Obituaries

Brian Boobbyer (WD 40), who died in January 2011 aged 82, was one of the finest all-round sportsman of his era. Born in 1928, sport was his passion and cricket in particular. Indeed in 1939, as an 11 year old, he opened the batting for Durston House prep school in Ealing and went the whole season without getting out. That year he went on to Ripley Court for two years before coming to Uppingham School in 1940. Here he excelled at cricket, spending four years in the team and representing England Schoolboys. He was also Head Boy. However the most significant moment occurred aged fifteen when, playing rugby, a game he had previously disliked because he hated tackling, he found himself unable to get out of the way of a large opponent rushing at him and had no option but to tackle him hard. ‘Overnight, ‘he used to say, ‘a game I hated became a game I loved.’ In fact he showed such flair for it that within three years he was again playing for England Schoolboys.

After school, while doing his National Service, he played rugby for Rosslyn Park and he went up to Oxford in 1948 to read history at Brasenose with a reputation as a cricketer and a rugby player. He broke into the Oxford rugby side in his second year and played three varsity matches, all on the winning side. By Christmas 1949 he was catching the eyes of the England selectors and he made his debut against Wales the term after. He went on to win 9 caps in the next three seasons, scoring against France and against Ireland in 1952 when England won 3-0.

Brian had always taken his Christian faith seriously and while at Oxford had discovered the work of Frank Buchman and, accepted the challenge to take faith seriously and make his Christian commitment relevant to national life. Following his last term at Oxford he again went on a rugby tour, this time to Japan, but when it was over, and the others were heading home, he stayed out there to work with an international group, the first overseas delegation invited to come to Japan since the war. That decision was not popular with everyone back home and even his family were split, but the result was that he never played rugby or cricket ever again at a serious level. The next few years took him to all parts of the world. He found that he had a gift as a public speaker and a way of presenting spiritual truths in ways that everyone could understand and appreciate. He devoted the rest of his life to that work and there are people on every continent who are grateful for what he gave them. His wife, Juliet survives him along with their two sons, Philip and Mark, and five grandchildren. compete all around Europe and the world, retuning to New Zealand to compete in April 2002. He retired from diving due to ill health in November 2005, aged 75. Brian is survived by his wife Jacqui, children Helen & Bill and four grandchildren. Among their memories of their Grandad are those of him hanging by his toes from the garden trapeze, and jumping on a pogo stick at the young age of seventy. During recent years Brian put up a brave fight against his increasing disability but sadly died in August 2010.

Bobby Boobbyer (WD 40)

Brian Jolly (B 42) was born at Oak Lawn, in Buckden. He attended Uppingham, and then joined the RAF where he trained as a mechanical engineer. After leaving the RAF he worked for De Havillands.

He loved motorbikes and rode them for many years, even after breaking his cheekbone and losing his front teeth in a fight with a manhole cover in Mill Hill.

After emigrating to Montreal for two years, Brian and his wife, Jacqui returned to live in Eaton Socon where Brian worked at Robertson’s engineers in Bedford, then Cincinnati Milacron in Biggleswade and finally spent some happy years working for Cleghorn Waring in Baldock.

From his childhood, Brian always enjoyed swimming and diving and from the 1980s he enjoyed social diving at Robinson’s Pool in Bedford. Having been talent spotted after joining the North Bedford Diving Club, he was given coaching and his first diving competition was in 1992 at Sheffield, where he came second on the platform. In 1996 he won a gold medal at the World Master’s diving competition in Sheffield, with a world record score. He went on to

Brian Pope (Fgh 25), who was England’s oldest living rugby union player, passed away peacefully in August 2011 having just celebrated his 100th birthday. Brian attended Uppingham in the 1920s and showed all the signs of his future prowess on the rugby fields during his time here. He achieved the distinction - almost certainly unique and unlikely ever to be repeated - of being Captain of all three major school sports (rugby, hockey and cricket). He was, however, modest enough to point out that he only became Captain of cricket by default: the School’s original choice of cricket Captain in his final year was sent home before the start of the summer term due to some sort of undisclosed ‘misdemeanour’.

