial hip joints should be used instead of metal on metal joints. The government released a medical device alert on 22nd April 2010 and the issue became headline news in the Daily Mail on 17th June 2011 only 36 years after his paper had been written!

At the Mayday, he organised 7.30am trauma meetings, with daily trauma lists to follow. This was revolutionary stuff. He raised money for an outpatient Osteoporosis Department, the first open access unit in the country, and bought a DEXA bone density-scanning machine, which is still in use. He also sub-specialised in bone-conserving total hip, knee replacement and revision hip surgery. At the time, the Charnley anthroplasty was the method of choice, but there were failures. He favoured a non-cemented hip and visited Germany, Austria and Italy to see other surgeons at work. He introduced a different non-cemented prosthesis to the Mayday in 1991/2.

John visited Professor Pipino in Milan and held combined meetings and formed the Anglo-Italian hip club, hosting several meetings in the UK and Italy between 1997 and 2000. John was invited to give talks and demonstrate, operating and lecturing in Milan, Brescia, Florence, Naples, Slovenia, Estonia, Budapest, France, Germany, Rome and Majorca. Due to his work in Europe, he was invited by Link UKA to the Hip Meeting in Orlando to give lectures and seminars on several occasions.

His other outstanding achievement was buying and running North Downs Hospital, a run down nursing home with a minor operating theatre. Over nine years, in conjunction with two colleagues, he invested a lot of time and effort and converted it to a thriving hospital with outpatient facilities, theatre, and an X-ray machine. In 1992, he was approached by BIOPLAN with an offer he could not refuse and

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the hospital is still going well.

officers that I have had serve under me”.

He was recognised by staff that worked with him for his kind and caring nature, and how he spoke and explained things to his patients.

After the Army, he went to work in the City as a Lloyd’s broker, an institution where he spent the rest of his working life. He was an Underwriter at Hiscox and then on his own syndicate until retirement in his mid 50s. He travelled the world, both with work and for pleasure - another of his favourite sayings was “not many Lloyd’s people about”. He got great enjoyment out of saying this shortly before bumping into someone he knew, regardless of where he was in the world, even on honeymoon. He married his first wife, Diana, in 1961 and they had three children. The marriage broke up in the 1990s and he went on to marry twice again.

Whilst at College, he began playing golf; he joined the Littlehampton Golf Club and, at the age of 14, was playing in the local opens off a nominal handicap. He was awarded one in single figures – and he didn’t look back. One of his proudest golfing moments was in 2009 at the age of 69, he played below his age with a 67, net 62.

John was a magnificent contributor to the OCGS. He was the immediate Past President and was always very generous in time and spirit in support of OC golf, not only during his time as President, but also in his remarkable record as an OC golfer which will surely never be surpassed. In 2012, John achieved the amazing record of having played in the OC Halford Hewitt team in seven successive decades, having first been selected in 1959. He is one of a very small group who have played over a span of more than 50 years. During this time, he played 70 matches with many fine wins and many different partners. The OCGS have never won the Halford Hewitt but have reached the semi-finals three times, most recently in 2009 when John was in the team. However, they have won the Mellin Salver for senior golfers three times in recent years, with John being in the team each time, and he was also part of the winning Peter Burles team for over 65s in 2007. The OCGS will remember him as a larger than life character with great enthusiasm and a penchant for getting on his feet to make hilarious and chaotic speeches.

Through golf, he met Monica and they married on 10th June 1961.

Monica and he had many shared interests, with both golf and bridge playing a major part in their lives. After retirement, they also travelled extensively, both together and with friends, and visited America, Africa and Australasia.

He first started treatment for his cancer in 2002. For the next ten years he mainly enjoyed good health, but the family became used to the crises as he became ill more frequently. He was like a cat with nine lives as he would come close to death, but then bounce back – he survived two periods in the ITU, and also survived nearly drowning in Australia where he was resuscitated – and each time returned to a good level of fitness.

John is survived by his wife of over 52 years, their son Michael, daughters Rosemary (Roz) and Fiona, and three grandchildren, Emily, Francesca and Dominic.

Michael George Miller (H ’52) George Miller died on the 18th October 2012, aged 77. As a child he was known as Michael. On his arrival at College, someone asked him what his middle initial, G, stood for. “George, but I hate it” he said. He was known as George by everyone for the rest of his life!

At College, he played in the 3rd XV and was the goalkeeper in the 1952 unbeaten hockey XI as well as being Club Secretary. The report in the Cheltonian on the game against St Edwards said: “Miller was in his best form: twice he saved what looked like certain goals and his kicking was sure and violent”. He also played for the West of England Schools’ XI at the Folkestone Hockey Festival. George generally did well in the classroom but one school report described him as ‘morose, oafish and greedy’. This was a summary of which he was immensely proud and he took every opportunity to tell the story!

On leaving College, he completed his National Service in Kenya during the Mau Mau uprising. His commanding officer wrote: “This officer has, during his tour of duty with the Battery, proved himself to be a really first class officer. He has a pleasant, cheerful, yet firm manner; plenty of energy, initiative, and common sense; and is sound on technical gunnery matters. He is reliable and can lead men quietly and efficiently.

