Obituaries

Helen was born in Devon England to Geoffrey and Fay Thornton. She went to Marlborough College in the Sixth Form and then on to Cheltenham College of Art and Design to study fashion. Naturally creative and highly intelligent (she was a member of MENSA) Helen was frustrated by the teaching methods and left College early. She had several different jobs, including setting up her own millinery business, working for Principles for Men, and in IT, but her heart and genes were firmly rooted in nature. Her maternal grandfather, Fred Nutbeam, was Head Gardener to the Queen at Buckingham Palace for 25 years and had an Azalea named after him.

Helen first came to Kenya in 1999 and began working in IT with Protec, but her love of nature was impossible to stifle. She met Kenya Mutiso in 2005 through their mutual interest in trees and forestry. Together they founded African Forest in 2006 at their home on Soysambu Estate with a vision to plant forests all over Africa and create the first indigenous tree seed bank in Kenya. Using organic methods and predominantly indigenous varieties, their tree nursery today has over 80 species of hardwood timber trees, and an initiative dubbed Planet Positive Forestry, which involves inter-cropping indigenous and exotic trees to create forest food gardens to support rural wealth generation.  Research & development, forest management, carbon offsetting, developing the medicinal values of trees and sustainable timber are all part of the African Forest business model. Helen and Kenya married in September 2008.

Helen was a fabulous cook who often adapted recipes; she was very widely read and knowledgeable with an encyclopedic memory. She applied her inexhaustible energy to everything she embarked upon, including her battle with cancer, which she fought stoically and with great courage for ten years. Helen is survived by her husband Kenya, daughter Zinzi, her parents Geoffrey and Fay and brother Simon.

Helen leaves behind a legacy in African Forest, which Kenya will continue to develop and grow in her memory.

Nicholas Grant (B2 1945-48) died on 4th November 2018 aged 87.

Keen fisher, chess supporter, banker to the literary set, advocate of the Buddhist faith and very good friend of Ted Hughes.

Full obituaries can be seen on The Times, The Arvon Foundation, and the English Chess Foundation websites.

Dr David Pratt (C3 1938-42), soldier, engineer and adventurer, died on 13th March 2019, aged 94.

After leaving the army in 1948 and then completing his engineering degree at Trinity College, David Pratt became an essential member of the successful Trans-Antarctic expedition in 1955. As Transport and Engineering Officer, he worked with 90 different companies to source the best vehicles and equipment for the adventure. A particular contribution was to solve the problem of crossing the crevasses in the Antartic. He worked with Sir Donald Bailey who had created "portable prefabricated" equipment for the making of bridges to carry tanks and people in the Second World War. After the expedition he was Pratt was awarded the Polar Medal and a mountain in the Shackleton Range of Antarctica — “Pratts Peak” — was named after him.

After the expedition he completed a PhD at Imperial College and went on to head the Engineering department for 30 years at the Commonwealth Develoment Department which saw him travelling the world solving all kinds of problems in all sorts of environments.

He was married to Victoria and had two children, James and Jonathan.

A full obituary can be seen in The Times.

Tony Williamson (B2 1947-55), a former Lord Mayor of Oxford and prominent 'worker priest' has died aged 85.

Tony was the youngest of three children of Joe Williamson, an Anglican minister, who campaigned in the 1950s in east London to clear slums and open refuges for prostitutes. Tony followed in his father's footsteps and continued the fight against injustice.

After studying at Trinity College, Oxford, and theological college at Cuddesdon, Oxfordshire, he went on to work at the Pressed Steel car body factory (later part of British Leyland and Rover) in Cowley and became a union leader. He was an active Labour politician, a housing expert on Oxford city council, Oxford council leader and joint leader of Oxfordshire county council. He was lord mayor from 1982-83, whilst continuing to work daily at Pressed Steel.

In 1977 he was appointed OBE.

Tony is survived by his children, Ruth, Paul, Ian, Hugh, and eight grandchildren.

You can read his full obituary on The Guardian website and The Oxford Times.

Henry John Furniss Potter, always known as John, has died aged 93 on 17 February 2019 at the Somme Nursing Home in Belfast.

He was born in Ilkley, Yorkshire, on 4 July 1925, following his father, uncles and older brother, David, into C1.

Following Marlborough, John enlisted, aged 18, in the Royal Artillery in Belfast in 1943 on a University Short Course at Queen’s University, Belfast. He served as a Gunner in 25 Training Regiment at Marske-by-Sea on the North Yorkshire coast, training on 5.5” medium guns, before being commissioned in November 1943 from 123 Officer Cadet Training Unit based at Catterick. 

Immediately posted to India - the fourth generation of his family to serve there - John arrived by troopship at Bombay (now Mumbai) on Victory-in-Europe (VE) Day on 8 May 1945. On arrival he was attached to the 1st Indian Medium Regiment, equipped with 5.5” guns, whose soldiers were Madrassis. The Regiment had begun embarking for the invasion of Malaya when the Japanese surrendered and the only element of the Regiment to participate in the landings on the west coast of Malaya was the REME Light Aid Detachment!

John remained with the same Regiment until 1947, subsequently serving in Madras, Secunderabad, Nowshera, Peshawar and in Bihar, by which time partition had led to the creation of Pakistan. On Independence Day, 15 August 1947, John was serving with his Troop in Razmak on the North West Frontier, detached from their Regiment. His Indian soldiers, who were mainly Hindu, were about as far away from home in Madras and as far inside the newly created Pakistan as was possible. Those months in Razmak provided John with the only opportunity during nearly fifty years service to fire in anger, when his Troop engaged the camel gun belonging to the notorious Faqir of Ipi, whilst it was shelling Miram Shah, the administrative headquarters for North Wazirastan, on what is now the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. The target was at the extreme range of the 5.5” guns and involved using ‘Super Charge’ giving them a range of 18,000 years.

Meanwhile, whilst John and his Troop were in Razmak, the 1st Indian Medium Regiment had moved to Bihar and the Troop followed, having handed-over its guns to a Pakistani Medium Artillery Troop. He remembered the handover being somewhat acrimonious and John later took a certain malicious pleasure on hearing that the Faqir of Ipi’s gun had shelled Razmak a few days later, coving the Pakistani Troop Commander in soot when one of the shells hit the roof of the Officers’ Mess!

John’s Troop had next to escort a refugee train from Rawalpindi to Amritsar. By then the appalling sectarian slaughter following Partition had almost stopped and the journey was without violent incident. During a break in New Delhi, John attended one of Mahatma Ghandi’s prayer meetings in Birla House.   

John left India in December 1947 with an abiding admiration for his Madrassi soldiers, who, though not generally regarded as the traditional military backbone of the old Indian Army, had remained loyal to their officers to the last. Along with the Ghurkhas, the Madrassi soldiers could be relied upon to conduct internal security duties without favouring one side or the other.

After serving in 34 Training Regiment in Rhyl, North Wales, and 60 Heavy Anti-Aircraft (HAA) Regiment in Palace Barracks, Holywood, John was posted to 71 HAA Regiment in Fayid, Egypt in June 1952, initially as a Troop Commander in 187 Battery, and then as the Adjutant. He was then responsible for running down the Regiment, leaving a few weeks before its final disbandment, as he had obtained a Competitive Entry to the Army Staff College in Camberley, Surrey, attending the course in 1956.

After Staff College he was a Grade 3 staff officer in Military Operations 5 in the War Office (now the Ministry of Defence), where his branch was responsible for the defence of the UK mainland during the abortive campaign by the IRA in the 1950s. After two years in the War Office he was posted in 1958 to 50 HAA Regiment in Troon, on the west coast of Scotland, followed by being selected as the Brigade Major 1st Artillery Brigade in Dortmund, West Germany, which was equipped with CORPORAL tactical nuclear missiles and included two US missile battalions under operational control.

From Dortmund, John next moved down the road to Paderborn, where he was a Battery Commander in 24 Missile Regiment, although he commanded a battery of 7.2” howitzers, capable of firing nuclear shells. After commanding a battery, John returned to staff, as the Grade 2 staff officer in the NATO Northern Army Group (NORTHAG), followed then by two years in the Defence Operations Analysis Establishment at West Byfleet in Surrey. From there he returned to BAOR as DAAG Headquarters Rhine Area in Dusseldorf, where he was able to indulge his love of opera by regularly attending the local opera house.

John retired in October 1970, returning home to Northern Ireland. He almost immediately joined the newly formed Ulster Defence Regiment in a full-time capacity, becoming the Adjutant and Operations Officer of the 3rd (County Down) Battalion (3 UDR) based at Ballykinler. For a second time in his career he came under fire when the IRA mortared the camp.

On his retirement from 3 UDR, John was appointed the Regimental Secretary for the UDR, based in Thiepval Barracks, Lisburn, which he did for seven years, finally retiring in January 1992. He then spent the next eight years writing the history of the Ulster Defence Regiment “Testimony to Courage” published in September 2001. This was followed by a second book ‘Scarce Heard Amid the Guns’ in 2013 about his father’s experiences during the First World War.

He was Deputy Lord Lieutenant for Co Down.

John Watson, who has died aged 93, was a first-generation dairy farmer near Dartington, south Devon, driven by the writings of the environmental movement (particularly Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring and the Club of Rome Limits to Growth report) to resist chemical fertilisers, which he could see were depleting the soil, and become an early convert to organic farming.

He combined a life of the mind with a relentless will to action, believing that examples inspired others far more than words. In 1974 his farm, Riverford, was possibly the first in the country to open for tours, which demystified farming for visitors. Riverford later became a beacon for the organic dairy, meat and vegetable movement, selling direct to customers, as his children developed various sustainable businesses on the farm.

John was born in Woodford Green, then in Essex, the younger son of William Watson and Emily Halfhead. His father was a banker turned sugar grower in Trinidad, where John and his sister, Pamela, grew up. John was at Marlborough college when the second world war was declared in 1939, and, after having finished his education in Trinidad and Ontario, sailed back in time for his 18th birthday to join up.

After demobilisation from the army in 1946 and a two-year agricultural degree at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, in 1951 he took on the tenancy of Riverford, a derelict Church Commissioners’ farm. The following year he married Gillian Hickling; they had five children, Louise, Rachel, Ben, Oliver and Guy, who all became involved in the farm.

His idealism started as a belief in new technology and techniques, and Riverford became a demonstration farm for chemical products. But John sensed the land was running down and knew he needed to change, although it was expensive and risky, and many thought organic farming was for cranks.

John was a believer, yet his distinctive voice stopped him seeming too single-minded. On his retirement smallholding near Modbury he set about proving how little carbon was needed to live, by installing a mini wind turbine, waterwheel and solar panels. He created a local low-growth, utopian community, with a vegetable-growing co-operative feeding into the LETS (local exchange trading system) network. Days spent pressing apples, surrounded by children raising money for Oxfam, were his version of heaven: education for the greater good.

John, who was my uncle, communed with the sea as well as the land. A solo sailor in his junk-rigged boat, Sulaire, he went where the wind took him. He objected to planning a route and wasn’t a natural maintenance hand. Thus he would often be found moored in a creek waiting for a spare part, while reading intensely or painting a watercolour.

When 89, John said: “The older I get, the more I think about the future than the past.” Certainly the more he aged the more he flourished, his 70s and 80s being probably his most fulfilled years. He died with Wendell Berry’s Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front next to his bed. He inspired a huge number of people through his example, his transparent integrity and his optimism.

His coffin was made by one of his sons from larches he planted on the farm 40 years ago, and painted with his life’s story by the whole family. His grave on the farm is next to Gillian’s, looking over the land he redeemed and across to Dartmoor.

Gillian died in 1998. John is survived by his children, 14 grandchildren and a great-grandchild.

His Honour Judge Geoffrey Mercer QC (B3 1966-70) died on 22nd July 2018.

Just such a lovely man! Well we all knew that of Geoffrey Mercer as soon as we met him, but how often over the last 3 months since he succumbed to his illness have we thought of that, said it to others and heard it from others as we have reflected on the many happy times that Geoffrey brought to our lives. 

Before his illness he would often say,  “I am so lucky”. Until that wretched disease came along he had been deservedly fortunate in so many ways and he appreciated his life to the full; but it wasn’t luck that gave him a life that was blessed with the companionship of his lovely wife, Jill, 2 children, Clara and Charlie of whom he was so proud, a large circle of good friends and a successful career in the law – that all owed nothing to luck; it was due to those qualities in him that all of us here today experienced and admired and remember with such affection – his character, warmth, humour and ability. He deserved all that was so good that came his way.

Geoffrey’s family had lived in many different parts of the country when he was a child; his father’s career in the Royal Navy and the resultant postings meant many moves, but that continued after his father left the Navy. Geoffrey used to say that when his father was asked to read the lesson a second time in their local church he would say that it was time to move again. So we were fortunate that one of the family homes had been in Devon, and it was to Devon that he returned when embarking on his career. In the fashion of the day, Geoffrey went away to board at preparatory school when he was seven. His older brother Martin was in his last term at the school and was a very senior boy there; his parents’ idea was that Martin could help the very young Geoffrey settle in. However, when Geoffrey approached Martin at the start of term and asked “Martin, can you help me with something?” he was met with the retort “No, and you call me Mercer here.”

Geoffrey went on to win a scholarship to Marlborough. None of you will be surprised to hear that although he had a superb intellect, he was never a dry academic.  There was a time when his parents were driving through Wiltshire when they saw a smart young boy on the side of the road hitch-hiking. He looked like a school-boy so they decided to stop to give him a lift and were surprised as they drew up to see that it was their son. Geoffrey had slipped away from Marlborough School to go to Newbury races and was having to hitch hike back as the bookies had got the better of him that day. His parents drove him back to school and gave him some money to see him through to the end of term. From what I have heard of his parents, I think that they probably quietly approved of his initiative, if not of his choice of horses to back.

After school he went travelling; he loved Turkey and the Middle East and travelled extensively though those areas. He also took a job on a merchant ship intending to work his passage to exotic lands. I remember him describing how after several days at sea having left Southampton docks he woke early one morning to see out of his cabin porthole the lights of landfall. Excited to discover what country he was going to be able to explore he asked where they were and was told that it was Falmouth. The ship had developed engine trouble and had turned back. He did eventually got as far as the Middle East.

Quite what turned Geoffrey’s head towards a life in the practice of the law I don’t know, though Martin thinks his interest may have started with his reading of the Enid Blyton books, The Mystery of the Spiteful Letters and the Mystery of the Invisible Thief, books that Martin says Geoffrey continued to re-read well into his 20’s. This was followed by his devouring of many Agatha Christie novels, their family having a copy of everyone published. As Martin says, after that, whatever method of murder may have been used in any of Geoffrey’s cases, he would have been ready for it.

So after studying at Southampton University and completing his Bar exams, Geoffrey started his pupillage, with John Hicks in Chambers in London at 4 Pump Court. He didn’t make a very auspicious start; such was his nervousness about getting to the right place at the right time on the first day that he overlooked changing out of his bedroom slippers into his polished black shoes, only realising his error as he walked up Middle Temple Lane towards the Chambers. Did he rush back home and change so that he was late arriving; did he run into Fleet Street and try and find a shoe shop or did he wear the slippers all day pretending that he had painful blisters and was wearing them on medical advice? I can’t provide the answer to that - no one has ever let on. Whatever solution he hit upon, it didn’t hold him back because, despite that start, his time with John Hicks was a happy one. John Hicks had a very erudite practice and Geoffrey, in his usual self-deprecating way, used to say that he never understood any of the legal problems that John Hicks advised on. Of course he did, or if he didn’t he was skilled at concealing his ignorance and an enduring friendship was formed. John Hicks wrote to Jill saying “I counted my friendship with Geoffrey as one of the most treasured gifts which I have received from my professional life”. A lovely sentiment that captures what so many of us feel.

After 6 months in London Geoffrey came to Exeter to complete his pupillage with Neil Butterfield in our Chambers. That he was going to be a star was obvious from the start and upon the completion of his pupillage he became a member of the Chambers. It wasn’t all plain sailing, we all have our set backs and for Geoffrey one came very early in almost his first case in the Crown Court. He was representing a man who had set fire to some lady’s underwear; it all seemed quite straight forward, as Geoffrey said, the lady wasn’t wearing the garment at the time and nobody was hurt so he was very shocked when his client was sentenced to life imprisonment. He had to appeal the sentence and in due course went to London to RCJ for a hearing in front of the Lord Chief Justice and 2 other senior judges. Now the Lord Chief Justice sits in a vast court room, as many of us here can confirm. It can be a daunting arena for even an experienced barrister, let alone a still white wigged one as Geoffrey was at the time. According to Geoffrey, who was never shy about telling a tale against himself, the case was called on, Geoffrey stood up and had been addressing the court in a nervous falsetto for 4 minutes when LCJ leant forward and bellowed tetchily –“Is there anyone here representing this man?”