After Uppingham Brian went up to Cambridge (Clare College) where he won his rugby Blue in 1932. His England debut against Wales, however, had come in the previous year when the Cambridge scrum half berth was occupied by a Scottish international.

Brian was also a formidable golfer, representing the School several times in the Halford Hewitt and serving as Captain of the OUGS in 1966, Society Treasurer in the 1960s and early 1970s, and President from 1973 to 1976. He

was also captain and the first commoner President of Royal St George’s Golf Club, a long time member of the R&A and Chief Lucifer for ten years of The Lucifer Golfing Society.

Brian and his wife Betty, who died two years ago, were great supporters of Uppingham’s Halford Hewitt sides. They would invariably follow the play at Deal and Royal St George’s during the day and host a drinks party for the team and its other supporters at their beautiful house in Sandwich in the evening. They were still both watching the action three years ago and with the help of his son-in-law Brian was at Royal St George’s for one of the early rounds in April 2011.

Tim Dickson (S 67), Editor of the excellent Golf Quarterly magazine, also a Halford Hewitt player and member of the R&A and Royal St George’s, recalls in an article in the Spring edition 2011 “how Brian had two holes-in-one 75 years apart. The first came in 1928 at Walton Heath, when he was just 17, and the second in 2004 at the famous par-3 sixth hole at Royal St George’s known as The Maiden when he was 92”.

Brian Pope (Fgh 25)

Laura Woodberry Jessiman (Fd 75) was born in New York City but grew up in Greenwich and attended Greenwich Academy before graduating from the Madeira School in Virginia. She spent a post-graduate year at Uppingham where she was elected Head Girl before attending Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH. She met her husband Alistair whilst at Dartmouth and they married on Nantucket Island in 1981.

After college, Laura worked as an associate banker in the Manufacturer’s Hanover Trust in New York City. They then moved to Hong Kong for four years followed by a move to Darien, CT.

Laura’s greatest joy was her family but she also enjoyed hill-walking and cycling. She played the piano, studied French and Spanish and carried out volunteer work at a school in Stamford, CT. She loved music and attended the ballet and the symphony regularly.

Laura sadly passed away in 2009 near Durness, Scotland after a hiking accident while holidaying with family members near their second home in Scourie. She is survived by her husband Alistair and sons Hugh and Andrew and a daughter Margaret.

William ‘Stephen’ Dickson (Fgh 38) greatly enjoyed his time at Uppingham. He was a School Polly, and played in both the Rugger XV (1942) and the Hockey XI (1942 and 1943). He joined the 1st (Rutland) Battalion Home Guard in July 1942 – the definition of his particular section was the “Runners”.

In April 1943 he left to go up to Clare College, Cambridge. A month earlier, in March 1943, his father, Major TCH Dickson (Fgh 1903) had received a telegram from the Headmaster saying that the present Captain of the School was leaving unexpectedly early to study medicine at Oxford, and that he would like Stephen to fill the position. To quote the Headmaster, John Wofenden “I was therefore left with finding a new Captain of the School for the following term. It seemed to me that Stephen would be by far the best person for this extremely responsible position”. Neither the telegram to his father, nor three talks with Stephen to persuade him to take the position and come back the following term, could make Stephen change his mind. In the event, his studies at Cambridge were interrupted when he volunteered for the RNVR, and he was appointed to the 16th Minesweeping Flotilla as a Sub Lieutenant. His principal fields of operations were the English Channel, the North Sea and the Norwegian Coast.

After demobilisation he returned to Ulster to join his father in the family linen business. Having attended Belfast Technical School he became extremely knowledgeable about fibres, specifically spun and woven glass fibres. In 1968 “The Sir Thomas Lipton” yacht won the single handed transatlantic race, establishing a new record for the fastest time. The yacht’s hull was constructed with glass material proving its strength, as it had to cope with pack ice and heavy seas during the crossing to Newport Rhode Island. As the years went on more applications were found for this material, particularly the nose cone for fighter jet aircraft.