He has made himself fluent in the language, and has interested himself in the country and its people. I consider him one of the best junior

In retirement, he lived happily in the Vale of Pewsey. He built up a collection of First World War memorabilia, walked in the hills, drank in the Kings Arms, recorded books for blind ex- servicemen, and attended the church. He was keen to be part of the community and served on the PCC. Whilst he did not suffer fools gladly, he will be remembered for his humour and generosity. He was great company and was a real family man. He is survived by his first wife Diana, their daughters Catherine and Lucy, son Charles, and his much loved grandchildren.

Gerald Alfred Dudley Moor-Radford (NH ’46) Gerald Moor-Radford died on the 7th July 2013, aged 84.

Ranulph Francis de Roos Norman (JS & NH ’42) Ranulph Norman died in the USA on the 3rd February 2013, aged 88.

Dr Keith Okey (Xt ’56) Keith Okey died in Australia on the 4th September 2012, aged 74. He was a College Prefect, played on the left wing for the 1956 XV, and was in the winning House Pots XV in 1955. He rowed at 5/6 in the 1st VIII. Keith was also Captain of the Golf Club. He had very fond memories as a boarder. He came to College because his father, Doug, was sent to Den Hague in The Netherlands and Cologne in Germany to “vet” people immigrating to Australia after the war. Keith often talked about the fact of having arrived in the UK and being able to view the procession at Queen Elizabeth’s coronation. He had fond memories of being in the care of the Boutflowers during term and holidays and in fact he took his wife Trish to visit them when they were in the UK in 1966.

Keith returned to England for the centenary match of College with Rugby, and the centenary dinner. Jeremy (Xt ’58) and Julian Taylor (Xt ’56) had organised a gathering of all the 1st XVs from the past.

Before he left, Keith said to Nigel Evans (Xt ’56), Julian Taylor (Xt ’56) and Keith Foster (Xt ’56) “you’re coming to the Olympics in 2000 and you’re staying with me”, which they and their wives did.

On leaving College, Keith studied medicine at Sydney University, returned to England from 1965-9 to obtain his FRCS and then enjoyed a successful career as a general surgeon for over 35 years in the south-western region of Sydney.

Keith enjoyed collecting antiques. He bought his first piece - a silver christening mug - at the Portobello antiques market in London.

“From that moment collecting just grew on me. Like a disease, my wife would often say.” His purchases were eclectic until, in 1973, he bought “Denham Court”, a stately homestead set on six acres and dating back to 1812. Thereafter, he focused on furnishing the family home he shared with his wife, Trish, and four sons, with pre-1830 period pieces, many of them made from Australian cedar. His antique collection was considered one of Australia’s finest individual groupings of rare and colonial Australian furniture. A casuarina, musk and pine Boston secretaire, or writing desk, was one of his favourite pieces.

Keith said “It was probably made in Tasmania by Edward Wilson, an American-born cabinetmaker who fought in the Anglo-American War. He was exiled to Australia after being found guilty of ‘piratical invasion

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of Upper Canada’.’’

Sadly, at 72 and suffering from Parkinson’s disease, Keith and his wife decided to down size in 2010. He said: ‘’Old houses, especially those on the national estate, need a lot of maintenance, and ‘heritage’ craftsmen tend to charge like wounded bulls. In the past I’ve been buyer, curator, gardener, carpenter, guttering expert. But no more.’’

Keith is survived by his wife Trish and their four sons John, Mark, Daniel and Warwick.

Simon William Phillips (L ’71) Simon Phillips died on the 4th April 2012, aged 59.

Professor John Hugh Lyon Playfair (Ch ’49) John Playfair, son of Maj Gen Ian Playfair (Ch 1911) and brother of Guy (Ch ’52), died on the 14th August 2013, aged 82. He was of Scottish and French Huguenot ancestry. John was a scholar of College and a College Prefect. On leaving College, he went to Pembroke College, Cambridge, and then qualified as a doctor at King’s College Hospital, London. In the 1950s, John worked briefly at the Marsden and Brompton hospitals and then branched out into research on cancer and tropical medicine. He married Line in 1959 and shared a lifelong love of her native Corsica, spending many happy holidays there.

John spent three years in the early 1960s at the University of California, Berkeley, and also travelled extensively with the World Health Organisation, visiting hospitals and laboratories, and was in great demand as a lecturer and external examiner. Most of his working life was spent as a Lecturer and Professor of Immunology at the Middlesex Hospital (later University College Hospital) where he researched the immunology of tropical diseases, including malaria.

His textbooks, “Immunology at a Glance”, “Living with Germs” and “Infection and Immunity” (with Greg Bancroft) are still in use. He was accorded the status of Honorary Member of the British Immunology Society in recognition of his outstanding contributions to immunology and the work of the Society.