This was but a temporary set back and Geoffrey’s career flourished. He had a thoughtful, elegant style, never forceful but achieving his successes by measured eloquence. A friend of ours who didn’t know Geoffrey served as a juror in a trial some years ago. She said to me later “Well, we just did what that nice Mr. Mercer said we should”. 

He remained a member of our Chambers throughout his time practicing as a barrister. After a distinguished career as a junior, he became a QC in 2002. As such he prosecuted and defended in many of the most high-profile cases in the south-west. He was Head of Chambers for a number of years, gently steering us along with a benign dictatorship, always being prepared to give his time and expertise to help and guide younger members of Chambers. Then his appointment as a Circuit Judge in 2012.  Such was his modesty about his own ability, he only applied to be a Judge when another prompted him to do so. Typically, he had left his application rather late; others have coaching to prepare for the interview and spend days rehearsing for the process; Geoffrey just turned up. Unsurprisingly, he made a favourable impression with his knowledge, judgement and easy charm and got the job. For the first 3 years he sat as a Judge in Bristol and then was transferred to Exeter; there are many here today from Bristol and I know that you regarded it as a huge loss when he left your courts to return to Exeter.

Back here, he became the senior Judge at Exeter Crown Court, the Resident Judge, and with that appointment became The Honorary Recorder of this city. He was responsible for the administration in the Crown Courts here as well as having his every day duties in court. He bore these responsibilities with his customary light touch, those qualities of humanity, judgement, fairness and empathy he had always shown in his work as a barrister served him well in his judicial work.  He was admired and respected by all the lawyers whom he dealt with; the customers knew that he listened and that they were going to get a fair hearing. I think that the court staff adored him. 

His standards were those of excellence and integrity in all his work.

We barristers can be a gossipy bunch, sometimes too eager to make a critical comment about another; my experience over Geoffrey’s 43 years in the law is that no one ever had an uncomplimentary thing to say about him.

Geoffrey had his struggles. To say that he had embraced modern technology with enthusiasm would be to exaggerate his relationship with it. He had a mobile phone and many of us had a number for it. I don’t think that I was the only one who regarded it as pointless ringing it. He had a lap-top computer. I only saw him using it once in Chambers; he was playing on-line bridge with someone in Barcelona.

There was much more to Geoffrey’s life than the law.

He was a talented all round sportsman.  He was in the Marlborough School first tennis pair and was a fine schoolboy boxer. He deployed his tennis skills to great effect on the grass court he created at his home.  There was the annual ritual of trying to find the metal court markers at the start of each summer, they having somehow buried themselves over the winter; once the markers were unearthed the lines were marked out, never completely straight but eventually a sort of rhomboid shaped playing area was arrived at. There were complaints from visiting players that Geoffrey was able to combine his considerable tennis skills with his knowledge of the eccentric shape of the court and the location of various dandelions that altered the balls bounce, all to devastating effect.

And he was a world champion in Sticke tennis, a type of Real tennis. He was world doubles champion. Geoffrey and James Norman ruled the world of Sticke tennis from their home court at Knightshayes, though Geoffrey, in his typical self-effacing manner, always said that he had a very skillful partner.

He loved cricket, both watching and playing. His membership of the MCC brought him happy days watching Test cricket at Lords. He particularly liked to watch the wristy Indian batsmen, though there was not much sign of their influence on his own technique when he batted. Not for Geoffrey getting off the mark by caressing a single to deep mid-off or nurdling the ball down to third-man.  He would be eyeing up the deep midwicket boundary from the first ball that he received.  Regardless of the length or line of the ball he would be intent on dispatching it into the undergrowth in that direction. He had an excellent eye and his natural sporting ability meant that he could be very effective, though if his friend Vic Marks was commentating on Test Match Special and was describing the sort of shot that Geoffrey frequently deployed to good effect I doubt that the word “classical” would be part of his description. Geoffrey’s admiration of Indian cricketers went so far as him buying what was said to be the great Indian batsman Sunil Gavaskar’s cricket sweater at a Charity Dinner auction we attended. Now Gavaskar’s nickname was the little master and he was 5 feet 5 inches tall so it was surprising that the sweater fitted Geoffrey comfortably. Dismissing any doubters as to the sweater’s authenticity, Geoffrey said that he was sure it was genuine because of the curry stains down the front.

He loved playing at the beautiful cricket ground at Shobrooke, playing for the club for many years. He also raised his own side to play James Norman’s XI at Shobrooke, an event that gave much pleasure to many, even, I hope, to Jill and the other wives who provided such wonderful food on those occasions.

His well-known love of horseracing, particularly National Hunt steeple chasing, must have come from his Irish mother and grandmother. He was probably never happier than when at a National Hunt meeting; Cheltenham of course was a special favourite. 11 am, the Arkle Bar, on the first day of the Cheltenham Festival.  He used to say it was the best moment of the year. Every year his work diary would have an entry for the non-existent Cheltenham Crown Court for that week. He was very knowledgeable about the form and he tried to tutor me in the art of understanding it all. I went to the Newbury National Hunt meeting with Geoffrey a few times. Until I went, I hadn’t realised how much else apart from the races was involved in such a day out. The first time I was at Newbury with him I was there for 4 hours before I saw a horse and then it was on a TV screen hanging above the doubles bar, and the horse was racing at Warwick.  The ever sociable Geoffrey enjoyed all of the many things that went with a day at the races.

His Irish heritage also meant that he was a great supporter of Irish rugby.

He had other appointments that he was particularly proud of. He was Director of a theatre company called Forkbeard Fantasy that was started by 2 University friends, Chris and Tim Britton. They describe themselves as an art group reveling in eccentric contraptions and kinetic sculptures and as architects of humour and invention. You can see why it appealed to Geoffrey; he described their work as “whacky”. Just up his street.

He was also a registered scrap dealer; probably the only person to have the two titles of Circuit Judge and registered scrap dealer simultaneously.

He loved mid-Devon. When he first moved here he lived in a cottage in Shobrooke, coincidentally, I am sure, a few yards away from the Red Lion. Then he and Jill moved to Stockleigh Pomeroy, where Jill was the post mistress as their delightful cottage had a post office in the front room. Then on to other homes in mid-Devon where he and Jill created beautiful houses and gardens. He loved the Devon countryside and the activities it enabled him to indulge in – making cider, planting trees, felling trees, chopping logs, bonfires.

So many sides to this charming, witty, generous man. But the most important part of his life to him was his family. To his wider family he was the much loved “Uncle Geoff”. Always fun to be had when he was around. He was so happy with Jill; so proud of the achievements of their children – Clara with her successful career with the British Fashion Council and Charlie, after he had exhausted every possible academic course, getting a job with a top law firm in London where there were hundreds of applicants for each place. He delighted in their successes. He was thrilled with the arrival of his grand daughter, the cherubic Jemima. There were many happy family holidays in Ireland and visits to Bantham, another part of Devon that he loved. He was a wonderful husband and father.

He bore his illness with typical courage and humour. He continued working full time until January this year, nearly 18 months after his treatment started. All possible avenues of treatment were explored, but it was not to be. And so he was laid to rest in the mid-Devon soil that he loved so much, at the Church in Shobrook where as a young man he had worked as assistant grave-digger.  Although we have had to say goodbye to Geoffrey, we will not forget the many memories of happy times with him and the many laughs we had together; each of us will have our own special memories of our times with Geoffrey and we thank him for all that he did for us, for his friendship, his hospitality, his wit, his bon-homie and for enriching our lives in so many ways.

SIR Eric Yarrow Bt MBE (CO 1934-39), Past President of the Marlburian Club, father of Norman (CO 1973-78), Peter (CO 1973-78) and David (CO 1979-83) and the late Richard (CO 1966-71), died on the 22nd September aged 98.

He was a valued and respected member of the Marlburian community and will be hugely missed. A full obituary will follow but in the meantime you can read more on The Times website (you will have to sign in to read it).

A Memorial Service will be held on Monday 8th October, at 3 p.m., at St Columbas Church, Kilmacolm. This will be followed by a celebration at Kilmacolm Golf Club.

RICHARD C Lee (Major retd) (B1 1943-48) was born in June 1930, at his parents home in Tackley, Oxon where his father was Rector.

He was the third child of 4 children: Christopher, Pat and his younger sister Elizabeth. From the age of 7 he successively attended a Dame’s School, the Dragon Preparatory School, Oxford and Brightlands School, Newham on Severn, Gloucestershire. From here he won a Foundation Scholarship to Marlborough College where he studied from 1943 until 1948.

All his work showed the mark of a discriminating and scholarly mind with a real love of letters, an uncommon but unmistakable talent. An open exhibition in modern languages (German & French) to St John’s College Oxford followed where he obtained his degree. This award was held over for him for 18 months while he completed his National Service as 2nd Lieutenant with the Royal Artillery. His first job in 1953 was as a master of French studies at the Ashfold Preparatory School located in Handcross, Sussex, which was relocated to Dorton House in Buckinghamshire. He converted to the Royal Army Educational Corps in 1956 at the Army School of Education, Beaconsfield where his talent for languages later saw him head of the Russian Language Wing in 1969.

His first marriage was to Susan Lee they went on to have Mark (B1 1974-79) & Hilary and consequently four grandchildren. As a member of the Armed forces they were posted variously to Dover, Singapore, Beaconsfield, Hongkong and Taunton. Richard returned to the Duke of Yorks Royal Military School, Dover, as a retired Officer teaching modern languages until retirement.  He was a devoted and much loved teacher, obtaining excellent results with all his pupils.

Richard was three times married and a devoted Father, Stepfather and Grandfather to all. He led a very active and fulfilling life which involved many sporting and intellectual pastimes. He also had a strong preference for the arts with a special love of music and the violin which he played to a high standard. He immersed himself in many musical activities and was particularly involved with the Yehudi Menuhin International Violin Competitions where he frequently acted as a Russian Interpreter.

Richard was a committed Christian, attended church regularly and was actively involved in parish church life. He spent his last few years in Tye Green Care home, close to his children, where he was popular with staff and residents alike. Richard slipped away very peacefully after a short illness and will be sadly missed.

Funeral service to be held at Great St Mary's, Sawbridgeworth, on Monday 24th September, at noon. Family flowers only please but donations, if desired, to St Clare Hospice or British Red Cross c/o Daniel Robinson & Sons, tel: 01279 722476.

Marilyn - known to many as Bo, was born in Trowbridge, about two miles from where we are now, on the 11th June 1939 - one of a twin and the youngest of six girls.

She lived in the White Lion in Corsham in her teens and was a 400m runner for the county and was also a fair table - tennis player. Bo had worked at Jollies in Bath and then Bulsoms in Chippenham where she met Dick and they married in 1960. They then lived and worked in Luton for four years - returning to Corsham in 1964, where she made home for the next 30 years.

In all, she gave birth to four boys. Following a holiday in the Isle of Wight, Bo and her family joined Chippenham A.S.C. in 1969 soon becoming involved with teaching swimming and within a few years became coach to the club. She also became a qualified Life-Saving Teacher, enjoying success in National competitions in Life-Saving and Swimming and was coach to the club for 16 years.

Bo also became involved with disability swimming (her first child being disabled). She ran swimming training courses on Saturday mornings for 25 years and as coach to Easter Courses for 26 years. Bo taught several schools swimming on weekdays - was involved with Wilts A.S.A. for many years with County swimming and various committees. She became County President in 1990 and in 2004 proudly accepted the Dolly Rice Award.  Bo enjoyed several days of filming with the BBC for their Swim and Superstars programmes and for the first Open Water Award at Thorpe Park.

An opportunity arose to teach swimming at the first Marlborough College Summer School - a position she held for the next 33 years! After the first year or two of Summer School, Marilyn was invited to be swim coach at Marlborough college,initially travelling daily from Corsham, progressing to staying overnight and then appointed as Resident House Tutor in Morris House which was the first girls house in the College.

Marilyn as she was known at the college, organised Water-Polo here and enjoyed great success with her swimming and water polo teams. One of rewards was to enjoy a garden party at Buckingham Palace and being made a member of Common Room.

Whilst at Corsham she had played Netball, eventually becoming qualified at coaching and umpiring, skills which she carried to Marlborough College. Later in her career, she tutored and assessed many swimming teaching and coaching courses and we roughly worked out that she had visited over 230 different venues whilst involved in the sport - including Gibraltar and Jersey.

For about ten years she was a member of the A.S.A. Judicial Tribunal. Somehow slotting in between these activities she enjoyed many years on holiday in Jersey, which started when Chippenham A.S.C. exchanged with Jersey A.S.C. and later Guernsey A.S.C. Marilyn or Bo was able to enjoy several years here with the 3 grandchildren. We have lost track of how many times on holiday here, but think it could be 40! She loved Jersey.

Due to health problems, she decided to retire completely in 2016 and received a Special Award for her 48 years in Swimming.

"As a coach Marilyn's cheerfulness was consistent, and she achieved results through determination and firmness rather than through shouting.  The boys and girls responded so well to her calm interest,  enthusiasm and expertise: they loved her. Marilyn managed to make the old outdoor pool work well and the first school waterpolo match was held in this: I have a memory of strawberries and wine accompanying this event - very 'eighties Marlborough'!"
Niall Hamilton (CR 1985-)

"Many OM swimmers will remember Marilyn for her kind but no-nonsense approach to swimming as well as her role and responsibilities at the College . Her wealth and experience from the world of swimming helped to lay the foundations of a swimming legacy at MC.   Even though Marilyn formally retired from the College in 2001, she kept up with all the news from the College until very recently."
Peter O'Sullivan (CR 2001-)

John was born in Clarksburg, Ontario, in 1919. By 1926, his father had moved to Versailles, France as chaplain to the British community. John lived in France for two years till he was 9 and at that point spoke French better than English. 

In 1928, his father took a parish at Escot in East Devon and John was sent to Cheam, and from there to Marlborough College in 1932 on a scholarship, becoming Head of C2 and excelling in Classics and sports, especially Rugby and Athletics. His housemaster was Reginald (‘Jumbo’) Jennings for whom he retained a warm affection in later life. John became heavily involved in evangelical Christian activities. One of his C2 contemporaries was Alex Moulton, the inventor of the folding bicycle, who gave him the slightly barbed nickname ‘Jesus John.’
 
In 1938 the name turned out to be both prophetic and appropriate when he went up to Jesus College, Cambridge to study Classics, then Divinity. He was a notable sportsman, gaining a wartime blue for Rugby and becoming President of the Athletics Club.
 
He graduated in 1942 and had call-up papers for the RAF in the same post as the offer of a place at Ridley Hall, a theological college in Cambridge with a strong evangelical tradition. He chose to answer the call-up to the ministry, and after ordination, became curate at St Paul’s Portman Square, a large and very busy parish just off the Marylebone Road in London.
 
In 1944 he married Dorothy, only child of a famously eccentric Cambridge Classics don. They endured the last year of the War in London, with the bombing and the privations – they were  often unable to afford the 1/- lunches at the local British Restaurant.

In 1946 he was invited back to join the staff at Ridley and eventually spent 5 years as Vice Principal . He also served a year (1954- 1955) as Junior Proctor, an ancient office as a  kind of university policeman and something of a distinction. Duties included patrolling the streets at night accompanied by two henchmen, known as Bulldogs, to apprehend students bent on misconduct.

In 1956, John became Assistant Chaplain at Eton College. John was always proud of his time at Eton: the pupils who were ‘up to him’, some of whom became distinguished public figures, the colourful and talented staff who were his colleagues.
 
In 1962, aged 43, he left Eton to become Vicar of Hartley Wintney, a large, lively and socially varied parish in north-east Hampshire where he stayed for an exceptional 26 years. He served as Rural Dean for a time, but declined all offers of more prestigious - or less demanding – appointments, believing that he was called to complete the work God had asked him to do there.

When Dorothy developed a lymphoma in the late 80s John brought forward his retirement to nurse her. They moved to Sheringham in North Norfolk. Dorothy died in 1992. John had a happy second marriage, to Minty, widow of a schoolfriend; she provided a further decade of companionship, a real Indian Summer for them both – sadly cut short by Minty’s death in 2004.