In the early 1960s Stephen and his wife left for Scotland where he had been asked to take on the job of Sales Director, and then Managing Director of an ailing jute mill, with the brief to put it back on its feet. Though successful in the role, it was not an easy task, since manmade fibres were by then beginning to take over from jute. He and his family returned to Ulster in 1969, becoming a manufacturers agent for a number of prominent English companies – with responsibility for the whole of Ireland this was, again, no easy task as “The Troubles” were by then making business difficult for much of the time.

He was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant for County Antrim in the 1990s. He retired from business aged 75 to enjoy his garden and indulge his love of travelling, until ill health became a problem in the form of chronic asthma. He is survived by his wife June, and son James (Fgh 74) following his death in hospital in April 2011 aged 86.

William ‘Stephen’ Dickson (Fgh 38)

Gordon Dunsford’s (F 43) father died at the age of 26 when Gordon was about 7 years old and he was with his paternal grandmother until his Mother remarried and sent him to Uppingham. He was no willing entrant to Uppingham, with a broad Devon accent and no prep school behind him, but sport got him through where acadamia could not. It was a wonderful grounding for him for wherever life would take him, and on occasions whatever it would throw at him. On leaving Uppingham he joined RAF Coastal Command for six years as a marine fitter just to stay on the water. He volunteered as a diver and ended up in Eygpt servicing the C in C’s boat for a time. He went on to represent the RAF in the rifle shooting team and is noted in Uppingham library in this regard.

He joined the Police when a persuasive person wanting him for the police rugby team convinced him it was the thing to do. Six years later he made use of his police driver training to start a driving school He played rugby whenever he could, not only at Uppingham, but in the airforce and the police. cricket, squash, hockey, rifle shooting and any other sport available or offered he would have a go. He sailed and, whilst in Japan, was part of the rowing eight representing IHI who were sub contractors to Foster Wheeler his employer for 20 years.

Gordon leaves behind his first wife Karen, their children Jayne, Jeremy and Ruth, and his second wife Vikki with their children Lisa and Toni.

He was a proud OU and according to Vikki his years at Uppingham contributed to his tenacity and can do attitude.

Gordon Dunsford (F 43)

Death List Our condolences to the family and friends of the following OUs whose death we have been advised of since the last magazine. Those OUs marked with * have an obituary in this issue

G. Douglas Farmiloe (H 28) Phillip Patterson (R 29) John (Jack) Ellis (M 30) George Gregory (R 30) Michael Bell (M 30) John Haskins (WB 30) Tom Edmundson (M 32) Brian Bagnall (WD 33) Martin Phelps (LH 33) Alan Humphries (R 34) Robert Ryley (LH 36) F Alec Woods (WD 36) Alan Pemberton (SH 37) Paul Nicholls (C 37) William ‘Stephen’ Dickson (*) (Fgh 38) Richard Carter (C 38) Brian Boobbyer (*) (WD 40) Harold Colley (WD 40) John Cundall (C 41) John S H Walker (WB 41) Michael Rome (M 42) Brian Jolly (*) (B 42) Anthony Adams (WB 43) Robin Dennis‐Jones (B 43) Ian McKinnell (L 43) John Orchard (Hf 43) Gordon Dunsford (*) (F 43) David Salmon (WB 44) John H Carter (Hf 44) William Riddington (WD 44) Peter Gwynn (SH 44) Gavin Manson (LH 45) Christopher ‘Jim’ Evans (LH 45) Trevor Boyd (SH 45) James Morrish (F 45) Peter Willson (M 46) Bernard Mather (B 47) David Myles (B 47) Richard Hilditch (SH 49) Christopher Costello (WD 49) John Boocock (F 49) James Spaight (Fgh 50) Anthony Wortley (Fgh 51) Robert Johnson (LH 51) Guy Foster (WB 52) Piers Hayman (Fgh 52) John Hughes (H 53) Richard Bulley (WB 53) Colin Forsyth (B 53) Michael Dennis‐Jones (B 54) Laura Woodberry Jessiman (*) (FD 75) Paul Mackaness (B 85)