He wrote three novels which were well received: “Pursued by a Bear” (1958), “Andiamo” (1959), “The Dying Art” (1960) and he later wrote several crime novels which will be published online. He was also a talented painter and draughtsman, spent a lifetime playing and studying the clarinet, collecting and restoring antique French clarinets and designing improvements to the instrument such as new keys and bore sizes. He loved playing every member of the clarinet family and arranged chamber music for various wind ensembles. He wrote regularly for the magazine of the Clarinet and Saxophone Society.

Many of his rare clarinets have been donated to Edinburgh University’s Sir Nicholas Shackleton Collection.

His great sense of humour and broad range of interests brought him a wide circle of friends. He loved to read, often with a glass of Pastis in hand, and he was looking forward to the arrival of his first greatgrandchild. The family are planning a “clarinet fest” next year for all his friends to celebrate a life full of passion and harmony.

John donated his body to medical research and asked that his ashes be scattered near the Sanguinaires islands in Ajaccio, Corsica. He was much loved and is sadly missed by his wife Line, brother Guy, daughter Miranda, son Edward, grandchildren, extended family and friends.

Edward Gordon Pool (NH ’40) Edward (Ted) Pool died on the 1st January 2013, aged 90. He played in the 1940 XV and the Cheltonian reported that: ‘Pool was always up with the ball, good in the line-out and tight.’

Ted was Secretary of the Boat Club in 1940,

rowing at stroke. On leaving College in December 1940, he was commissioned into the Royal Irish Fusiliers but subsequently joined the Parachute Regiment in 1941 and was posted to the 7th Battalion.

As he drove into the barracks in his first car, a diminutive Austin 7, the RSM remarked: “Trying to make love in that contraption must be like attempting to play a trombone in a telephone kiosk”.

In the early hours of June 6 1944, Ted, by now a platoon commander was dropped near Le Port, a small village close to what is now Pegasus Bridge. His 7th battalion had been ordered to hold the western approach to the bridge, which crossed the Caen Canal at Bénouville. Success would aid the bridge’s capture by the glider-borne ‘coup de main’ company of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. At first light, Paras deployed in the area came under fire from a group of German snipers ensconced in the church tower at Le Port. An anti-tank grenade was fired, blowing a hole in the tower and silencing the snipers, but not before one of the Paras had been shot in the head.

As the invasion forces consolidated their position during the ensuing days, more attacks were made by the battalion to dislodge pockets of defending Germans. On June 18, while trying to knock out a machine-gun post in the Bois de Bavent, Ted was hit in the leg, hip and groin, and a phosphorus grenade in his ammunition pouch was ignited by one of the shots. He was dragged to safety by Sgt McCambridge and some riflemen, and endured weeks of great pain and semi-consciousness until he found himself back in a recuperation centre in England, having lost a leg. He was awarded a Military Cross for his inspirational leadership and courage in holding an outpost on the western bridgehead for 21 hours while under constant attack by superior forces.

In the immediate post-war years, despite his artificial leg, Ted was determined to lead as full a life as possible, and he took up skiing, sailing, mountaineering and amateur motor racing. He had a succession of lively motor cars, including a Red Label Bentley, various Lea Francis sports cars, a Type 35 Bugatti, an ERA and a Rolls-Royce.

In his seventies, he switched to rally driving which he enjoyed until he was well into his eighties. On one occasion, racing his Bugatti, he overturned the car on a bend. An ambulance crew rushed to his aid and asked him if he was hurt. They were momentarily perplexed when he replied: “I’m fine except that I’ve broken my ruddy leg.” It was the wooden one.

His father - the owner of a prosperous wholesale meat business - had died in 1942, and his elder brother had been killed during the war flying Spitfires; so it fell to Ted to take over the enterprise. He had, however, a profound distaste for the abattoirs and the business was sold.

In the mid-1950s he married Diana Veasey, but the marriage was later dissolved and he fell deeply for Elisabeth Frink, the sculptor. They married in 1964 and later moved to Cévennes in France. Ted became a diligent viticulturist while his wife established a studio. Eventually this marriage too came to an end and he moved back to London. After a third, but brief, marriage, he met Christabel Briggs, a director of the Piccadilly Gallery in Cork Street, and in 1981 they married.

He considered a final appointment as secretary of the Beefsteak Club a decided bonus at his stage in life and continued in the role successfully until he retired, aged 70. In retirement, he enjoyed travelling to France, bird watching, reading and writing.

Ted Pool’s wife survives him with a son and daughter of his first marriage.

Major Lawrence Edward Pottinger LVO MBE (BH ’38) Lawrence Pottinger, son of Lt Col RS Pottinger (BH 1883), died in Australia on the 3rd August 2013, aged 91.

Lt Cdr Timothy George Preedy (S, L & BH ’41) Tim Preedy, son of Col C Preedy OBE (S 1903), died on the 10th February 2013, aged 89. He was one of a small group of boys who

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was in three Houses - due to the evacuation to Shrewsbury at the start of World War II and subsequent return to Cheltenham. On leaving College, he joined the Royal Navy where he served on HMS Mauritius supporting the landings at Italy and on D-Day. After the war, he served on HMS Sharpshooter - surveying navigable rivers in Sarawak - and HMS Indefatigable. He rose to the rank of Lt Commander. On leaving the Navy in 1954, he qualified as a Chartered Accountant in Plymouth in 1959 and became a specialist in personal taxation, running his own practice in Plymouth and Saltash. He became a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Taxation and served as District President of the Association of Chartered Accountants.