The time came, in 2013, when John moved in with his son and daughter-in-law in Cley. He had a new lease of life. He relished the many opportunities they gave him – frequent trips to the theatre and cinema, country houses, the monthly Poetry Group, the nightly challenge of the Word Wheel in The Times; they welcomed his visitors, ran his busy diary and gave him unsurpassed care.

He was deeply appreciative of the care taken of him. He loved small children, and was particularly delighted by the arrival of two great-grandchildren. He laughed a great deal – at jokes, especially puns, at New Yorker cartoons, funny birthday cards. He adored any dish with apples: ‘John’s a pudding man’ he would say. Crosswords were a lifelong habit, and he retained his prowess at them even after other functions of his brain were starting to show their age. He possessed a formidable knowledge of the Bible, buttressed by his learning in Classics and Hebrew. All his life he collected and catalogued: photographs, postcards, coins, stamps, sermon notes, visitors guides to places he had been to - and threw away nothing. He had firm views on the correct procedures for washing up, and etiquette in general. He mounted guard against the sloppy use of English His old-fashioned manners required him to stand up every time a lady entered or left a room – an increasingly hazardous process as he grew unsteady on his pins and his daughters-in-law begged him to desist. His stories, many beginning ‘In my boyhood…’, were gently polished through regular repetition. All in all, it was a triumph for him to celebrate his 99th birthday in a circle of family and friends, just over a week before he died.

William Earp

John Dunlop (B3 1953-56) died on 7th July 2018 following a long illness.

With almost 3,600 winners as a racehorse trainer over nearly half a century, John Dunlop was an institution in the world of racing. You could fill an entire page with a list of his big-race successes. Among the best he sent out from his base in Arundel, Sussex, were Shirley Heights in the 1978 English and Irish Derbys, Ragstone in the 1974 Ascot Gold Cup, Shadayid in the 1,000 Guineas in 1991, and three St Leger victories with Moon Madness (1986), Silver Patriarch (1997) and Millenary (2000).

His classic victories in addition to the St Legers included the Derby twice, the 1,000 Guineas three times and the Oaks twice, while at the peak of his powers he had an enviable list of well-heeled owners using his services, including the Maktoum family.

After National Service in the Royal Ulster Rifles, he paid for an advertisement in the Sporting Life offering himself for a job in racing. It was spotted by Neville Dent, who took him on as a general factotum.

Two years later, in 1963, John answered an advert for the role of assistant trainer and secretary to Gordon Smyth, private trainer to the Duke and Duchess of Norfolk and their friends at Castle Stables in Arundel. He talked his way into the job despite being unable to type, and cheerfully admitted years later that he did not even know what PAYE stood for. Such was his impact that late in 1965 he took over the training licence at the age of 26 when Smyth moved on to Lewes.

The success of Tamino in the Palace House Stakes at Newmarket in 1966 was the first of a conveyor belt of winners delivered over the next 47 years. He started with 50 horses in his yard and saw the number increase to 200. John forged a long and richly rewarding partnership with Willie Carson, who rode more winners for him than with any other trainer.

His final years at Arundel were unexpectedly challenging. A drop in the numbers of horses and owners forced him to bow out in 2012, with his business in voluntary liquidation.

Generous of spirit with a wry sense of humour, John sat on several charitable committees, was a tireless fundraiser for a variety of causes in racing and, in particular, was a big supporter of the Racing Welfare charity. In the early 1970s, he was a prime mover in organising a day of show jumping at Ascot that raised £250,000 to help save the Grand National. In 1996, he was made OBE.

You can read his obituary on The Guardian Website and a wonderful tribute from his son in The Racing Post.

BRUCE Tulloh (CR 1973-94) Born 29th September, 1935; died of cancer 28th April, 2018, aged 82.

When Bruce Tulloh arrived at Marlborough in 1973 he was already a legend. He was the man who, running bare-foot, had won the European Championship 5000 metres in Belgrade in 1962 and who, in 1969, had broken the record for running from Los Angeles to New York by almost 9 days. This feat he did not achieve, as some have believed, bare-foot; indeed his ankles were so swollen by the time he reached the Arizona mountains that he was forced to resort to wearing miner’s boots stuffed with bandages, at first managing to average only 1.5 mph.

In fact Bruce should never have come to Marlborough at all. While teaching in Kenya, he had sought the advice of fellow gold medalist, David Hemery, as to whether he should apply to Millfield or Marlborough. Hemery strongly recommended Millfield, but put insufficient stamps on the envelope and by the time his letter arrived by sea round the Cape, Roger Ellis had already appointed Bruce to Marlborough.

A legendary athlete Bruce might be, but he was also a man of many parts: he could carve an excellent sonnet; he could read history and science with almost the relish he reserved for the novels of Patrick O’Brian; he could discuss any aspect of media interest; his taste for music was catholic and while small talk was not his forte, he could stun with sudden humour, pith or wisdom, sometimes even when he seemed to be dozing. All of us are unique, but Bruce was ‘uniquer’ than most.

However for Bruce’s obituary in this magazine, it seems appropriate to dwell on what Bruce meant to some of his distance runners and colleagues at Marlborough and what follows is a selection of their ‘musings’ about him.

Roger Ellis (The Master 1972-86): “His quiet voice and gentle manner probably limited his impact in the classroom, but it only partly concealed his basic confidence. Amongst the long distance runners, famously individualists ('lonely'!), he created a team spirit which was centered round admiration for him, but also affection. He had a legendary reputation, of course, but this would have counted for little amongst the Marlburians had he not also been alongside them, infecting them with his ambition, helping them to achieve more than they thought possible, enjoying their company and happy about their successes. It was exciting to watch a Marlborough tradition being triumphantly revived as Bruce shepherded his flock across the Downs! In this sense he was a very fine teacher.”

Guy Russell (B1 1972-77): “In Shell, cross-country was the one activity not to choose on a Wednesday afternoon, unless everything else was booked up, and so my fate was sealed one Wednesday when this happened to me. For some reason I persevered and then one term this new beak, Bruce Tulloh, appeared in our midst. Suddenly we were doing interval training, hill training, longer runs (including gathering mushrooms in Savernake Forest) and even a modicum of weight training. Lo and behold, our results started improving and we began to win. Fittingly we sealed a 3 year unbeaten record in inter-school cross country matches at his alma mater, Wellington - no mean feat given the disparate bunch of individuals he inherited as his squad.”

Jeremy Barton (C1 1977-82): “Bruce was a coach who believed in coaching his athletes to coach themselves; as I progressed into competing as an international distance runner, more often than not I would explain to Bruce what training I planned for the week ahead and he would respond by saying it was precisely what he had been thinking. Over the years, as well, his aphorisms (and he had plenty!) would come into mind to help deal with particular situations. These ranged from ‘The skin’s waterproof!’ when we were heading out for a 10 miler in the pouring rain, to ‘Running is supposed to add to your enjoyment of life, not detract from it!’ when there was a clash of priorities between a scheduled training session and an important family commitment.”

Nick Dorey (PR 1972-76): “Running became an inclusive club under his coaching, with pupils of all ages training and socialising together, whatever their abilities. To Bruce, running was both a way of life and fun - values which he passed on to all he coached. We trained hard - personally I trained 5-6 times a week throughout my school days - but we did it for fun, and out of that came success. We embraced the challenging, hilly sessions out to Fifield, Four Mile Clump and even Barbary Castle. Many of us followed Bruce's example, racing barefoot on grass and even the College cinder track. During the mid 70's Bruce was coaching Kenyan Olympic athletes and Mike Boit would come and train with us. He even gave me running spikes. I also remember Bruce taking me up to Crystal Palace and introducing me to Harold Abrahams. It's small wonder that, like many other Marlburians, I was inspired to run!”

Frank Gardner (LI 1974-79): “He has been a lifelong inspiration to me, having taught me the lessons of long term endurance, pushing through the pain barrier on long-distance runs and keeping going when you’re body is begging you to stop! Bruce knew exactly how to get the best from his team, never overbearing, always coaxing us to go further and run faster. I will never forget the look on his face when he watched me finish my first marathon, the Masters and Maidens over the Hog’s Back in Surrey.”

Sam Moorhead (B3 1974 -9): “I first came across Bruce as I was jumping over the stile from Barton Farm up to the Kennels, at the end of the Shell Steeplechase. I was in the top ten and Bruce shouted encouragement. Very early on, one realised the magnetic pull of Bruce. He had a group of older boys clustered around him – names like Nick Dorey, Guy Russell and Chris Upton – who formed a close-knit and devoted training unit. When I was only in the Shell I was invited by Bruce to join them training on Wedgwood. I was used as a hare and from then on felt I could be part of the outfit. In all his coaching Bruce led by example. I even remember him doing the shot putt when we were doing the 5 Star Awards; at the same time he was tickled pink when our burly discus thrower, deciding he would see to it that a new junior high jump record would be set, put the bar up to maximum height, and then threw a Shell boy over it!”

World Cup Marathon winner in San Sebastian in 1993, Richard Nerurkar, who trained with Bruce when a member of Common Room (CR 1989-91): “At Marlborough Bruce created the perfect training environment for me. It felt as though we were on a great journey together. Bruce was fiercely competitive and believed that success was worth striving for. But being coached by Bruce was about a lot more than that. Bruce introduced me to Africa, and to the joy of training under Mount Kenya. We spent many summers together in Font Romeu in the Pyrenees from where came many of our shared friendships – and which led on to unforgettable big championship experiences. Thinking back over my many years of running, I felt most fulfilled as a runner when I was at Marlborough and because of all I shared there with Bruce and Sue. Bruce gave me the confidence to pursue my dreams and then guided me through the highs and lows of training and competition. Ultimately Bruce changed the direction of my life.”

Ali Sharp (CR 1990- present): “I first met Bruce when I joined the Marlborough College Biology department. He was always helpful with regards to teaching and very pragmatic with a dry sense of humour. His observations about teaching or pupils were made quietly and were understated but always accurate and relevant. He had a knack of ‘resting his eyes’ at Biology Department meetings, waking up at the perfect moment to contribute an astute comment; he used the same trick at dinner parties! We were still running two years ago on the Downs. He would talk about music, he could remember the running times and competitions won by people he had met over the years, but most of all he use to love talking about his family especially his grandchildren One particular morning on the Downs, I asked him his thoughts on euthanasia and he replied - ‘well not today - I am feeling pretty good,’ and he then timed himself to see how quickly he could run the last furlong!”

Julian Lloyd (CR 1991-present): “Running can be a solitary activity. But running was a way of life and Bruce gave generously of his vast experience and knowledge, never for self promotion - he had no need of that since he was a household name - but always to help others reach their potential. Whatever his achievements as an athlete, and they were considerable, I think he found his metier in coaching as he loved to share his own love of running. Whenever I go to the track and look at the College middle distance records set during his time here, they are a magnificent testament to the generation of Marlburians whom Bruce inspired. I wonder if they will ever be broken.”

Compiled by James Flecker (C1 1952-8; CR 1967-80)

LARRY Hickey (SU 1978-83) died on Tuesday 5th June aged 54.

A true excentric, Larry spent his entire life travelling and having a good time. Never short of having a laugh, making others laugh and posing the question "just because something is popular - it doesn't mean that it is right?". He liked to argue.
 
A scholarship awarded pupil, he excelled in his studies at the College before entering a life of managed hedonism through his travelling and innate gregariousness! A kind and sensitive man who thought nothing of selflessly helping his friends and family.
 
Tragically too short a life for all those that loved him. Farewell Withnail.......
 
Matthew Criddle (SU 1978-83)

HUGH Playfair (CR 1960-68) was born in St Andrews, Fife, on 5 December 1935, and educated at Oundle, where his lifelong interest and career in history was first kindled, along with a fascination for church architecture.

From Oundle he passed into King’s College, Cambridge, to read history, followed by National Service with the Somaliland Scouts (1957-9), before embarking on a career as a schoolmaster.  A Diploma of Education from New College, Oxford, set him up for his first teaching post at Marlborough College, starting in 1960, when he also became an officer in the Combined Cadet Force.  Eight enjoyable years at Marlborough involved teaching A Level History, and being form master to a junior form teaching History, Geography, English and Divinity, while also commanding the CCF from 1966, and coaching the 2nd XV, helping with Athletics, and being the last master in charge of Boxing.

Keen for new challenges, he obtained a two-year leave of absence to take up a post at Cranbrook School in Sydney, Australia, little knowing that it would turn into a five-year stay from 1969-74. The bulk of his career was then spent at Canford School, teaching history, politics and religious education. There his chief interest was the CCF, for service to which he was appointed OBE in 1989.

He took early retirement in 1993 to enable a return to Australia (where he had met and married his wife, Bridget) on a Royal & Ancient Golf Club tour.  Golf was a passion throughout his life, being a native St Andrean. He had joined the club on turning eighteen, following in the footsteps of some forty members of the Playfair family, and won the R&A’s Jubilee Vase in 1954.

His long-standing interest in church history and architecture, together with his calling as a Lay Reader from 1987, led to him becoming Chairman of the Bath & Wells Diocesan Advisory Committee for the Care of Churches for seventeen years, helping churches to repair and reorder their buildings. He also founded the Friends of Somerset Churches and Chapels in 1995 (now the Somerset Churches Trust), and was Chairman for its first ten years. The trust honoured Hugh with institution of ‘The Playfair Prize,’ awarded annually for the best church restoration project in the county.  His service to the church was recognised in 2016, when he was nominated to receive Maundy Money from HM The Queen at St George’s Chapel. 
 
Hugh passed away on 22 December, 2017, leaving his loving wife, Bridget, three children, Patrick, Edward and Elizabeth, and five grandchildren.  He was the author of a number of books reflecting his interest in family and church history.

Hugh George Lyon Playfair, OBE
1935 - 2017

Edmund Romilly may have been a barrister in the Rumpole mould, but he preferred to see himself as a novelist for whom appearing in the crown court was just the day job. Nevertheless, he was a highly respected advocate who tenaciously defended all manner of alleged criminals, ranging from petty offenders to jewellery thieves.

Only a handful of his cases attracted publicity, with perhaps the most prominent being an appeal in 2003 by one of the men convicted of conspiring to steal diamonds worth £200 million from the Millennium Dome.

Edmund’s true love, however, was writing. In 2006, he published two novels: Skinner – a kitchen-sink tale of a man beset by schizophrenia and alcoholism who feels that he is told by God to embark on a murderous mission, and The Barn – the story of a Londoner trapped in a dull job and life who becomes a ghostwriter. His third novel, Victims, published in 2015, was far more autobiographical; the central character is a casino worker named Giles whose father dies intestate, just as Edmund’s father, also called Giles, had done.

Edmund was born in July 1951 and brought up in London. He was a great-nephew of Winston Churchill and a great-great-great grandson of Sir Samuel Romilly, the abolitionist and law reformer. His father was a journalist and author who was imprisoned by the Nazis in Colditz Castle. Despite Colditz having a reputation for being impossible to escape from, Giles and a Dutch fellow prisoner did just that and Romilly Sr later told his story in a memoir, The Privileged Nightmare.

After Marlborough, he went on to read philosophy at University College London. Interested in the arts, he headed to Devon, where he took a job in an arts centre, writing plays and occasionally performing, until his mother convinced him to get a ‘real job’. He studied for the Bar and was called to Gray’s Inn in 1983. In the early stages of his career, Edmund had a fairly general legal practice, but he soon began to focus almost exclusively on criminal law.

He was often instructed by a firm of solicitors called Steel & Shamash and one day the instructing solicitor was Deborah Bowker. Edmund obtained an acquittal for her clients, but long before the verdict was delivered she had been struck by the barrister’s charm and ability. They lived together for several years before marrying 11 years ago. The wedding took place on 11 November, with the ceremony being paused during the two-minute silence.

HINSON NG (B1 1979-83), born 28th November 1965 in Penang, Malaysia, died in London 19th November 2017. A British citizen, resident in Monaco, husband of Serena, brother of Wilson and the late Anson, and son of Pat.

After attending St Faiths prep school in Cambridge he arrived at Marlborough in January 1979. He and I sat next to each other in Shell Q, with AH Davis as our form tutor, and became firm lifelong friends. He was in A1 and then B1 whilst I was in Turner with the eccentric Hugh de Weldon.

Whilst at school he was sporting as well as academically successful. Physically large from the age of 13 he played as hooker for the 1st XV and a southern county whilst still in his junior years. He arrived as a fully formed player aged 13, and remained that size throughout his time at Marlborough, whilst we very slowly caught up.

After Marlborough he studied LLB at Birmingham University 1984-1987. He was then called to the English Bar, Inner Temple in 1988. Later on he also attended INSEAD for an MBA in 2000-2001.

