Obituaries The Queen’s Royal Regiment amalgamated with the East Surrey Regiment and, in 1959, he became second-in-command of the Queen’s Royal Surrey Regiment and was stationed in Bury St Edmunds, Aden and Hong Kong. A staff tour in Singapore was followed by a posting to the MoD in 1964 and then a three-year tour as military attaché in Cambodia. In 1970 he retired from the Army.
Lieutenant-Colonel John ‘Oscar’ Palmer (LH 34) John ‘Oscar’ Palmer, the son of MajorGeneral Geoffrey Palmer (LH 1905), was born in London in May 1920. He was educated at Uppingham and, after attending RMC Sandhurst, he was posted to India. In Bombay, he wrote afterwards, there was a high-class maison de rendezvous run by a charming French lady. She recruited pretty girls from all over the Middle East and, having amassed a great deal of money, made a large donation to the Spitfire Fund. She was appointed MBE for her contribution to the war effort. In 1940 he was posted to Razmak on the North West Frontier. One night the 5/8 Punjab Regiment, which was picketing on the crest of a mountain, was surrounded by hostile Mahsud tribesmen. They went to their position the next morning to help with the evacuation of the wounded. Oscar never forgot the sight of the bodies of the dead that had been stripped and mutilated. At the end of 1943 he was posted to 2 QRR, which was formed into two “columns” as part of the Chindit force operating in Burma. He arrived back in England in September 1944 and in 1945 was posted to the Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment in Canterbury. Jungle training, in anticipation of the invasion of Malaya, was conducted on Romney Marsh, but was curtailed by the dropping of the atom bomb on Japan. After a spell in BAOR, in 1947 he returned to 1 QRR in Singapore and then took up a staff appointment at GHQ Far East Land Forces. He instructed at Eaton Hall Officer Cadet School before attending Pakistan Staff College at Quetta. This was followed, in 1953, by a posting to Malaya Command as GSO2 during the Emergency. In 1955 he took command of a rifle company of 1st Battalion the Queen’s Royal Regiment (1 QRR) in Malaya. His battalion killed about 50 insurgents during its threeyear tour and he was awarded a Military Cross.
Oscar Palmer is predeceased by his wife Kathleen and he is survived by their two sons, one of whom, Nigel Palmer (LH 75) followed his father and grandfather into Lorne House. Lockie Baird (LH 40) Lockhart Baird was born in Rangoon with his brothers James (LH 43) and Douglas (LH 47). He excelled at sport at Uppingham, being in the 1st XV, Hockey XI and Running VIIIs, and then went on to Emmanuel College, Cambridge. His studies were interrupted by the war and he enlisted in the Fleet Air Arm, being stationed in Northern Ireland where he met his wife June who was serving as a WREN.
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discovering the company and older anglers coming back to them. Jim was a masterful and knowledgeable angler as well. Having started fishing at age seven, Jim was a world class fly casting champion. He won three professional casting championships at world championship level and took 35 British and all-comers professional casting records. He retired in 1992, after 44 years, but stayed busy with the company as a consultant. He was (rightfully so) proud of the Hardy company and its legacy of success and quality. In 1998 his book “The House The Hardy Brothers Built” was published in which he chronicled the history and legacy of the world-renowned company. Jim Hardy was a quiet legend in the fly fishing world. He will be sadly missed.
After being demobbed, Lockie joined Burma Oil and spent the next two decades working in Burma, East Pakistan and India. Lockie and June returned to the UK in the 1970s but finally decided to emigrate to Australia in 1995 where his sons David (LH 66) and Neil (LH 70) lived. Despite declining health, Lockie still organised the Diamond wedding anniversary celebrations for June and himself in January and was able to attend an Uppingham reunion in Perth at the end of March 2012. Lockie passed away peacefully at home in July. Jim Hardy (F 40) Jim Hardy, who died in July 2012, was the last direct link to the original Hardy fishing tackle company. This is a loss to not only the British fishing community, but to anglers everywhere. Born in 1927, Jim studied engineering on leaving Uppingham before going to work for his family’s legendary company. Even though his family owned the company, Jim started out at the bottom, working his way up through the ranks. This allowed him to learn all the aspects of the Hardy Tackle company. He joined the company’s board in 1959 as “Works Director”. In 1967 he became Hardy’s marketing director. It is no secret that through Jim Hardy’s efforts the company expanded and grew both domestically and throughout the globe – especially in America. New products and advertising campaigns had new anglers
John Bowman (WD 41) John Bowman was born in 1928. He spent five happy years at Uppingham from 194145 and despite the war it was a time he always remembered with great fondness. Upon leaving school, he joined the Royal Horse Guards, “the Blues”, as part of National Service then took up his place at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, to read law. After graduating from Cambridge, he started with Price Waterhouse, qualifying as a Chartered Accountant thus beginning a successful career in business. He joined Charterhouse Bank becoming Managing Director of Charterhouse Development Capital and was one of the early pioneers of what is now known as Private Equity. In retirement, he held a number of nonexecutive positions – including corporate directorships – and various charitable roles with the Red Cross, schools and church and village committees. Golf played an important part throughout his life. He was Captain of Thorndon Park Golf Club, was an active member of Royal Worlington & Newmarket Golf Club and captained the Senior Golfers’ Society in the Millennium year. (cont..)