He is survived by his wife Jessie and their daughter Elizabeth and son Charles (BH ’68).

James Michael Robinson (BH ’48) Michael (Mike) Robinson died on the 24th December 2013, aged 83.

Dr David Walter Roche (Xt ’46) David Roche, father of Brian (Xt ’69) and Nicholas (Xt ’70), died on the 10th June 2013, aged 84.

He was in the 1946 XV and the 1945 & 46 cricket XIs. The cricket report in the 1946 Cheltonian reported: “Roche more than maintained College’s reputation for good wicket-keeping”. After National Service as a 2nd Lt in the RA, he studied medicine at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London (for whom he played rugby and cricket) and subsequently worked for many years as a General Practitioner in South West London. He was senior partner in a practice in Southfields when he retired in 1998. He is survived by his sons, Brian and Nicholas, and two daughters, Pamela and Sally.

Michael Frederick Shaw (L ’53) Michael Shaw died on the 22nd December 2013, aged 80.

Flight Lieutenant Anthony Noel Snell DSO (Xt ’39) Tony Snell died on the 4th August 2013, aged 91. On leaving College, he joined the RAF in November 1940 and trained in the United States as a pilot under the US/UK bilateral ‘Arnold’ Scheme. In July 1942, he joined No 242 Squadron flying Spitfires. Three months later, Tony headed for North Africa, where the squadron provided support for the First British Army as it headed eastwards to Tunis. He flew air interception sorties and convoy patrols. With German air activity reducing, bomber escort and ground attack strafing operations predominated until the final Axis collapse on that front in May 1943.

The squadron then moved to Malta to prepare for the invasion of Sicily. As the Allies launched their amphibious and airborne landings on July 10th 1943, Tony took off to provide cover over the beachhead.

A force of Messerschmitt fighters attacked him, his Spitfire was hit and he had to make a forced landing on enemy territory. He managed to avoid capture and tried to return to the beachhead after dark, managing to convince a group of Italian soldiers that he was a Vichy Frenchman. Later he was challenged by a German patrol that ordered him to put his hands up. Without warning they rolled a hand grenade towards him but he managed to jump clear and run off, followed by more grenades.

He hid in scrub and realised that he was in a minefield, out of which he picked his way towards a track. There he blundered into a German airfield very near the battle area, and was captured. The Germans decided to execute him as a spy, marched him to an open space and ordered him to kneel down. Realising that he was about to be shot, he leapt up and ran off as the Germans fired. He was badly wounded, his right shoulder being smashed, but he managed to escape. He tried to make the Allied lines but owing to extreme weakness, his attempt

failed. Re-captured at dawn, he was again threatened with execution but managed to prove his identity. He was taken to hospital and later transferred by ship to Lucca in Tuscany, where he remained for two months being treated for his wounds.

The Germans decided to transfer him to Germany by train. Although not fully recovered, Tony made plans to escape en-route. In company with an American officer, Tony jumped from the train as it slowed at a junction and the two headed south. For the next week they had several narrow escapes before joining up with Italian partisans. With their help, they reached Modena where families sheltered them for several months. When they were fit, the two decided that they should head for the Swiss border.

They made a long and risky train journey, accompanied by their Italian friends, to a small village near the frontier where they were introduced to two guides. After a very long and steep climb over the mountains, they crossed the frontier into Switzerland. They were interned until October 1944 when the American advance from the south of France reached the Swiss border. Tony was awarded the DSO, one of very few awarded exclusively for escaping from the enemy.

On his return to Britain, he spent time in hospital before returning to flying duties. He converted to the Meteor jet fighter and flew with No 504 Squadron (later re-numbered No 245), which moved to Germany just after the war finished. Tony remained with the squadron until August 1946, and was discharged from the RAF shortly after.

For 20 years afterwards he was an actor and songwriter. He toured a one-man show around Africa and, with his wife Jackie, travelled the United States and Mexico in a Volkswagen bus. In New York, he recorded an album of his songs, ‘Englishman Abroad’, half of which were written by him, with the others by his friend Donald Cotton, the author of early ‘Doctor Who’ scripts.

Tony returned to England in 1966, bought a catamaran, sailed it with his wife to Spain and set up a business giving day charters out of Ibiza. Three years later he moved to the British Virgin Islands (BVI) and established Virgin Voyages with three boats; but this was not a success and he and his wife opened a restaurant, The Last Resort, on Jost van Dyke. After a year, the restaurant was burnt down and they returned to Ibiza to sell their catamaran before heading back to BVI to reopen The Last Resort on Bellamy Cay, a tiny island in Trellis Bay, Tortola. While living on a houseboat, they built the restaurant from scratch on the ruins of a derelict building.