Switching from the law to stockbroking, his first employment was at Hoare Govett 1988-1990 in London. He then moved to Singapore working for JM Sassoon 1990-1994 and Credit Suisse 1994-1999. Then a stint in the States: Barclays Global in San Francisco, Blackrock, 2002-2007, after which he founded Dragon Global Investors Hedge Fund and expanded into New York. In 2010 he moved to Monaco as a director responsible for the family office Kewson Holdings, investing primarily in global equities, currencies, derivatives and some private equity.

Outside of work Hinson was an avid global traveller with an extremely active lifestyle. Trained as a certified scuba diving instructor, pistol marksman, marathon runner, explorer, mountaineer - he scaled Everest a number of times, not quite to the top.

Hinson was Malaysian with a British education. He was quick witted, with a sharp enquiring mind, and an infectious laugh. A true global citizen, he spoke fluent French, Italian, Spanish and Mandarin. He loved good food and experienced the best cuisine wherever he was in the world, and the cheaper the better. Value for Money was his motto. Not only was he a qualified cordon bleu chef, and also achieved grade 8 piano. Essentially an over achiever and with all the energy required for working and playing hard, he also gave back to the community as the managing director of Stand Up for Kids, a children’s charity in New York.

Hinson was diagnosed with cancer more than 10 years ago, but was successful in fighting it several times, until more recently. Sarcoma took hold and despite trying all manner of treatments, in the UK, Singapore and US, over the last two years he was fighting a losing battle. In June 2017 Hinson married for the first time, in a beautiful setting in Cap Ferrat surrounded by all of his friends. I was his best man and managed the situation as best I could. Many people were shocked to see such a vital man somewhat depleted and in a wheel chair. He had kept it from most. The following week he flew to the Wellington hospital in St Johns Wood and had several more treatments over the next 5 months. He died surrounded by his closest friends and family. It was an honour to have been there for him through the difficult times, as well as all the good over so many years.

by Mark Palmer (TU 79-83)

DAVID Donnison, who has died aged 92, was one of a group of outstanding academics who played an important part in shaping social policy during the 1960s and 70s, and, in his case, well beyond. He remained engaged in public debate until the end of his life.

David was, first and last, a “bottom up” person. Who should decide the design of the housing estates into which rehoused tenants should move? Who other than the tenants? Who should manage their estates or, where possible, own them? Who else but the tenants, at least in a major way? What discretion should officials have in deciding on the benefits claimants should receive? None, or nearly none, he argued in a fierce debate with Richard Titmuss, his colleague at the London School of Economics. Claimants should have clearly defined statutory rights.

In his later years he became a strong supporter of advocacy on behalf of marginalised or disempowered groups. His book Speaking to Power (2009) is an eloquent account of the advocacy movement that was to bear fruit in Scotland. That country’s independent way of doing things fitted David’s instincts so much better than conservative England.

Son of Ruth (nee Singer) and Vernon Donnison, he was born in Yenangyaung, the town in Burma (Myanmar) where his father was a colonial administrator. David went to Marlborough college and then Magdalen College, Oxford. He told the story of this colonial family, of Burma and his early life in a revealing account, Last of the Guardians (2005). Perhaps it was this background that gave him the quiet assurance with which he could tell permanent secretaries and senior politicians, with great courtesy, that they were just wrong and why that was so.

He served in the Royal Navy during the second world war: “I still recall vividly the moment when I heard that the British people had elected their first Labour government as a midshipman on the bridge of a cruiser steaming across the Indian Ocean.” After the war he studied philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford and gained a first.

He went on to become an assistant lecturer at Manchester University (1950-53), where he produced his thesis, published as The Neglected Child and the Social Services (1954). He then had a spell as a lecturer at Toronto University (1953-55). But Titmuss, just appointed to the new chair of social administration at LSE, was searching for someone to be his deputy as reader. He chose David, who went on to become the second professor in the department.

It was at the LSE that he began his lifelong interest in housing, cities and town planning. He obtained what was then a big grant from the Joseph Rowntree Trust to study the impact of the 1957 Rent Act which had given unscrupulous landlords such as Peter Rachman the incentive to terrify and expel tenants who had enjoyed controlled rents.

He worked as a consultant for the UN Economic Commission for Europe, surveying housing policies. That led to The Government of Housing (1967), which became a bestselling Pelican book. It is classic Donnison. What exactly is the housing problem? What is the demography, economics and politics of it? What do we do about it? Look beyond Britain to the generality of urban problems across Europe.

He became a member of the government’s central housing advisory committee and joined the Milner Holland committee on housing in Greater London (1965). He advised Richard Crossman, the new housing minister, on ways to introduce some form of fair rent policy. He then left the LSE to become director of the thinktank the Centre for Environmental Studies (1969-76).

But his interests went well beyond housing. He was appointed to the Plowden committee on primary education (1967) and with Michael Young helped develop the idea of Educational Priority Areas, schools in deprived areas facing very particular problems that required additional resources. Platitudinous now, perhaps, but highly controversial then.

He was a member of the Public Schools Commission, which was charged with answering the question: “What should be the future of the public schools?” When it reported in 1968 in an economic crisis, no one was much interested in the answer. David went on to chair the second phase of the commission’s work on the future of direct grant grammar schools (1970). It led to their eventual demise, and managing those discussions required all his powers of patience, diplomacy and good humour, which I observed as a researcher attending its meetings.

He served as deputy chairman of the Supplementary Benefits Commission (1973-75) and was its chairman (1975-80). He carried though his determination to make the powers of the commission more rights-based and spent time visiting local offices and trying to understand the issues from the perspectives of local staff and recipients. He reflected on the deep- seated issues involved in The Politics of Poverty (1982).

In 1980 he moved to Glasgow University to become professor of town and regional planning, having separated from his first wife, Jean (nee Kidger), the previous year. He began a new non-London life and in 1987 married Kay Carmichael, who gave him “frank criticism and loving comradeship” as he later put it. There he stayed, observing and participating in Glasgow’s regeneration and reflecting on it in Regenerating the Inner City: Glasgow’s Experience (1987, edited with Alan Middleton). He was, after formal retirement in 1991, emeritus professor and honorary senior research fellow in the University’s department of urban studies.

He became increasingly in tune with Scotland, with its deeper collectivist sympathy for active government. David continued his passionate local involvement in Glasgow and in his beloved island of Easdale – communally run, as was his ideal.

Kay died in 2009; he is survived by four children from his first marriage and a stepdaughter.

(Written by Howard Glennerster and reprinted with permission from The Guardian)

David's daughter, Rachel, also wrote to us and added;

"My father David V. Donnison attended Marlborough College during the war and signed up for a lifetime subscription for the magazine when at Oxford University in the late 1940's. He told me last month that he still had fond memories of Marlborough which provided a sort of family for him in the years when he didn't see his parents who were thousands of miles away in Burma (where his father, another Malburian, was a colonial civil servant and then an army officer after the Japanese invasion).

During the war years I believe that the school was evacuated for some of the time to Hampshire. My father recalled seeing a German bomber fly over the playground after a raid - possibly lost."

JOHN Gordon (B3 1954-58) has died aged 77 was the UK’s permanent delegate to Unesco from 1983 to 1985, and remained deeply committed to its principles of peace, security and sustainability throughout his life.

His time there proved to be a turbulent one, during which the US government withdrew from Unesco and the UK threatened to follow suit, eventually doing so on 5 December 1985. This was difficult for John, obliged as a public servant to follow government policy.

Writing many years after the event, he said: “Walking down the corridor, followed by BBC television cameras, to hand in our notice of withdrawal to [the director general], was the saddest day of my diplomatic career.”

The son of James Gordon, a materials scientist and author of several popular engineering books, and his wife, Theodora, John was born in Fleet, Hampshire. He was educated at Marlborough college and Cambridge University and went on to undertake research in history at Yale University and the London School of Economics.
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In 1966 he joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, serving in Budapest, Geneva, Yaoundé, Moscow and Brussels before his appointment to Unesco. His main area of expertise was the Soviet bloc – and he built strong networks with dissidents in both Hungary and Russia, where he was the culture attache.

John went on to head the FCO’s nuclear energy department, dealing, among other issues, with the consequences of the Chernobyl nuclear accident of 1986, followed by a secondment to Imperial College London’s centre for environmental technology. He retired from the FCO in 1990, which allowed him to pursue his interest in environmental issues as deputy and policy director of the Global Environment Research Centre, special adviser to the UK-UN Environment and Development Forum and president of the Council for Education in World Citizenship. A committed environmentalist, he campaigned for sustainable development in Oxfordshire, and planted thousands of trees on his property in the Lake District to replace those lost during the second world war.

He was a staunch advocate for the UK’s return to Unesco in the years leading up to 1997, when the incoming Labour government announced that the UK would rejoin.

John was a founder member of the UK Unesco Forum, and of the UK National Commission for Unesco, established in 2004 as a link between civil society, the British government and Unesco. He was an active member of the National Commission from 2004 to 2007, focusing in particular on Unesco’s role in promoting peace and security.

He is survived by his wife, Elizabeth Shanks, whom he married in 1965, and their sons, Tim and Alex.

Reprinted with kind permission from The Guardian Website.

Dr Angus Mitchell CB CVO MC (C2 1938-42) died on 26 February 2018 in Edinburgh, age 93.
 
With the Second World War at its height but the prospect of the dreaming spires of Oxford ahead of him, Angus Mitchell could so easily have taken advantage of the option to defer serving his country and embark on his studies instead.
 
That he chose to join the war effort was a decision he would never regret, as it led to the “exciting experience” of liberating North-west Europe from Nazi rule – on one occasion, a task he undertook single-handedly on nothing more than a borrowed bicycle.
 
He had not long recovered from being wounded, the result of literally sticking his head above the parapet, and would go on to win the Military Cross for yet another example of his daring in the face of danger.
 
Having survived the war, he would later have the honour of acting as an usher at the funeral of the man who steered the country through the darkest days of the 20th century, Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill.
 
He was the son of John Mitchell, who worked with the Indian Civil Service, and his wife Sheila who had served as a Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse in the Great War and been rescued from the hospital ship Britannic when it was sunk by the enemy in the Aegean Sea in November 1916.
 
His parents met early in 1920 and married in April that year before sailing to India where Angus was born in a hill station at Ootacamund. Though he was only four when he left India, he retained some astonishingly vivid memories of the country, including a train trip to see the Ganges and a view of the Himalayas from Darjeeling. Thanks to his ayah and other house servants he was bilingual in English and Hindustani but quickly forgot the latter after arriving in Britain in 1929. His father remained in India where his mother and baby sister Alison returned in 1930, leaving him and his elder sister Les in the care of an aunt in Little Durford, Hampshire.
 
Initially educated by a governess, he attended Highfield boarding school and Marlborough College where he enjoyed sports before giving them up to help with farming for the war effort.  He was also in the Officers’ Training Corps before serving as a sergeant in the Home Guard.
 
In 1942, whilst still at school, two events occurred: he gained a scholarship to Brasenose College, Oxford and he volunteered for the Royal Armoured Corps in 1942.  He made his decision not to take advantage of the option to defer war service for a year and was called up in January 1943, going on to The Royal Military College, Sandhurst and gaining a commission with the Inns of Court Regiment (ICR).
 
He sailed to Normandy in the aftermath of D-Day, landing on 1 July 1944, after being made a troop commander in B Squadron. At just 19 he was the youngest of all his men and was wounded a few weeks later when, standing in his usual position head and shoulders above the armoured car turret, he was injured by flying metal from a German shot to the periscope. He spent his 20th birthday in a Canadian Military Hospital near Bayeux where he underwent surgery to remove the shards.

He continued to serve in France and Belgium as the Allies swept through, liberating the towns and villages from four years of Nazi rule. Much later, he received recognition from the French Government for his role, and was made a Chevalier of the Legion d’Honneur at a ceremony in Edinburgh in 2016.

By late September 1944, he and his troop were reconnoitring in the Netherlands when they were ordered to halt as any vehicle movements would be attacked by the RAF. He was approached by a young Dutchman from the Resistance demanding to know why they had stopped as the Germans had just left the neighbouring town of Boxmeer.
 
Unable to risk moving his vehicles, he borrowed a bike from a nearby inn and cycled into the town to establish that the enemy had indeed left. “As the first British troops into Boxmeer, we were of course enthusiastically welcomed as liberators - a heart-warming experience which we had enjoyed several times before in France and Belgium,” he recalled.
 
Promoted to lieutenant that October, during leave in Brussels he spotted, in a shop window, a photograph of himself in an armoured car just after liberation. The shopkeeper promptly gave him the image as a gift. After the war he was decorated as a Ridder – a knight – in the Dutch Order of Oranje-Nassau, and returned to Boxmeer in 1994 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of its liberation, laying a wreath from his old regiment at the war memorial and giving a short talk recalling his arrival in the area.
 
In the early spring of 1945, after the successful Allied assault on the Rhine, his squadron crossed the river and came under the command of the British 6th Airborne Division. He and his troop led the advance of the division for several days. While personally under heavy enemy fire, he carried out reconnaissance missions to identify enemy positions which were hindering the advance. This fearless action won him the Military Cross. 
 
He continued across northern Germany to Hanover and on reaching the River Aller, a German officer, proffering a white flag, arranged a short local truce to prevent fighting close to the Belsen concentration camp where inmates were dying of typhus. 
 
After the Red Army captured Berlin, Mitchell’s division took 70,000 prisoners between May 2 and 4. Whilst the victory in Europe had been won, the Allies were still fighting the Japanese and that summer Mitchell was preparing to leave for a potential assault on Malaya. The bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki that August signalled the Japanese surrender, ending, he observed, “a cruel war”.
 
An undemanding job followed, in the East African Military Records office in Nairobi, where in March 1946 he received his Military Cross at an investiture at Government House. After being demobbed, with the rank of captain, in October he began his modern history degree at Brasenose College, meeting his future wife, Ann, the same month. She told him she had worked for the Foreign Office and it was not until 30 years later, when the information was declassified, that he discovered she had worked on decryption at Bletchley Park.
 
They wed in December 1948 and began married life in Edinburgh where he was an assistant principal in the Scottish Education Department (SED).  He also volunteered for a time with the Territorial Army and was given a commission in the Intelligence Corps.
 
He held various posts in the Scottish Office in Edinburgh and London. He was also principal private secretary to the Secretary of State for Scotland, Jack Maclay, and was involved in organising many Royal visits, for which he was made a CVO in 1964. That same year he attended the state funeral of Sir Winston Churchill.
 
The following year he was transferred to the Department of Agriculture and went on to become Assistant Under Secretary of State, then took charge of the Social Work Services Group before being made Under Secretary in charge of health care at the Scottish Home and Health Department.
 
In 1976 he was promoted again and returned to the SED as Secretary with responsibility for schools, further education, arts, museums, sport and social work. His service was recognised with a CB in 1979 – “the usual award for civil servants in my grade who have served for several years without disgracing themselves.”
 
Awarded an honorary doctorate of Laws by Dundee University in 1983, he retired from the Civil Service the following year but continued to use his experience in a number of fields. He chaired Stirling University’s Court for eight years and was made an honorary doctor of the university in 1992. His myriad other roles included trustee of the Dementia Services Development Trust, chair of Civil Service Selection Boards, vice-convener of the Scottish Council of Voluntary Organisations, governor of Edinburgh Academy and voluntary work with the Historic Buildings Council for Scotland.
 
He also inherited his parents’ passion for recording gravestone inscriptions and gave illustrated talks on Scottish tombstones, as a result of which he was elected an honorary vice-president of the Scottish Genealogy Society. When a trust was set up to improve Edinburgh’s Greyfriars Kirkyard he served as secretary for 20 years, designing bronze plaques to illustrate the story of the Covenanters’ Prison and the purpose of the mortsafes, constructed to foil bodysnatchers.
 
In his 70s he began volunteering for Family Care, now known as Birthlink, an organisation to help those who have been adopted or fostered to search for their biological families. For a decade he spent a day each month on searches at New Register House and another day or so compiling a report, including a short family tree and recent address of a close relative. Common surnames sometimes complicated the search, in one case throwing up 15 potential birth mothers with the same name, six of whom were approached before the right one was found. It was the most satisfying aspect of his voluntary work, often rewarded with news of a happy reunion. He and his wife did the same work, though less frequently, for Barnardo’s in Glasgow, The Child Migrants Trust in Nottingham and the Catholic Child Welfare Council.
 
He had also served, many years earlier, with the Edinburgh Marriage Guidance Council and as chairman of the Scottish Marriage Guidance Council.
 
In the 1970s he and Ann bought a property in west Fife which included the ruined 17th century Bath Castle. In retirement they had it restored as a two-bedroom home and later marketed it for sale as “perhaps the smallest castle in Scotland”.
 
When, after more than 50 years in the same house in Edinburgh’s Regent Terrace, they decided to downsize, he had to find a new home for his collection of more than 4000 Penguin books. They are now a special resource for publishing studies students at Stirling University.
 
From long-living stock – his father died at 97, his mother was 103 – in 2012 he put his memoirs down on paper for his family after writing an article for his church magazine, How To Die in Nine Easy Lessons, comprising practical advice on preparing for the inevitable, but declared he had no intention of succumbing just yet.
 
He continued for a few more years but although mentally alert – he was interviewed for television about his wartime experiences just a few months before his death – his mobility was severely impaired by myositis, a degenerative muscular condition which caused him to gradually lose control of his limbs.

He is survived by his devoted wife Ann to whom he was married for 69 years, their four children, Jonathan, Charlotte, Catherine and Andrew, and six grandchildren.
 
Alison Shaw (NUJ Freelance Journalist and Obituarist)
E: alison@alisonshawmedia.com

SIR Gerald Elliot (LI 1937-42), Chairman and Chief Executive of Christian Salvesen, the shipping, trawling and whaling business, died on Sunday 28th January 2018.

Sir Gerald Elliot was born in 1923. His father was a naval surgeon and his mother was the granddaughter of Christian Salvesen, who founded the firm. He went to prep school in Edinburgh before coming to Marlborough College in 1937. After leaving Marlborough, he enlisted in the Indian Army where he learnt to speak Urdu and Punjabi and to play the bagpipes! He rose to the rank of Captain.

When he left the army, he went to New College Oxford, for which he had won a scholarship prior to his time in the army, to read philosophy, politics and economics. It was here that he met his wife Margaret, with whom he would go on to have three children; John (C3/TU 1965-69), Katie and Henry (TU 1970-74).

He was persuaded to join the family company, Christian Salvesen, in 1948 and was made partner in 1955. He was Managing Director from 1973-81 and chairman from 1981 until he retired in 1988. He even spent four seasons on a whaling ship in the seas of South Georgia in his early years at the firm. He worked closely with the International Whaling Commission on conserving whaling stock and with the Soviet authorities on quota agreements in the 1960s. He wrote a book on the history of whaling in which he expressed his passion for the industry citing countries who signed up to quotas but did not stick to them as the cause of its demise.

The company stopped whaling in 1963 and, under his leadership, the company diversified into North Sea drilling, trawlers and refrigeration systems for food storage and delivery. The company became one of the most important in the Scottish economy and Sir Gerald was a significant force in many of the pioneering changes and in the modernisation of the company’s corporate structure. In 1984, they acquired the power generating business, Aggreko.

He maintained his links to South Georgia and unwittingly played a part in the outbreak of the Falklands war when he sold, with UK government approval, two whaling platforms in Leith Port, South Georgia for scrap to an Argentina firm. The scrap metal firm were infiltrated by Argentine marines who then occupied the site, raised the Argentinian flag and invaded both South Georgia and the Falklands within two weeks.
In 1987, Aggreko was sold as a separate public company, against Sir Gerald’s vote, though the family retained interest in it. In 2007, Christian Salvesen was sold to the French logistics company Norbert Dentressangle.

Sir Gerald and his wife gave significant support to the arts in Scotland and were presented with the Prince of Wales Medal for Arts Philanthropy in 2012. He was the Chairman of Scottish Opera from 1987 to 1993. After his retirement, he continued his passion for languages, adding to his repertoire of Spanish, Norwegian, Urdu and Punjabi by learning Persian and Arabic.  He was also a generous benefactor to Marlborough College, his most recent gift supporting the restoration of the Memorial Hall.

Sir Gerald is survived by his wife, Margaret his three children, nine grandchildren and six great grandchildren.

Donald Lynden-Bell CBE FRS (5^th April 1935 – 5th February 2018)

Donald Lynden-Bell was a ‘giant’ in the astronomical world and one of the UK’s leading scientists. The College has lost one of its great scientific alumni. Though not a household name, in astrophysics he was one of the leading names of his generation. Indeed Donald was known as one of the ‘Seven Samurai’ of astrophysics, a group who postulated the existence of what is known as the Great Attractor, an apparent anomaly in intergalactic space. His awards included the Schwarzschild and Eddington medals, the Gold medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) and most recently in 2008 the prestigious $1M Kavli prize in Astrophysics, perhaps second only to the Nobel. He is best known for his idea that most massive galaxies contain super-massive black holes at their cores and that these black holes power Quasars. In 2000 he received a CBE in the Queen’s birthday honours list for his services to astronomy. Most recently he appeared in the 2015 documentary film ‘Starmen’. Donald was President of the (RAS) when I was at University and was the first Director of the Institute of Astronomy in Cambridge from whence he came to act as my external examiner for my astronomy and astrophysics Honours thesis viva and from when we became good friends. He was always enthusiastic and loved mathematical puzzles. His ability to tackle fiendish problems always left me in awe. To me, he resembled the cartoon character in Roald Dahl’s the BFG. He was larger than life, friendly and supportive and a giant in his field. Of his time at Marlborough College, he had fond memories and praised his maths and physics teachers, though admitted that he never really got involved at the observatory. Donald never really recovered from a stroke last year and after a short stay in hospital died peace fully at home near Cambridge where he had spent his whole working life. He is survived by his wife Ruth, Professor of Chemistry in Cambridge, with whom he had two children.

Obituary by C.E Barclay, Director, Blackett observatory and Vice President ‘A’ Royal Astronomical Society

You can also see obituaries in Astronomy Magazine, The Times and The Telegraph.

My father John Philp Hodge was born on the 12th December 1925 at Newport Isle of Wight. His father Archibald was descended from several generations of Fifeshire miners. He was named after the Philps who were apparently philanthropists in the area. I was told there was a statue of a Hodge in or around Kirkcaldy but that has failed to materialize. The best we can do is the statue of Doctor Johnson’s cat Hodge in Gough square. The family migrated south and morphed into barristers and respected solicitors with their own firms with the assistance of a bit of local freemasonry His uncle was Alfred Leete, who was the Great War artist responsible for “your country needs you”. Another uncle was Uncle Jim, a theologian, barrister and MP for Preston, a Lloyd George liberal, who crossed the floor of the House to join Ramsey Macdonald’s labour party and earned the undying contempt of my grandmother by coming down to Devizes in his Rolls Royce to borrow money from my grandfather an unbending Tory. In 1926, John’s father, my grandfather was awarded the job of Town Clerk of Devizes and built up his own practice  emerging as a popular celebrated figure there for the rest of his life. My father enjoyed his early childhood there and in particular outdoor activities like riding his bike and walking down Drew’s Pond Lane. He was sent to board at St Peters Weston Super mare, being the same prep school attended by Roald Dahl but thought the great author was rather unkind about the headmaster. Boxing and diving were his best sporting activities.  Although the advice of the headmaster was that he should go to Radley a suitable choice for a shy boy, my grandfather knew Jumbo Jennings, the future Registrar and he went to Marlborough.  This was wartime. There was the dread of bad news which had to be managed by staff. House captains left never to return. It was a good time for bicycling and on one occasion he cycled up to Lords from Marlborough ( a similar feat achieved by Doctor Roger Bannister  from Bath) to watch the Rugby/Marlborough cricket  Match only to faint on arrival and miss the fun. There were no doors on the lavatories. It was Spartan.  I started there 16 years after he left. There was little difference. I had the same beaks and the same door less loos. Flogging continued but father would have missed the pinko politics. His was not another country as far as I was concerned. Duty prevailed over rights.  He was not keen on History or team games although without knowing it he was a team player unlike my lot where the aim is to be in the team regardless of self-sacrifice... When 70 years on I used to drive him on the  short journey from Bishops Cannings to Etchilhampton he enjoyed looking at Mr Ryder’ s hedges but looked with dread at the little victims playing cricket beyond Spaniel’s Bridge. Maybe he was put off by his fellow prep school boys running around throwing cricket balls saying I am Larwood. He excelled at French and German all requiring the natural discipline that would be a feature of his later life.  He liked Jumbo Jennings who was a classicist and I was set to join his house despite the fact that my aunt had blotted her copybook working as the Master’s secretary. Jumbo Jennings was delighted in my time to be caught by my father reading Ovid in the back of his car at Devizes Station.  Father was not so lucky with his relationship with his housemaster if his parting words in 1944 are anything to go by. After saying his goodbyes, he exclaimed the assembled boys “thank god I will never see that man again”. The housemaster summoned him back but that was the end. He was still at the school during my time but I kept my distance. We were both very happy at Marlborough.

He went up to Oxford, where he befriended Christopher French another shy studious man, who at that time remained below the radar. At 18 he joined the army as a junior officer in the Grenadiers, a life changing experience. Christopher French’s father (Father French) was a clergyman in the east end of London and on enlistment day he staggered through the bombed out ruins to join him.

The military liked immaculate and disciplined men like my father but he was due to meet a completely different collection of individuals. His knowledge of French and German enabled him to become a war crimes investigator from the age of 19 to 22. Christopher French got through because father taught him an elementary poem “du bist wie eine blume...” Christopher  went on to be a very successful barrister  and judge and it is interesting to see what the papers said in May 1993 under the headline “Former Guards officer is in fine fettle to tackle Marathon case”…”as a person he is a very nice man. You would pick him out as a former guards officer. He is very stiff-backed.. He is always well prepared and extremely studious. He advised on Exercise that will make you puff”. Father in his understated way had similar attributes. He too was to succumb very soon after the trial to dementia.

Father was based in Baden Baden as liaison officer to the French zone but the biggest bonus was the rations (French, British and American). He was answerable to my future godfather and nightclub king, who styled himself Major Peter Davies of London and Alexandria. First though there was the little issue of Berlin 1945. The Russians were there first but father was in the first jeep in there. As a result of this, a couple of inferior German landscape paintings adorn my children’s playroom walls with greetings to the Fuhrer on his birthday in 1936 and 1938 except they have the wrong date. Hitler’s telephone book is in with Jennifer’s cookery books. If you rang A2 6451 IN 1940, you might have got Herman Goering. We used to have a selection of iron crosses but these seemed to disappear when my friends the Vermin came to stay from Cambridge. One wonders if The German government or the Hitler family will demand restitution. The Russians were as terrifying as their often usual repute but apart from the trophies from Hitler’s desk war criminals had to be arrested. Investigation methods were eccentric to say the least.  SS reunions would take place as black tie and dinner jacket occasions when out from behind the curtains would emerge my 19 year old father with a set of handcuffs. Then there was Hornets, a fairly lowly fellow in the food chain of Nazi War criminals. In Hitler’s telephone book there is a sheet of paper from Peter instructing my father to go into Fulda in the American zone to arrest this character. Hoenitz was to be arrested in the dead of night in this village. Peter and my father had a pencil drawing of Hoenitz who at the material time was in bed with his girlfriend. There were no lights. Peter struck a match so that they could compare the drawing to the man. They slipped the handcuffs on him and off they went through the woods. However, the local villagers were not pleased and there was a rumpus.  Hoenitz got away to be recovered by the large and menacing Peter Davies. This was April 1946 nearly one year after the German surrender. They pursued this trio. Shots were fired at short range and father was wounded in the calf, in what became an incident and earned father a feature in the Wiltshire Times and national press, the former feat I was to achieve at the same age when I wrote my mother’s car off after drinking too much Cocola  down whistley Lane. His grandson did the same at the same age but luckily did not make the wiltshire News. Our mother’s took it all in good spirit. Father liked rolling tanks but his parents would not have known. Anyway Hornetz went to the gallows and that was that.

There were trips to Switzerland to interview various suspects and offers of Mercedes. Father got his exercise as he swam the Rhine at Bonn and walked in the Black Forest.

The future nightclub king of the Saddle room in Park lane was brought up in the Wirral. A childhood friend of his was Diana Pratt, who had two daughters. They encountered each other again either in post wartime London or Liverpool.  Diana said she was off to a place called Baden Baden. Peter said he was going too.  Our futures were sealed. My parents met and indulged in what might be described as a courtship in the Black Forest in 1946. Marriage may have been discussed because my mother would tell me from time to time that father, who was under 21 , had to seek the consent of his parents in Devizes, who were not keen and only gave in at the very end.  Father was apparently sitting on the roof at Widdington in Devizes. I am not sure when my mother discovered my father’s age because she assumed him to be 25 or 26 like Davies and his pals. You can imagine her surprise when she saw his passport showing that he was in fact under 21, which was almost as great as my surprise when I found that my birth was registered when I was 15 with father’s rank as solicitor They could not have reckoned on the internet which showed that they were married in 1954 when I was seven and the date in my mother’s diary is marked as a conference. Anyway this union threw into the mix of genes a totally dysfunctional family of natural 4th class honours men with short bursts of flair and with a little hard work a la Evelyn Waugh mode would achieve upper thirds or in my uncle Lawrence’s case a special.

My father’s innate self-discipline and love of the country enabled him to widen his interests out in Baden Wurttemberg. He took Peter’s boxer dog Ricky out for walks in the Black Forest. He learnt to ski on mount Feldberg. He had several daredevil qualities; whereas my mother was the only person I knew who would go down the mountain in a ski lift. He must have learnt to ride here as Peter was dead keen and his last words on earth were “did I do a clear round” when competing in some horse trials aged 58. His love of horses and riding stayed with him throughout his life. His innate discipline and riding skills made him very popular in the Hunt as he did not annoy the Field masters, which I frequently did because I could not control my horse. In the 1970’s he bred several foals and really got some satisfaction with this.

It was Davies, who was alleged to have been married to a Turkish woman Semiramis and subsequently obtained a talaq divorce and who introduced him to eastern religion. Davies moved around with his eastern thoughts and when I last saw him aged 21 he seemed to be following a fellow called Puck Subud. Father though took to the Vedanta, a form of Hindu philosophy that stayed with him for the remainder of his life. Ever since I can recall i.e. from 1950 onwards he had a shrine in the house where he would meditate twice a day with incense, josticks and photographs of various Indian gurus like Swami Vivekananda. There were elements of reincarnation but the main thing I believe I understood was the diminution of the ego. This was all pretty secretive and not something I ever ventured to discuss as I felt it out of bounds. My mother’s attitude to religion was much similar to that of King Henry IV of France. On her first marriage she became a Catholic and in the 1970’s had the swamis down to their house at Parkdale in Devizes who taught her how to make poppadum’s on the aga. Father was not a figure I ever wanted to challenge but I really thought his main guru Swami Ghanananda was a saintly man. One of my prized possessions is a version of Palgrave’s golden treasury given to me by Ghanananda in 1959.

He had some wild friends in the army who continued to be wild when I knew them in my teens and early twenties at the dinner table and would not have gone down well with my grandparents.  There was Charles Kaiser, who jumped out in front of a retreating German brigade with his dog Lord saying “ I am a Breetish offizier” and took the surrender of the entire brigade. I remember the excitement in April 1960 when my parents returned to the Tirol  for the first time for thirteen years and they heard Charles was in Innsbruck. My mother’s diary reveals they were talking until 3.30 am with Count Trauttsmandorf in Alpbach. There was John Lubbock, who got into terrible trouble in the army when his telephone calls were taped and sent to the Brigadier (the record of the conversation was “who is more common than the Brigadier? Answer “his wife”) and for putting a lot of RAF men’s hats in the bin lorry when they were having dinner. Lubbock would ask his colleagues if they were descended from a saint. August bank holiday was known as St Lubbock’s day because he was instrumental in setting this up. Lubbock ( a Bob Hope character) was on his 5th wife when I knew him. Peter Davies and Lubbock both went on record as being snobs which did not faze my father because he was happy doing the things he liked with his horses, skis and dogs. There is a flip side to snobbery that involves pride in high standards and loyalty. The snobs in the 1950’s terrified me because unlike my father I stood out. Whether it is with the Hunt or in the courts you don’t want to stand out for the wrong reasons unless you really are brilliant. I notice from the picture on the front that his shoes are immaculately whereas you can see the filth on the shoes of the prep school boy standing in front of him. There are photographs of my grandfather appearing at a funeral in evening dress instead of morning dress much to the amusement of my father. I mention this because father was now in a completely different milieu to his parents, who had their set pews in the churches in Devizes usually at the front if I recall the position properly. Although my grandfather fought throughout the whole of the Great War as an officer his brother uncle Jim, the former MP and barrister, held in contempt for his activities . The idea of my mother, a married woman with two daughters, snobby regiments and eastern religion would not have gone down well and father had to go underground to practise his religion just like the recusants in reformation times.