Tony co-owned the restaurant and bar and provided most of the entertainment, playing the guitar, the piano and the chromatic harmonica, singing songs (many of his own composition) and never fully grasping the meaning of political correctness; Jackie was chief cook. The restaurant was just one product of a buccaneering business spirit. During their three decades in the Caribbean, they also bought a large derelict hotel in New Hampshire that now houses 12 apartments, travelled to Bali to buy furniture for the hotel, bought a cottage in Sussex and an investment property in Brighton.

Although his family eventually took over The Last Resort, Tony – relentlessly energetic – was still entertaining there until just a few weeks before his death.

His wife predeceased him in 2001, and he is survived by their daughter Jessica and son Jeremy.

Emily Sumaria (JS ’04) Emily Sumaria died on 4th December 2012, aged 19, in Leeds where she was at University studying Geography. Born in Kenya, Emily’s family moved to the UK when she was 18 months old and she was a pupil at CCJS from kindergarten to the age of 11 when she started at Cheltenham Ladies’ College.

She excelled at hockey, playing for school, county, East Glos hockey club and at several West of England Tournaments. She continued her hockey at Leeds University.

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When she was 14, Emily developed epilepsy but it did not affect her zest for life. It was easily controlled by medication and at 17 she learnt to drive and gave it little thought. Emily had a short but action-packed life. She travelled widely with her international family and often got into scrapes. She was swept down the Zambezi river when her boat flipped over in a dangerous rapid while white-water rafting and was briefly abducted on a camel in the Wadi Rum desert in Jordan but nothing ever phased her and she was always smiling.

Emily was exuberant and sometimes militant. If she thought an injustice was being done, she stuck her head above the parapet and spoke out. But she will mostly be remembered for always making people laugh. Emily was loving her new life in Leeds in a student house with her friends and was looking forward to another intrepid holiday to Cuba with her family over Christmas.

Unfortunately, Emily suffered a seizure in bed on 4th December and died from Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP). She is survived by her sister Amy and parents, Rachel and Bharat.

Henry Hall Tomlinson (BH ’40) Henry Tomlinson, father of the late Nicholas Tomlinson (BH ’74), died on the 5th June 2013, aged 88. He left College, aged 16, at the outbreak of World War II, to join the Navy. Henry served as a sub-lieutenant on HMS Charybdis and was then transferred into Naval Intelligence in Bletchley Park and then Ceylon.

After the war, he took up his place at Magdalene College, Cambridge, to read History. After graduation, he trained for the Colonial Service and was posted as a District Comissioner and Magistrate to the Gold Coast, now Ghana. Within the first month his senior officer was flown home with malaria leaving him in charge of the Northwestern Territories, an area the size of Wales. He made it his business to trek by horse or car along rudimentary roads to visit all the tribal chiefs and headmen in the area, smoothing local disputes and building up good relations. Towards the end of his first two-year tour he met Jill Cammell who was staying with the High Commissioner as a family guest and within two weeks they were engaged. They were the talk of the colony - ‘That quiet young man!’ They were married in the summer during leave in England and then spent their first two years of married life in Salaga, Ghana. It was a simple life, making fun out of little - a Tomlinson characteristic! They were frequently called upon to entertain colonial and government officers passing through their area, usually at very short notice making the procurement of any scraggy chicken a great challenge. Besides entertaining colonial guests, Henry worked with tribal chiefs to prepare the country for independence and wrote two books: ‘History of the Gonja People’ & ‘Grammar and Word List of the Gonja Language’.

On returning to the UK in 1954, his post-colonial career was always centred on developing people, working in Education and Training positions, initially in companies, including ICI, Pilkington Brothers, British Steel, and then for Consultative bodies such as the Confederation of British Industry, Engineering Employer’s Federation and the Department of Education and Science. As if that was not enough service to people, he gave his skills, time and energy to many education and youth boards, councils and societies. He was a natural and sought-after chairman of committees, steering discussion towards a defined goal in a harmonious atmosphere. His love of people of all sorts is succinctly summarised in his attitude to being thought eccentric: ‘How very boring to be centric!’

He was very actively engaged in local politics and acted as chairman in St Albans for the Conservatives and for the SDP when they were first formed. He was adopted as Conservative Parliamentary candidate for Ipswich in early married life but decided not to take it in order to devote his time to his family.

He was appointed as Warden at St George’s House, Windsor (1987-8), which entailed a move to Windsor Castle. This brought together his interest in politics, religion, education and training. Founded by Prince

Philip, its aim was to bring together leaders, scientists, movers and thinkers from all walks of life in order to be able to quietly discuss matters out of the limelight. Henry was a natural for this as he was excellent at making organisations run smoothly, introducing people to ideas succinctly and always running a ‘happy ship’.

For the last eight or so years of his life, Henry had suffered from vascular dementia and he and Jill moved to an Abbeyfield home in Glasgow in 2010 to be nearer his daughter Jane. On hearing of Henry’s death, Jean MacGregor, the Manager of Abbeyfield residential home in Rutherglen, Glasgow, wrote ‘Henry’s passing will be a great loss to all who ever had the good fortune and privilege to meet him.

Henry was to me the epitome of a true English Gentleman of the highest order. Everything about him was first class, his presence & bearing, his beautiful speaking voice, his wonderful command of the Queen’s English, his impeccable manners, his extensive knowledge of so many subjects always left me in awe, as well as his standards, morals & his innate sense of decency and compassion, everything about Henry was to me very special.’

Two early difficult experiences formed his deep compassion with people and innate sense of decency. His earliest memory was seeing the workers of his parents’ textile mill demonstrating and pricking police horses with needles. Henry’s father was badly shell-shocked as a cavalry officer in World War I, and as a result his parents separated.

Henry was brought up by his mother living in hotels in London and on the Kent coast. Despite, or because of this, Henry had a wonderful sense of humour and could always entertain people with warm, intelligent but also very silly stories drawn from his varied life.

The eulogy at his funeral ended with a poem Henry had himself written in 1977: Raindrops fall on the brown pool.

First one circle then another Ripples from each point of impact, Then another and another Till the surface once a mirror Bears design of circles changing, Touching, perfect for an instant, Disappearing for yet others, Till the raindrops’ tempo slackens And the pool once more a mirror, Shows the radiance of Heaven When life’s madcap dance is done.

Henry was predeceased by his wife, Jill, in 2011, and their son Nicholas (BH ’74), who sadly died at the age of 25 during a charity marathon in Oman in 1983, and is survived by their daughter Jane.

George Jurdison Newman Tuck (BH ’48) George Tuck, son of Major-General G.N. Tuck CB OBE (BH 1913), nephew of H.K. Tuck (BH ’15) and brother of the Colonel F.M.K. Tuck (BH ’52), died on the 1st May 2013, aged 78. As the son of a soldier, his family moved around in his early years. During World War II, his prep school was evacuated to Dartmoor. George’s passion at College was rugby, and he played for the English Schools’ XV versus Scotland and Wales in 1948.

After College, George did National Service, mostly in the Durham Light Infantry. From the services he went up to Cambridge University to read Moral Sciences, then to the LSE, before heading into business management.

George married Norah Simpson in 1961 at the Royal Hospital Chelsea.

They had four children. The family lived in London, Wolverhampton and Birmingham, before retirement brought George and Norah back to Cheltenham. He enjoyed supporting the College by watching sports matches, meeting some students, and joining a prayer meeting for the College.

During much of his working life, George ran a Christian networking ministry called West Midlands Vision. His scores of business prayer

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breakfasts in Birmingham city centre brought hundreds of people together, and his travels took him to Africa and America.

George died, aged 83, at the first light of a beautiful May dawn. His final daily bible reading was from Revelation 22 v. 5, appropriately enough about heaven. “There will be no more night. God’s servants will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light”.

George is survived by his wife of 52 years, Norah, their daughters Elizabeth, Rebecca and Ruth, son Stephen and 13 grandchildren of which he was very proud.

Donovan Layland Walker (JS & Ch ’51) Donovan (Don) Walker, brother of Christopher (David) (JS & Ch ’49) and the late Guy (Ch ’54), father of Peter (JS & Ch ’77) and Richard (JS & Ch ’80), died on the 13th April 2013, aged 80. He was born in Yass, New South Wales, Australia in 1933. His father Arthur, a Londoner, had fought with the ANZACS in the First World War, and was given a piece of land near Yass, as a returning soldier at the end of the war. When Don was three, the family returned to the UK. He was keen on his sport at College and played in the Hockey XI in 1951, was a member of the Cricket XXII in 1950 and played fly-half for the 2nd XV in 1949 & 1950 – he had two games in the XV at the beginning of the 1950 season, as well as representing the Military XV v the Classical XV. On leaving College, Don won a place at St John’s College, Cambridge, to read Agriculture. He was then commissioned into the 5th Inniskilling Dragoon Guards for his National Service from 1954-56. He enjoyed this experience, probably not least because he spent several weeks of it training for, and participating in, the Army Ski championships in the Alps! He seriously considered staying on in the Army, but his father fell ill and duty called him back to the family farm at Aylworth. Shortly afterwards, he married Veronica and three years later they moved to a farm in Warwickshire. Three years later, they sold the farm and Don and Guy then tried a few business ventures together, including golf driving ranges around Birmingham and selling an innovative farm fencing product made in Australia. Don then decided to move back to the Cotswolds and in 1967 they moved to Redmans Farm in Cold Aston. The farm came with a battery chicken farm and a few acres. He never intended to be a battery chicken farmer but dedicated himself to learning about it and making a good job of it. In 1976, he bought more acres and this enabled him to do the farming he loved best and grow wheat and barley.

He was passionate about farming and his office was full of farmers’ weeklies and University textbooks. He also took an avid interest in current affairs and financial matters, with further mounds in his office of the Investors’ Chronicle and the ever-present Radio 4 and BBC news. Don was committed to the community around him, and for many years was a conscientious secretary to Cold Aston Parish Council. Later on, he worked with the Armed Forces charity SSAFA and supported Veronica’s charity work throughout. He loved classical music and was a frequent visitor to Stratford.