Discharge from the army meant father had to get a job. Father worked for Andre Morariev in advertising in London but tragedy struck when in March 1948 my eldest half-sister Maryvon died in Putney and my half-sister Brigitte were removed to France never to return until Christmas 1957. They had had enough and bought a farm in Devon called Coltsfoot in the time of the depression in agriculture. It was at this point that contact had to be made with my grandparents, who came down to Coltsfoot and persuaded my father that he was doing no good and should qualify as a solicitor.

They moved to the Lodge at Steeple Ashton in 1949. These were good years as far as my recollection goes. We had stables. Gerald Balding, the  trainer in Bishops  Cannings lent him a racehorse Prince for a season. He  bicycled to Devizes to work so that my mother could have the car, rode with the Olympic team in Porlock, hunted with the Avon Vale and took the dogs rabbiting on the aerodrome.

My recollection of him as a solicitor in those days was as a disciplined advocate, who wore smart suits,  as well as being disciplined on his paperwork. He was best suited to defending criminals because he had the respect of the court. He may have been reckless in his physical activities but was a safe pair of hands in his legal career. He lived in the shadow of his father, who was the First freeman of Devizes as I lived in his shadow lacking the secure hinterland of his eastern philosophy and having no side to him. His good manners aided his advocacy , which was good because of his innate self-control. He did not need acting ability to aid his presentational skills. For my part I had no natural discipline or acting abilities that have skipped a generation. We  were  all very happy to live in the shadow of the next generation.

In the end by the time although we were totally different we were in our late 60’s , my grandfather, father and I,  doing similar things like making deathbed wills. When the nurses in St James or any hospital said “Mr Hodge is here”, you probably knew your time was up. It could have applied to any of us and this pastoral side of the job is fulfilling although we are told judges are not keen on deathbed wills. Sometimes I have had to tell a dying woman that her plans are not sensible and bring her into line even when on oxygen. If we did not get it right then a certain Mr Price, not Vincent nor Denis but Oliver, could challenge our wills. We also scattered ashes together.

Finally it was dementia that killed him. He died with Jennifer holding his hand and me present with his dog Harriet. Having been present at three births by her side it was good to have her support at the death and we cannot thank Jackie and Dauntsey House for the dignity that he maintained to the end without losing the ability to recognise those who were important to him or go to the lavatory on his own without aid. He spent life trying not to get noticed but loyally supporting anyone who needed that support. We were lucky to have him but I still do not know him. One is left with a feeling of gross inadequacy.

Michael Hodge (LI 1960-65)

The former lord justice of appeal, Sir Henry Brooke, who has died following cardiac surgery aged 81, was a tireless campaigner for improving access to justice and transformed his retirement into an opportunity to speak out on legal causes.

After stepping down from the bench in 2006 following a distinguished career, he achieved prominence as a passionate advocate for much-needed reform of the justice system: he served as vice-chair of the Labour party-supported Bach Commission on Access to Justice (2016-17), drafting significant sections of the resulting report that called for a legally enforceable right to justice and legal aid.

Brooke’s post-judicial renown owed much to his enthusiastic adoption of digital technology. He blogged and tweeted regularly about rulings, politics and friendships in succinct commentary, sharpened by decades of delivering judgments.

Described as “one of the most computer literate judges on the bench”, Brooke was committed to making the law accessible through the use of computers and technology and was the inaugural chairman, from 2000, of Bailii, the British and Irish Legal Information Institute, an invaluable online resource for anyone trying to track down the texts of elusive judgments from across a wide range of English language jurisdictions.

Brooke’s steady rise through the legal ranks, following his call to the bar in 1963, saw him appointed a QC in 1981, a recorder, or part-time judge, in 1983 and a high court judge in 1988. He chaired the Law Commission from 1993 to 1995. He was promoted to the court of appeal in 1996 and served there for a decade, becoming vice-president of the court’s civil division.

During his career Brooke developed interests in both modern technology and racial equality before the law. He was counsel to the inquiry into the proposal to build the Sizewell B nuclear reactor in the early 1980s, chaired the bar’s computer committee and delivered a court modernisation programme.

He also chaired the bar’s race relations committee (1989-91) and from 1991 to 1994 he was the first chair of the ethnic minority advisory committee of the Judicial Studies Board (now the Judicial College).

He regarded his 1993 Kapila lecture, The Administratrion of Justice in a Multi-Cultural Society, which documented racial discrimination in the courts, as one of his finest professional achievements. He deplored a defendant being referred to as “half-caste” by a senior judge and another case in which the judge had eagerly inquired: “Can this man be deported?”

Brooke was born in London, into a family of Conservative politicians. His father, Henry Brooke, was home secretary in the 1960s under Harold Macmillan and Alec Douglas-Home, and his mother, Barbara (nee Mathews), was a councillor and public servant; both became life peers. His elder brother, Peter (Lord Brooke of Sutton Mandeville), was the Northern Ireland secretary of state credited with initiating the peace process.

His education was traditionally privileged: he attended Marlborough school, and after two years’ national service with the Royal Engineers in the Middle East, went to Balliol College, Oxford, where he studied classical literature, ancient history and philosophy. He was called to the bar in 1963 and joined the Inner Temple.

In court, Brooke was said to wear his robes “like a catwalk model – off the shoulder”. Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, in a speech marking Brooke’s retirement from the court of appeal in 2006, also said of him: “He has a slightly craggy exterior and an unruly and unruled head of hair (which is one of the more cogent arguments for wigs in the court of appeal), and which can even lead to an impression of slight disorganisation.” That impression “is totally misleading. No one, who does not have a rigid self-discipline, could achieve even half of the contribution that Henry Brooke makes.”

Brooke’s retirement allowed him to campaign on concerns about which he had to remain silent while on the bench. He became a patron of Prisoners Abroad, the Public Law Project, Harrow Law Centre and several other justice organisations. A regular visitor to Albania to support justice reform, he was awarded the country’s highest honour for a foreign national, Knight of the Order of Skanderbeg.

Brooke maintained his commitment to transparency and to the uses of technology to the end of his life, tweeting ahead of cardiac surgery that his son, Nick, would post an update the following day. Nick announced his father’s death, and within a day Brooke’s name was trending on Twitter – possibly the first former appeal court judge to become a popular online search term.

He married Bridget Kalaugher in 1966. She survives him, along with their four children, Michael, Nick, Christopher and Caroline.

With thanks to The Guardian who gave permission to reprint. The original can be seen on The Guardian website.

Neave Brown at home in Fleet Road, Camden, in 2015. Photograph: Stefi Orazi

Neave Brown (C1 1945-48), who has died aged 88, was the architect of what is widely considered the finest housing built in Britain in the last 50 years. In the 1960s, through a series of housing projects in Camden, north London, of increasing scale – first five houses (Winscombe Street), then 72 (Fleet Road), then 522 (Alexandra Road) – he demonstrated a street-based alternative to high-rise housing that was immediately acclaimed both in Britain and abroad. But then in the 1970s and 80s, when the reaction against the welfare state set in, he was left high and dry, and it was solely in mainland Europe that he was to build further projects. Only in his final years, and especially in the last six months of his life, was his work recognised with the award of the Royal Institute of British Architects royal gold medal in September 2017 and a series of public appearances to sell-out audiences, culminating in a “for one night only” performance at the Hackney Empire, at which he received a 10-minute standing ovation.

What distinguished Brown as an architect of housing was that the technical ingenuity of his planning was matched by his passionate empathy for the people who would be living in the homes he designed. His flat and house plans were a masterpiece of compression, with not an inch of space wasted – allowing him to create in Britain, within the space and cost constraints of local authority housing, interiors that felt remarkably open and spacious. But these plans he saw not as an end in themselves but as the setting which the various residents would take and use as they wished. This humanistic quality was fundamental to his approach.

I got to know Brown over the past decade in the course of researching my book Cook’s Camden: The Making of Modern Housing (2017). He had a leading role during the time that Sydney Cook was the borough’s chief architect.

Neave was born in Utica, New York, into a wealthy Anglo-American family – his British father, Percy, was a businessman and his American mother, Beatrice, worked in publishing. He was educated in the US (at Bronxville high school, New York, 1939-45) and the UK (Marlborough college, 1945-48) and won a place at Oxford University to read English; but while doing his military service he decided to switch to architecture and applied to the Architectural Association, where he studied from 1950 until 1956.

After graduating, he worked for three years at Lyons Israel Ellis – the pre-eminent training ground at the time in London for high-flying young architects – and then for a short time for Middlesex county council, before setting up his own practice, which he combined with teaching in the UK (at the AA and Cambridge University) and the US (Cornell University).

At this point he designed his first built scheme, a group of five houses in north London for a co-op that he and four of his friends set up for the purpose. Completed in 1966, the Winscombe Street houses followed the latest ideas coming from the US about zoning, with an adults’ zone on the top floor, a children’s zone on the bottom floor (spilling out into the garden) and an intermediate zone containing kitchen, dining and entrance on the middle floor. To secure a council loan for the co-op, the houses had to meet local authority requirements; but the efficiency of Brown’s planning meant that he was able to deliver four bedrooms and two bathrooms within the space and cost limits that had been prescribed for a three-bedroom, one-bathroom unit.

On the basis of the Winscombe Street project, Brown was hired by Cook. Camden was one of the richest of the newly formed London boroughs and its ambition was in line with its resources: namely, to be the flagship borough. For Cook, charged with delivering up to 1,000 dwellings a year, this meant bringing in the best young talent that the London architectural world had to offer. Appointed in 1965, Brown was the key figure in this process, his reputation and charisma soon afterwards helping to attract other bright young stars such as Peter Tábori, Gordon Benson and Alan Forsyth.

At this time, in the mid-1960s, the housing being built by local authorities often included tower blocks, the defects of which for family homes were already becoming apparent. At his first scheme for Camden, Fleet Road (now Dunboyne Road), designed in 1966-67, Brown showed that there was no need to build high in order to achieve the prescribed densities. Instead of a high building surrounded by empty space, a low “carpet” of buildings filled the site. Every dwelling had a front door opening on to the street as well as its own open-to-the-sky private external space – often, as at Winscombe Street, comprising a balcony (adult zone) overlooking a courtyard (children’s zone) – as well as a communal garden beyond.

Brown’s follow-on scheme for Camden, Alexandra Road, near Swiss Cottage, designed in 1967-69, was on a far larger scale, including not just housing but also a public park, school, shops, light industry, play centre, youth club and community centre, as well as integration with an existing London county council estate. In designing this “piece of city”, Brown aimed to create a modern version of London’s traditional urbanism, based on a vocabulary of streets and squares. As in Bloomsbury or Pimlico, the dwellings were in rows entered directly from the street and every dwelling had its own open-to-the-sky external space; and as with a Georgian square, the 1.8-hectare (four-acre) park at the centre of the scheme constituted “the picture in the frame”, the landscape offset by the hard edge of the terraced housing.

Constructing such an ambitious project in the 1970s, when annual inflation at one point reached 25%, stretched the management capabilities of a local authority to the full, and by the time the project was finished in 1979 it was way over budget and schedule. Sensing a PR disaster, in 1978 the councillors had set up a public inquiry that they hoped would lay the blame on the architect; but when the inquiry, commissioned by Camden from the National Building Agency, was finally completed two years later, the finger was pointed not at the architect but at the councillors. As a result the report was quickly buried, but the fact that Brown had been the subject of a public inquiry, and that it had lasted so long, did irreparable damage to his reputation as a practising architect, and when he left Camden he found there was no work for him in the UK.

Instead he designed exhibitions (including two at the Hayward Gallery for the Arts Council – Le Corbusier in 1987 and Thirties British Art and Design in 1978) and found work abroad, teaching in Germany (as professor at Karlsruhe University) and designing projects in Italy (Bergamo) and, particularly, the Netherlands (at The Hague and Eindhoven). Of these the Eindhoven project, the Medina, completed in 2002, was his final project and also, to many, his final masterwork. After it was finished, he had a change of direction and did what he had planned to do as a schoolboy – study for a fine art degree (at the City & Guilds of London Art School) and work as an artist.

In person Brown was always polite and courteous, with the apparel and demeanour of an artist; but it took only a few minutes of conversation for the penetrative power of his intellect to become apparent. He was in a now rather old-fashioned sense a “public intellectual”, with a voracious appetite for the latest writing on every subject, but especially politics and history. As his public performances demonstrated, both the charisma of his personality and the lucidity of his thinking remained undimmed to the last.

He is survived by his wife, Janet Richardson; children, Victoria, Aaron and Zoe; and grandchildren, Tabitha, Reuben, Elian, Pierre, Isabelle and Sylvie.

With thanks to The Guardian who gave permission to reprint. The original can be seen on The Guardian website.

Jeremy (C1 1948-52) and Jonathan (B1 1948-52) Dale Roberts were born together on 16th May 1934, the sons of Dr Michael Dale Roberts and his wife Christabel. They lived in the Cotswold village of Minchinhampton where his father was in general practice with his surgery in the house. The twins arrived at Marlborough in the Lent term 1948. Three months younger, I came to the College in the summer term 1948 and we became friends virtually at once. Aged 14, they were so alike that when Mr Coggin was doling out pocket money in A house, he would say “don’t tell me, just turn sideways”. He then tried to guess which was which.

Jeremy went on to C1, and Jonathon to B1, and it was Jeremy who became my lifelong friend. Musical ability was encouraged at MC. His piano teacher was M.O. Marshall, known as Mom, and through him, he was drawn in particular to the French composers Debussy and Ravel. I often accompanied Jeremy to the practice rooms below the Memorial Hall and, with my slight facility with reading music, I tried to turn the pages at the correct moment. These practice rooms and others in the Old Music School below Mount House (since demolished) were sometimes a welcome haven during bitter winter afternoons when the HOB rule (House Out of Bounds) decreed that we should be out of doors doing something healthy in shorts. No Fugs (prefects) patrolled these corridors so we were safe.

Neither I, nor Jeremy, were interested in games and when not compelled to play in some lowly house team we preferred to explore the paradisal Wiltshire countryside on our grids (bicycles). Village churches were a favourite destination and, when we had explored church and churchyard, Jeremy would head for the harmonium. If an organ existed it was usually locked. In the unlikely event that I ever again hear “Claire de Lune” or “Passepied” rendered on a wheezy harmonium I will be straight back in Clatford or Ogbourne St Andrew, preferably on a blazing summer afternoon. (Summer 1949 was unusually hot). Another favourite occupation was to take the Marmite sandwiches provided for “vol tea” and mess around in the water meadows upstream beside the Kennett trying to work the derelict sluice gates and enjoying the unforgotten smell of mud and waterweed.

After leaving school, Jeremy, like the rest of our contemporaries, had a double extended “gap year” in the form of two years conscription for National Service. Neither Jeremy nor I were considered to have “officer qualities” and Jeremy found a niche in the Forces Radio. We met again briefly in the Suez Canal Zone in 1954 where I was among the “other ranks” in a prestigious cavalry regiment and Jeremy was entertaining the soldiers on the airwaves. The only music I ever heard in the requests from mothers and girlfriends were “Mr Sandman, bring me a dream” and “See the pyramids along the Nile/ but remember, darling, all the while/ you belong to me”. I don’t suppose Jeremy ever presented these ditties but he may have had some more respectable “Third Programme” output. If so, I never heard it.

His National Service completed, Jeremy attended the Royal Academy of music and entered the world inhabited by such masters as Gerald Finzi and Vaughan Williams. His early compositions were much influenced by these musicians and his first public performance of his own work, “I heard a Voice” at the Wigmore Hall won critics approval and was compared to Vaughan Williams work. He was 21. Teachers including Rainier and Alwyn helped him to develop a more individual style and Jeremy’s compositions were described as having “an enduring muscularity, grit and tensile strength”.

He was an inspirational teacher, first privately, then at Morley College and for thirty years at the Royal College of Music where he held the post of Professor of Composition. Before retirement, he was twice visiting Professor of Composition at Iowa University.

Jeremy’s compositions were mostly short pieces for a few instruments, full of novelty and wit. This is not the kind of material which will make a composer famous, but his music, his teaching ability and his humorous and affectionate personality won him many devoted and admiring pupils and friends. His twin brother died of a fatal illness in 1993 and Jeremy joined him on 11th July 2017. At a memorial ceremony, he was honoured by musical colleagues and his son and daughter spoke movingly of his home life as a much loved husband and father. His Swiss wife, Paulette, survives him. They met at the home of the Finzi family, where Jeremy was a frequent guest, and were married in 1966.