Sadly, Don and his wife were homebound for the last ten years.

Veronica suffered from Parkinson’s and Don had Alzheimer’s. Veronica predeceased him in 2007 and Don continued to live at home with live in care until 2009 when he moved into a nursing home. He is survived by his sons Peter and Richard.

Gordon Wallace-Hadrill (Ch ’42 & Former Member of Staff) Gordon Wallace-Hadrill, brother of JM Wallace-Hadrill (Ch ’30) and DS Wallace-Hadrill (Ch ’33), died on 31st May 2013, aged 88. He had many links with College, which he attended as a boy from 1938-1942 and where he taught from 1953 until his retirement in 1984.

Gordon’s time as a boy at College coincided with the Second World War. He shared in the brief evacuation of the College to Shrewsbury on the outbreak of war, but returned to Cheltenham in 1940. He had a highly successful school career, becoming Senior Prefect and Senior Under-Officer in the Cadet Corps. He gained an Exhibition in History to Brasenose College, Oxford, but spent only one term there before being called up for war service. He gained a commission in the 1st Battalion, King’s Royal Rifle Corps, where he became Signals Officer in his regiment, and served in the final stages of the Italian Campaign.

Returning to Oxford in 1946 to read History, what he enjoyed most was singing in the Bach Choir under the redoubtable baton of Tommy Armstrong. An attack of scarlet fever coincided with his final exams, and he failed to get his predicted first class degree – possibly a blessing in disguise as it saved him from doing a research degree and he went straight into teaching.

The son of a very successful Housemaster at Bromsgrove School, Gordon had always wanted to teach. His first job was at Ardingly College, a small and lesser-known school but with a dynamic Headmaster, George Snow, who brought a breath of fresh air. Gordon was given many responsibilities; Housemaster, Head of History, Adjutant of the CCF among them. After four years, feeling the need for a change and a less monastic existence, a chance meeting with the then Headmaster of College, Guy Pentreath, gave Gordon the opportunity he wanted. It led to the immediate offer of a job, and for the next thirty-one years, 1953-1984, Gordon devoted his energies, interests and abilities to College.

In the classroom, his main sphere of interest continued to be History, particularly in the Sixth Form. But he also shepherded the less able through English Language O level, coached rugby, cricket and hockey teams, ran a very popular Archery Activity and contributed his excellent voice to the Choir and the Choral Society. As a neighbour in the Choral Society, I knew that he would always come in at the right time and on the right note.

He spent nine years as Housemaster of Cheltondale and oversaw the huge improvement that took place in the accommodation of boarders, including the introduction of study-bedrooms. Cheltondale became a blueprint for the other boarding houses and led the way to a more civilised environment all round.

In 1973, David Ashcroft invited Gordon to become Director of Studies, with a variety of responsibilities. The most important of these, in Gordon’s view, was the provision of reliable advice on further education to the hundred or so boys (and later girls) who left College every year. In the first place this entailed visits to over fifty Universities and Polytechnics. On the basis of his researches, Gordon was thus in a position to guide pupils towards the courses and Universities most appropriate to their abilities, interests and future careers. He cast his net widely. New Universities and Polytechnics were given as much attention as Oxford and Cambridge. This was a groundbreaking departure and Gordon’s advice was widely sought by other schools in Cheltenham. It was probably the job which gave him most satisfaction.

In his early years on the staff at Cheltenham, Gordon was attached as a tutor to Boyne House. It was here that he met Gill Hughes, the house matron, who became his much loved wife in 1958. They had two daughters, Alison and Jennie, who grew up in Cheltenham. On retirement, Gordon and his family moved to Newport, Pembrokeshire, where they had frequently spent their holidays. They bought a Welsh cottage in a lovely setting. Gordon missed his Cheltenham friends but soon made new ones and continued to coach local pupils and write guides on further education. Gordon and Gill, then moved to Plymouth to be near their daughter Alison.

Gordon was my good friend and colleague for twenty-two years. As Head of History, I knew I could always rely on his meticulous attention to detail. Every exam paper was marked, every report written on time with care and good judgment. More than that, he knew just how to motivate the dull as well as the able, and the bright but disorganised who failed to meet deadlines. He was an inspiring History teacher.

In public he had the gift of puncturing pomposity in all its forms and

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lightening the mood. One of my fondest memories is of his intervention in an increasingly tetchy calendar meeting. After a clash between a sporting fixture and a planned theatre visit, Gordon intervened with an innocent question: “Headmaster, did you say whether the coach was to leave at 5.00am or 5.00pm?” Tempers were immediately cooled.

Let Jennie have the final word: in the ‘Top Ten’ memories she wrote to be included in the Eulogy to be said at Gordon’s funeral, these were two I have picked out: 7. He was so creative – music, painting, DIY, gardening – quietly talented and always encouraging us to remember the creative side of life.