May he rest in peace.

James Anderson (C3 1948-52)

Nicholas Milner-Gulland (CR 1966-69)
Died 26th November 2017

The death is announced of Nicholas Milner-Gulland, who was a Member of CR from 1966-69 teaching Classics.

Nick was a Scholar at Westminster School before reading Classics at Cambridge but he could equally well have read Music, since he was a fine player of keyboard instruments, especially the organ. With his friend and colleague Andrew Carter (CR 1965-70), Nick inspired many pupils to take an active part in musical events, whether it was listening to LP recordings, singing and playing in small groups and working with the Chapel Choir.

Nick’s Marlborough career was cut short when he succeeded his father as Headmaster of Cumnor House Prep School in 1969, when ill health forced his father to take early retirement. Nick proved a most able prep school head master. He raised academic standards, oversaw the introduction of co-education, organised the construction of a wonderful new theatre and was inspirational in the fields of drama and music, where the annual summer Shakespeare play was the highlight of many pupils’ lives. Nick had to retire early because of ill health, but thanks to the Royal Marsden Hospital, he had many years in remission. Lots of music followed with Nick running many successful choirs; becoming the organist of Ringmer Church; serving as a prison visitor and a School Governor and as a part time teacher of Greek.

At his funeral at Ringmer Church many tributes were payed to Nick and many friends gathered to sing in his memory. He is survived by his wife Anna, who played a large part in school life, and their three children, Kate, Jamie and Toby. He will be hugely missed, not just by family, ex pupils and many friends, but by a great circle of music makers who were looking forward to him conducting a performance of Bach’s St Matthew’s Passion next March.

Nick Milner-Gulland was a talented, kind and considerate friend to many people and one most endearing characteristic was his great sense of humour, which helped to see him through some testing and challenging times, and gave great pleasure to those in his company.

There will be a Service of Thanksgiving in Ardingly Chapel on Saturday 14th April 2018 – further details will be published on the website nearer the time.

MCWE/CAJ

Peter Godfrey, Director of Music at Marlborough College from 1949-58, died on 28th September 2017.

Peter was born in 1922 in Bluntisham, Cambridgeshire. Loving music from an early age he first auditioned for the choir of King’s College in 1930 but, on this occasion, was sadly unsuccessful. He tried again in 1931 and, this time, he won a place on the choir. He went on to win a music scholarship in to Denstone College in 1937 and in 1941 a scholarship to King’s College as a bass choral scholar.

After the war, he entered the Royal College of Music and started teaching at Felsted School, Essex before becoming Music Director at Marlborough College.

He moved to Auckland, New Zealand in 1958 to be a lecturer at Auckland University where he remained for 24 years taking the music department from strength to strength to become a centre of excellence. He eventually became Dean and Head of the Music Department.

During his time in Auckland he was also the Director of music at St Mary’s Cathedral, Conductor of the Auckland String Players, he formed the Symphonia of Auckland and led the University festival Choir to success at the choral festival in New York and, under his charge, the New Zealand Choir won the BBC Let the People Sing Competition.

He moved to Wellington in 1982 where he took up Directorship of Music for the National Youth Choir from 1982 to 88, Directorship of Music at St Paul's Cathedral in Wellington from 1983 to 89 and Directorship of the Orpheus Choir from 1984 91. He also founded the found the New Zealand Choral Federation in 1985.

He was appointed MBE in 1978, Professor Emeritus at Auckland University in 1982 and CBE in 1988. His biography, Peter Godfrey: Father of New Zealand Choral Music, was published in 2015.

When he retired he moved to Waikanae on the Kapiti Close where he became Director of the Kapiti Chamber Choir and of the 100-member Kapiti Chorale. He was also conductor and organist at St Michael’s Church, Waikanae.

He is survived by his three daughters from his first wife Sheila, who died in 1993, and his second wife, Jane.

Sources
Creative New Zealand
Radio New Zealand
The Telegraph
Wellington Scoop

Sir Michael Latham (B2 1956-60), has died aged 74, He was the Conservative MP for Melton (which later expanded to include Rutland) for 18 years.

After leaving Marlborough College in 1960, he went to King’s College, Cambridge, where he gained a First in History in 1964. He then earned a Certificate in Education at Oxford. He was elected as the Conservative MP in 1974 and served 18 years. His great life focus was on house building and construction, having already been the parliamentary liaison officer for the National Federation of Building Trades Employers before he became an MP. On his retirement, he continued to provide a service to Government writing the report Constructing The Team, identifying obstacles to growth in procurement and contractual arrangement, resulting in the set up of the Construction Industry Board, which he chaired himself.

He also worked closely with the Church of England. He served on their international committee, the general assembly of the British Council of Churches and became a lay reader in 1998.

He met his wife Caroline at a meeting of Chelsea Young Conservatives and they were married in 1969. They had two sons, Richard and James, and two grandchildren. He was knighted in 1993, and appointed Deputy Lieutenant for Leicestershire the following year. He spent his final years in a residential home after developing dementia.

The Rt Hon Sir Alan Duncan, MP for Rutland and Melton and Sir Michael's successor wrote the following tribute;

"Michael was enormously respected as the MP for Melton, and then Rutland & Melton following boundary changes. He served his constituents for 18 years and always fought hard for them.

He and his late wife Caroline were always enormously approachable and solved people’s problems very diligently.

Michael was a great expert on housing and was a really thoughtful influence on government policy.

He was one of those capable people who deserved to be a Minister but sadly never was. He has left behind him a great personal reputation".

He was a much loved president of the Marlburian Club in 2004-5 and will be sorely missed.

You can see full obituaries in The Telegraph and the Melton Times.

Lord Langford OBE (C2 1925-30) died on November 13 2017, aged 105.

Geoffrey Alexander Rowley-Conwy was the son of Major Geoffrey Seymour Rowley-Conwy (1877 – 10 August 1915), who was killed in action at Gallipoli in 1915, and Bertha Gabrielle Cochran (1880–1984) to whose genes, on his 100th Birthday, he credited his longevity. He was educated at Marlborough College and Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, from where he was commissioned, as 2nd Lieutenant, into the Royal Artillery in 1932. He was promoted to lieutenant in September 1935 and to captain in 1940.

He served in Edinburgh and then in Ireland until the South Irish Coast Defence guns were sold to the Irish Government in 1937. That year, he went to Singapore to join the Hong Kong and Singapore Royal Artillery, which was manned by British gunners and with which he was serving at the time of the Japanese attacks on Singapore.

As the Japanese army closed in on the British at Singapore in January 1942, Geoffrey Rowley-Conwy was a formidable character and he fought a strong fight boosting morale with heavy attacks directly on Japanese mortars instead of troops. However, inevitably, the Japanese bombardment of Singapore city and port meant a weakening of the allied defences. As the two leading Japanese divisions crossed the Straits of Johore on February 8, Rowley-Conwy had to abandon his position and take up defence of Kallang airfield on the southern coast. Allied surrender soon followed.

He resolved to escape but this in itself was a difficult decision to make as many of his battery had families in Singapore and he himself was forced to put down his terrified dogs and racehorses, who were all badly traumatised by the bombing. However, 133 of his troop joined him in a plan to sail to Sumatra in a 66-tonne diesel-engine launch but before they could sail, the local commander of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) took him and the launch under command in order to search for other British or Commonwealth troops who may have reached Sumatra. Eventually the rescue mission was cut short as the proximity of the Japanese forced them across the island to Padang, but not before they aided the evacuation of around 2,500. They then escaped the region in an incredibly dangerous 1,500 mile voyage in a small sailing boat which took 36 days and culminated in their arrival in Ceylon where they were picked up by the SS Anglo-Canadian on its way to Bombay.

He remained in India, initially as an anti-aircraft gunnery instructor and then leading various campaigns until the end of the war and in 1945 he was awarded an OBE

He remained in the army after his return to the UK in 1946, eventually being selected to command 31 Training Regiment RA Rhyl in 1954.

When his uncle, Captain Rafe Grenville Rowley-Conwy, died in April 1951 he inherited the Bodrhyddan estate in Rhuddlan and then inherited the Langford barony as the ninth holder of the title when his second cousin once removed, Arthur Sholto Langford Rowley, died in August 1953. He then applied to resign his commission on completion of his regimental command in 1957 as he had £30,000 (about £690,000 today) in death duties to pay on the family estate and would not be able to run the 5,000 acres estate while still serving. One of his entrepreneurial endeavours which kept the estate viable was the conversion of part of Bodrhyddan Hall, built in the 17th century, into furnished flats.

Lord Langford had three wives. His first was Ruth St John Murphy to whom he married in 1939. The marriage was dissolved in 1956. He then married Grete von Freiesleben the following year. They already had two young sons; Peter who is a professor of archaeology at Durham University; John who is a trader based in London; and they went on to have a third; Owain, who is the successor to the barony and the manager of the family estate in Wales. Grete sadly died in 1973. Two years later, he married Susan Winifred Denham with whom he had two children, a son; Christopher, an aviation firefighter; and a daughter; Charlotte, an acupuncturist.

Lord Langford was also a keen rally driver and horse rider — having been an amateur steeplechase jockey before the war. He remained an entertaining character throughout his life and he even bought himself a quad bike for his 93rd birthday. On his 100th birthday he was to note: “I have had an interesting life but now I live in complete tranquillity, which I enjoy.” It is reported that he spent his afternoons in the summerhouse, surveying the garden and listening to the radio.

Sources Wikipedia , The Daily Post Wales and The Times Obituaries.

My friend Peter Banyard, who has died aged 70, lived for 50 years as a tetraplegic following an accident suffered as an officer cadet in the Royal Green Jackets. Although he had to use a wheelchair for the rest of his life, he succeeded in carving out a career as a journalist, historian and director of the charity Spinal Research.

Born in Kolkata (then Calcutta), he was the second son of Peter and Deirdre Banyard. His father was a tea broker who continued to work in India after independence, then the family moved to the UK, where Peter was educated at Marlborough college andCambridge University, where he studied history.

After university he joined the army, almost immediately suffering the accident that almost cost him his life and meant that he required constant care. He spent several years in hospital, followed by a long period of rehabilitation, during which, despite his limited dexterity, he gradually learned the skills not only to become a successful journalist and author, but also to drive, erratically, a specially adapted car.

Peter’s work as a historian and journalist included a history of the tea trade and the internationally successful Natural Wonders of the World (1978) which looked at the scientific explanations for the formation of some of nature’s greatest landmarks. In later years, from 2006 to 2013, he was publications editor for the Association of Lloyds Members, writing knowledgably and irreverently on the world of finance.

He became central to the growth of Spinal Research, and during his 16 years with the charity he helped raise substantial sums that financed a worldwide research effort into spinal cord injuries. Funds raised through his efforts included the biggest ever grant made by the Injured Jockeys Fund.

During his time with the charity he worked as research director, chief executive, and then director of development. His particular skill was to deploy humour, clarity and deep personal understanding of the effects of spinal trauma in a way that bridged the gap between research scientists and potential funders.

Peter maintained a wide circle of friends from his days at school and university, as well as from his long and varied working life. He is survived by his nephew, George.

Alex Baird

(reprinted with permission from the Guardian)

Mr Vee King Shaw, (CO 1958-1963), passed away peacefully in Singapore aged 73 on 13 July 2017.

The eldest son of Tan Sri Dr. Runme Shaw and his wife Peggy, Shaw is notable for leading massive changes to his family’s film exhibition and real estate business in Singapore by redeveloping and upgrading Shaw Brothers’ single screen theatres into modern multiplexes and commercial developments. Prior to his return to Singapore in 1981, Shaw was also involved in film production, distribution and exhibition in Hong Kong under his uncle, Sir Run Run Shaw.

A contributing member of society, he was a Justice of the Peace, a council member of the Shaw Foundation, Chairman and later Advisor to the National Fire Prevention and Civil Emergency Council and a founding member of the International Seakeepers Society.

In 2002, he was made an Honorary Fellow of the Singapore Academy of Medicine and in 2004 he was awarded Singapore’s Public Service Star for his numerous contributions.

Whilst at Marlborough, he excelled in Boxing and was infamous for being picked up by his housemaster as he was hitchhiking back to school from Swindon where he had just caught a movie. An early indicator of his passion for the movie industry!

An avid fisherman, scuba diver and sailor, Shaw once landed a 280lb Queen Mackerel, one of the largest ever recorded, whilst skin diving off the waters of Hong Kong in 1979.

He is survived by his mother, Peggy; wife, Linda and his three children, Markham (CO 1982-1987), Howard (CO 1988-1990) and Nicola.

I first met Martin at Berkhamsted School in 1958, where he had taken a one-year appointment, as physics teacher and games coach, on leaving the RAF.   I was there in the Lent Term on ‘teaching practice’.  We quickly became good friends – and have remained so for 59 years. The Headmaster was Basil Garnons-Williams, a former housemaster of C1, also on the staff was Reggie Fair (B1), Master i/c Cricket.  Whether they saw the talent in Martin and recommended him to Marlborough, or advised him to apply, I know not, but he arrived at M.C. in 1958 and remained until his retirement in 1994.

Martin owed something to his mother for her judgement in selecting as her lodger, Anna, who attracted particular attention from Martin. They were soon married and had over fifty years of happiness, love and support for each other. Martin was above all a man of faith; so modest and unassuming was he, that you might not have noticed. It was this, that drove his life over so many decades and, above all, it was this that united him with his beloved Anna.

Martin quickly established himself as a thoughtful, innovative teacher of physics, and role model, always incredibly modest, and the most approachable of mentors; held in high esteem by students and colleague alike. He interested hi pupils with practical solutions. He memorably showed great enthusiasm designing, constructing and testing a solar panel in his laboratory that, not unsurprisingly, aroused great interest in both pupils and colleagues. To cap a distinguished career, he spread his ideas to a wider audience by co-authoring a book with other members of the physics department. As one would expect of him, he took great care to write as clearly as possible. Understated – sometimes, wrongly under-valued, but conscientious to a fault.

Always interested in new ideas and new methods, Martin soon became heavily involved in the new Design Technology Centre, in which he ran courses in Alternative Technology. His greatest contribution to Design Technology was, however, within the realms of electronics where his genuine expertise, patience and support saw so many pupils through their GCSE coursework assignments.  Electronics is a ‘dark art’ and when something goes wrong with a piece of applying logic and establishing exactly where  you can test it and whether it is working thus far. Martin could do this with commensurate skill, not simply by fixing a student’s errors but by talking them through their frustrations gently and patiently to a successful conclusion. This was a truly educational experience and so many owe him a huge debt of gratitude for the time and care he gave them.

Martin had been very successful at Whitgift (key member of the XV, Capt of Cricket, champion gymnast) and at Oxford on the games field and Fives Court.  He narrowly missed out on a Blue as a skilful scrum-half, with a wondrous reverse pass, and as a wicket keeper, but won a Half-Blue for Fives.  At Marlborough, his skills as a games coach were quickly recognised, among others, by Dennis Silk, who took him on to help coaching the XV.  The culmination of that combination being the production of that famed team of 1963. As Martin said at one of the well-attended reunion dinners, ‘it was the year, when the team arrived unbeaten at the last match, and by the final whistle, the Sherborne coach had already walked out and Marlborough ended the season unbeaten – and with not one try scored against them’. He added ‘you know what; winning is much more fun’. In his early days at Marlborough, Martin played regularly for Dorset and Wilts Rugby XV in the County Championship, whilst not playing in any other matches. Quite a feat!

Martin was a man of drop-dead, dead-pan humour; irretrievably modest, deceptively casual – but utterly on the ball; a master of the wicked one-liner and quite a joker!

A few examples:
Martin and Dennis were driving a group of pupils up to Twickenham, each in his own car. Martin stopped at a traffic light; Dennis came up behind – and deliberately nudged his rear bumper. Out jumped Martin, furious, ranting and raging at Dennis and the two proceeded to circle each other, fists raised. Meanwhile their student passengers were open mouthed with shock; the lights turned green and the traffic began to honk and hoot, although whether with applause or frustration was not clear!

‘I have been walking around my lab all day as a hunchback and no-one has noticed’

After his cricket team had fielded badly on a rough outfield ‘Get down behind the ball – you may lose a few teeth but you’ll have saved four runs.’