8. I always felt loved. This gave me a solid grounding and an unshakeable belief which has stood me in good stead over the years.

Thanks Dad. Gordon was predeceased by his wife of over fifty years, Gill, and is survived by his daughters Alison and Jennie and his grandchildren.

W.O. Simpson (Former Member of Staff, 1965-1992)

Rollo Shaun Roche de Warenne Warren (JS & BH ’59) Rollo Warren, son of Major William Warren MC (BH ’22), died on the 2nd July 2012, aged 70.

Ronald Claude Warren (BH ’47) Ronald Warren died in South Africa on the 5th February 2013, aged 82.

Edward Parr Wilmot-Morgan OBE (BH ’36) Edward Wilmot-Morgan died on the 30th November 2012, aged 95.

He was born in Ceylon, where his family history went back over 120 years. After leaving College, he studied civil engineering at Bristol University and served in the Royal Marines during the Second World War. After the war, he moved to Hong Kong where he was Director of Water Supplies. During the water drought there in 1961/2, he headed a delegation to the Chinese People’s Government where he successfully negotiated for water supplies for which he was awarded an OBE. Whilst in Hong Kong, he published a book entitled ‘Stormwater Drainage Design and Practice as Applicable to the Colony of Hong Kong’. After Hong Kong he became Senior Engineer for various companies before taking his final job as Director of Public Works in the Bahamas in 1980, from which he retired in 1983.

Chairman, of the Education Committee of Council, he brought great wisdom, experience and humour, always being available to a succession of Headmasters and Presidents of Council. His advice and guidance to countless prospective Oxbridge candidates was greatly appreciated, as was his involvement, on Council’s behalf, in establishing a good working relationship between the Cheltonian Association and the Cheltonian Society. When he retired, he accepted The Society’s invitation to become an Honorary Member. College is indebted to one of its true servants, for his generosity of spirit, great kindness and devotion to his work.

He went beyond the call of duty and took great trouble to know all members of the teaching staff, and to support the widest range of College events and activities. So, quite apart from the formal meetings of the Council, Cameron visited the school at least once every term, just to make himself available to all members of staff; if nobody had any pressing business, he was content to be in the Common Room for coffee, read the paper, have lunch and go home. Often this visit would be timed to coincide with a concert or a play in either College itself or in the Junior School for which he was also responsible. This meant that he was extremely well briefed about all appropriate matters, and was also on hand to offer support and encouragement to both staff and pupils. He also offered good advice to pupils aspiring to read Modern Languages at University.

Cameron’s involvement was unconditional and his commitment was total. In good times he was there to offer appreciation and encouragement, but when the school had to meet very difficult challenges, he was completely imperturbable and continued to support and to guide. Indeed, when many others fell by the wayside, then he helped things get back on track.

Cameron’s wife, Brenda, supported all Cameron’s involvement and showed tremendous kindness to all of the College community. It was entirely fitting that he wanted Brenda to be remembered by a very fine garden bench that stands close to the College Chapel door for all to enjoy.

Cameron was predeceased by Brenda and is survived by their daughter Helen and son Martin.

He is survived by his wife, Beryl, three step-sons, five grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

Dr Cameron Wilson (Former Member of Council) Cameron Wilson died on the 21st September 2013, aged 70, after a long debilitating illness borne stoically. He joined the College Council, College’s governing body, in 1989 as the nominee of Cambridge University where he was a Teaching Fellow, Lecturer in French, Tutorial Advisor and Director of Studies in Modern Languages, at Jesus College, where he himself had been a student. During his outstanding career at Cambridge he had also been President and Admissions Tutor of Jesus College, Lecturer in French at Magdalene College, member of Cambridge University Careers Service Syndicate and its Executive and Appointments Committees, as well as being a member of OCR Qualifications Committee, Chairman of OCR Appeals Committee and Chief Examiner in French Sixth Term Examination Papers and Principal Examiner at A Level. Against that background, it is little wonder that College wanted to keep hold of this extraordinary and talented man and until 2009, when he retired, College was extremely fortunate to have him as a friend and advisor.

Cameron’s dedication to College was obvious to all with whom he had contact. His termly visits to the Common Rooms of both the Junior and Senior schools were greatly appreciated, as was his attendance at plays, concerts and Chapel services. As a member, and latterly

O B I T UA R I E S All these 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 Paul Chamberlain (HM 19972004) for proof reading and 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 15, please get in touch.

Malcolm Sloan OC Administrator

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Alastair Barr

Denys Begbie

John Blount

John Chalcraft

David Couch

Christopher Curtis

Owen Darrell

Nigel Davenport

Robert Du Pontet

Timothy Elford

Keith Foster

John Grassie

Geoffrey Greenish

Robert Hutton

Michael Kipping

Michael Maunsell

Ian McWhinney

John Miller

George Miller

Keith Okey

John Playfair

Edward Pool

David Roche

Anthony Snell

Emily Sumaria

Henry Tomlinson

George Tuck

Donovan Walker

Gordon Wallace-Hadrill

Cameron Wilson

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

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