Martin would always help anyone, preferably if no-one else knew.  He audited my accounts for the Marlborough Theatre Club as a member, when he left the Club he continued and I gave him a book token. When I asked if he was happy to continue he replied ‘if you don’t give me anything’. Typical Martin!

A good example of his love of his follow human beings and his desire to help as much and as many as he could, is illustrated by his volunteering to be a Samaritan.  For many years he regularly manned his telephone overnight to listen to victims of domestic violence, or those contemplating suicide etc., and respond with a sympathetic, compassionate ear. If you ever needed a Good Samaritan – Martin was your man.

Martin rarely got things wrong, but when asked by Anna if he would like a Thanksgiving Service, he replied ‘no because nobody would come’. The large congregation in St. Mary’s proved he got that one spectacularly wrong.

Brian Williams (CR 1962-94)

Angus Stewart (C2 1935-39)

Born in the Argentine, 16th April 1921, Angus was the youngest child of Angus and Vera Stewart. When Angus was 6 the family moved back to Scotland and finally settled at Ardpatrick in Argyll, which he adored.

Angus went to prep school in Peebles and then to Marlborough College in Wiltshire. His description of his journey home at the end of term was quite an adventure for a 13 year old boy on his own. He went by train from Marlborough to London where he was met by an aunt, fed, and then put on the overnight train to Glasgow. In the morning he took another train to Greenock from where he caught the ferry up to West Loch Tarbert where he was met by one of the family for the 11 mile drive to Ardpatrick to be home around lunchtime. He told me that he did his best to resist breakfast on both the trains because the best one was to be got on the ferry – if he could hold out till after about 10.00!

Angus had got a place at Oxford when war was declared, so he was able to defer his call up and go up to Worcester College for 5 terms. He had taken up boxing at some stage in his childhood and carried it on, representing Oxford and thus gaining what is known as a Boxing Blue.

Then came the 2nd world war and he joined the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in 1941. At the end of the war Angus considered staying with the Army in the War Office but decided to leave and pursue a career in singing. He was a fine tenor and trained for the operatic stage but was never a soloist. He was based in London, staying with his newly wed brother when a charming young lady came to visit. This was Olyffe, and they took an instant shine to each other. They married in 1950 and lived with Angus’s mother in Kensington.

After turning 40 Angus joined a firm called Save and Prosper, and over time was promoted to Head Office running the sales force so he ended up spending his working days in an office – a thing he had vowed never to do. Finding that he had a very sound acumen for the work, Angus rose up the ranks. Then came time to retire, and Angus took on some part time consultancy work to ease into retirement gently. Angus has had an abundance of singing and music, church life, country life, tending his garden, walking his dog, giving parties, helping people, and in later years having people help him with walking his dog, supporting him with the care of his beloved wife, helping him with appointments and lifts when needed, and a hundred other ways people helped him maintain his independence to the end.

Sophie Mills
(Daughter of Angus Stewart)

Diana Reynell, grotto designer, died on August 1st 2017, at the age of 83.

Diana first came to Marlborough College with her husband, Antony Reynell, as a master and head of classics. Diana taught jewellery design at the college, and put together costumes for school plays. It was here where she started her career as a grotto designer. Her very first restoration project was the grotto below the Marlborough Mound on the Marlborough College site. After being neglected for many years, the grotto had become a store shed, but Diana was determined to restore it to its former purpose.

Following the successful restoration of the grotto, Diana went on to restore and reintroduce many grottoes, shell rooms, and chandeliers that had been left, some had been without them for more than two centuries.

Diana later became known as “the queen of grotto restorers and makers”, commissioned to such places as Hampton Court House, Richmond’s shell pavilion at Goodwood House and the Bath House at Walton Hall. One of her most impressive works is the large grotto, made to represent the underworld, at Leeds Castle. It was the first built in England in over two centuries. Diana’s training in figurative drawing at the Ruskin School of Art at Oxford proved very helpful as she fashioned mythical figures in the grotto.

Reynell’s attention to detail, and desire for perfection were just a couple of the reasons she gained such a formidable reputation within the industry.

Laurence Ellis (CR 1955-77) arrived at Marlborough College in 1955 to teach Mathematics after doing National Service with the Green Jackets and reading Mathematics at Trinity College, Cambridge. Before that he had won a Scholarship to Winchester College where he excelled in Mathematics, Classics and Cross-Country Running and Rowing amongst other sports. It was at school that he developed a passion for solving cryptic crosswords, completing the Times Crossword in the ten minute gap between breakfast and Chapel. He took on this challenge, always against the clock, every day for nearly 70 years and woe betide anyone, be they wife, child, colleague or pupil who interrupted this morning ritual. Music was another important part of his life. He sang in choirs at Marlborough and beyond, played the piano – and occasionally the organ – and was fascinated by the link between music and mathematics.

During his 22 years at Marlborough he taught many generations of aspiring Mathematicians, specialising particularly in preparing pupils for Oxbridge, and was heavily involved in the School Mathematics Project which revolutionised the teaching of A level Mathematics. Indeed, the textbooks were still in use well into the 1990s until the modular model was established. Outside the classroom, he was heavily involved in the CCF, Athletics, the Beagles and Rugby. Legend has it that, on one occasion, when a colleague failed to show up, he refereed two rugby matches simultaneously – surely a unique feat.

His astonishingly logical and creative mind was put to good use when he was asked to take on the difficult matter of writing the school timetable. He ripped up the rulebook in this area and devised a system – written in Greek symbols, of course – which revolutionised the time tabling process. His model was used by many schools until the (seemingly less logical) computer systems became prevalent many years later. His system survived virtually unchanged at Marlborough until the late 1990s when the then Master insisted the symbology be changed as he couldn’t read Greek!

He was the Resident House Tutor in Summerfield when it was attached the Sani – and, more importantly, when a young Barts trained nurse by the name of Elizabeth Ogilvie arrived. Romance soon blossomed and they were married in the College Chapel in 1961. Together they were a very strong team and she played a crucial role pastorally when he was appointed Housemaster of C1 in 1968. He ran the House with genuine compassion and understanding – a product of his strong Christian faith – and instilled the boys in his care with a strong moral code and a sense of service to others. He took immense care over his boys, even driving one of his Heads of House to his home so that he could vote in his first General Election. He knew each boy well and – it seems – the parents: one of his most memorable reports contained the line “J’s many achievements were mainly helped by being the product of healthy parental neglect”. Current parents please take note!

It was inevitable that such an able man was at some point going to leave Marlborough to take up a Headmastership. This he did in 1977, when he took up the post of Rector of The Edinburgh Academy, a job he did with distinction until his retirement in 1992. He and his family enjoyed living in Scotland and took the opportunity to explore the country widely. Retirement brought him back to Wiltshire and they settled in Devizes. He continued to teach Mathematics when needed in various schools and very much enjoyed his role as a Governor at Monkton Combe, Downe House and Clayesmore Schools.

He became a Lay Reader before he was married and preached in churches and schools throughout his adult life. He was a Deanery Treasurer and was secretary of a local charity.  His sermons always had a razor sharp message and were delivered with the great dry sense of humour which anyone fortunate enough to have known this extraordinary man will remember fondly.

Sadly his last few years were marred by the onset and progress of Parkinson’s Disease. He is survived by his wife Elizabeth and his three children, Jonathan (C3 1975-80), Mary and Simon (Common Room 1993-2017).

Laurence Edward Ellis (CR 1955-77)
21st April 1932 – 7th August 2017
Housemaster C1 1968-77

John Bateson (CR 1973-98) died suddenly on Tuesday 16th May. He was a long-time modern languages teacher at the College, from 1973 to 1998 and thereafter a familiar figure in the town and supporter of many activities.

At the College he was an inspiring teacher of German and the first Head of the subject. One of his remarkable achievements was the organisation of Advanced Level exchanges in which pupils were allocated to individual schools, spread around the country and staying for a whole term, so that they had total immersion in the language and culture. This involved John in much travelling, but brought contacts that enabled him to teach in two German schools at Salem and Birklehof.  Under John’s direction the weekly News Sheet developed from a rather straightforward, factual chronicle into a publication which engaged with any current topical news. Often controversial and hard hitting it provided early journalistic experience that was a foundation for some who now write for national newspapers. John’s chief activities though were musical.  He possessed a fine alto voice and was a most accomplished keyboard player. These skills he used to the full, whether it was founding the May Day Madrigals, accompanying young pupils or directing the Chamber Choir. He also played a sporting role, refereeing football and coaching tennis.

John had to take very early retirement, on medical grounds. But this did not prevent him from playing a very active part in many activities in the town.  At St John’s School he was instrumental in setting up the Year 10 interviews that precede work experience and he also gave much help to the Learning Support programme for students on courses at Swindon, who were in work placements.  At the Tourist Information Centre he was one of a trio, who had between them over a century of experience in the town.  This they used to give wonderful service to the many enquirers who visited and it allowed John to use his language skills, often to tourists’ surprise. Their B & B booking service was unrivalled and sadly discontinued when the County closed the TIC.  Beyond the town John gave notable service to the Appeals Panel of the Swindon Education Authority. Even when his sight deteriorated John spent many hours mastering the documents that this work necessitated.  Although he did not travel in recent years he maintained contact with abroad through an internet advisory service via Bulgaria.  He also kept in touch with many of his ex- pupils one of whom wrote; “I have hundreds of pages of correspondence.. a wonderful chronicle of both our lives”. 

John’s sudden, and untimely, death means a huge loss to his many friends from the College, the town and to ex-pupils far and wide.  John was single and had no relatives: at his direction there is to be a private cremation.

Christopher Joseph

Sir Rodney Touche (SU 1942-46), a British Baronet, journalist, adventurer and author of Brown Cows, Sacred Cows died on 13th May 2017, aged 88.

If you are a subscriber to The Times you can see his full obituary here.

Simon Smallwood (B2 1950-55) died on 14th December 2016.

A lifelong wine enthusiast (he became a Master of Wine in 1970), husband to Valerie and father to Rob, Susannah, Caspar & Jessica. You can read his full obituary click here. 

Toby Grafftey-Smith (B3 1984-89) has died, aged 46, on 11th April 2017.

He was the co-founder and member of Jamiroquai and later became a hugely well respected music producer and manager of the band The Hoosiers. He also owned Angelic Recording Studios.

You can read his full obituary in The Times (you will need to be a subscriber to read it).

1. Toby Smith - Wikipedia 

Charles Truman (PR 1962-66), a leading historian in the decorative arts, has died aged 67.

After leaving Marlborough College, he began a law degree at Kent University but left to join the Victoria and Albert Museum as an intern in 1969, which set him on his path as an expert in the field.

For the full obituary, see here.

Photo by Harry Truman.

James Sabben-Clare, (CR 1964-68) of Corfe Castle, Dorset, died peacefully at home on 8th March 2017.

Dearly loved husband of Mary, father of Rebecca and Matthew, and grandfather of Edward, Hattie, Tom, Matilda and Leonora, James was a much respected Beak at Marlborough College from 1964-68 and went on to become the Head of Winchester College in 1985.

To read the full obituary please click here. You will need to be a subscriber to The Telegraph.

A Memorial Service for James will be held in Winchester College Chapel on Saturday 24th June at 2.30pm. All those wishing to attend are asked please to email Winchester College Society. Tickets will be issued to help cater for numbers.

5 May 1932 – 24 December 2016

Peter Davies (C3 1946 – 51) was born in Bedford and grew up in Rochester. He followed his brother Tony Davies (C3 1943-48) to Marlborough College, before going up to St John’s College Oxford to read classics. After graduating, he spent a year teaching in Quebec before returning in order to propose to and later marry Margaret Allen (‘Tiggy’) whose brother Hubert had been his contemporary at St John’s.

Shortly after, Peter was ordained in Lichfield Cathedral and the arrival of their two older sons, Richard and Peter John, soon followed. They then moved to Kenya, where he taught at the Prince of Wales (later Nairobi) School for 13 years. He was school chaplain, and for a few years, a housemaster. It was here that their younger children, Alan and Nell, were born. In 1963 he and other members of staff took 114 boys from 3 schools to the summit of Mt Kilimanjaro in relays!

In 1974 the family returned to England where Peter had been appointed teacher and chaplain at Bedford School. In 1985 they moved to West Wales where he became Vicar of St. Brides-with-Dale-&-Marloes. He also became an honorary chaplain to the Polish Air Force following his involvement in commemorating the Polish 304 Bomber squadron, who had been stationed at Dale in WW2. After a heart attack in 1989 he worked for a few more years before retiring at the age of 60. In spite of fragile health he enjoyed a long and happy retirement with his beloved wife, Tiggy. They saw their grandchildren grow up, and were able to visit them in Ireland, Canada, and the Falkland Islands.

Peter died peacefully at home surrounded by his family. He is survived by his wife, Tiggy; four children, Richard, PJ, Alan and Nell, their ‘cuckoo’ daughter Lizzie and 7 grandchildren.

Richard Davies (C3 1972-77)

Paul Ledger (B1 1941-46) died peacefully, after a brief illness, on Tuesday 17th January, at Charing Cross Hospital, aged 89. Beloved husband, father and grandfather. Service of thanksgiving at St Dunstan-in-the-West, Fleet Street, on Friday 17th February, at 11.30am, following private cremation. If desired, donations to the Alzheimer's Society.

Hugh Day (PR 1940-45) died on Saturday 14th January 2017 after a long battle with Parkinson's disease. You can read his full obituary from the Newmarket Journal here.

Patrick Guy Houghton (C3 1960-64)
MA MB BChir (Cantab.), MPhil (Birmingham), FRCGP, DObstRCOG, FPCert/DFFP
7.12.1946–26.10.2016

Guy Houghton was the third generation of his family to serve the south Birmingham suburb of Hall Green as a General Practitioner.

He combined an interest in GP training with an emphasis on evidence-based medicine and audit. He published articles in journals and chapters in edited volumes on medical subjects, was the first chair of the Birmingham Medical Audit Advisory Group, and later served as Associate Dean in the West Midlands Postgraduate Deanery and chair of the National Primary Care Audit Group.

Guy Houghton was born in Leamington Spa. He followed his father and brother to West House School in Birmingham before winning an open scholarship to board at Marlborough College. He had decided at an early age to practise medicine, like his parents and both his siblings. Nevertheless, he chose to take additional A levels in Latin and Greek in his final year at school, and was accepted to read medicine at St John’s College, Cambridge, on condition that he passed these as well. He duly achieved a D and an E!

Guy graduated from Cambridge in 1968 as H. D. Rollaston scholar with a first class honours degree in the Medical Tripos, which he attributed in part to reproducing quotations in their original language in the paper on the History and Philosophy of Science. He enjoyed learning, and entered a variety of essay competitions, receiving awards such as the Maccabaean Prize in 1973 for an essay on the history of cholera. His medical training continued at St Thomas’s Hospital in London, where he spent several evenings each week at concerts or operas: he diligently recorded the repertoire and performers in a series of notebooks. He married a fellow medical student from Cambridge, Jennifer Margaret Anne Rumsey, in 1970. After qualifying they spent a year travelling round the world, with Guy gaining international experience of general practice through short-term posts in Saskatchewan and New South Wales. He also undertook an early locum in Lambeth with Professor David Morrell which he found particularly formative.

Guy’s first GP appointment was as an assistant in Tenbury Wells. In 1976, the couple moved back to Birmingham to become partners in the medical practice in Hall Green founded in 1910 by Guy’s grandfather, Cuthbert Houghton. After his father’s retirement, Guy became senior partner and oversaw the expansion of the family practice into Greenbank Surgery. Guy was always interested in medical education, becoming VTS Course Organiser for GP training in South and Central Birmingham in 1980. In 1991 he took on the position of Associate Advisor in General Practice in the West Midlands Deanery, later Associate Dean; in 2009 he was awarded the Robin Steel Award for Vocational Training in General Practice by the Midland Faculty of the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP), of which he had been made a fellow in 1990. Guy’s focus on evidence-based medicine and quality of care meant that he was involved with medical audit from the late 1980s. He was elected the first chairman of the Birmingham Medical Audit Advisory Group (MAAG), publishing newsletters and guidelines which were sent to all GPs in Birmingham. He also became RCGP Midland Faculty Audit Convenor and Chairman of the West Midlands Region GP Audit Committee in 1992, followed by election as Chairman of the National Primary Care Audit Group in 1994. In 1999 he took on the Clinical Directorship of the Birmingham Clinical Governance Unit. He published many  peer-reviewed papers, including articles on GP Education, Diabetes Mellitus, Family Planning, Clinical Governance, Assessment, Appraisal and Medical Audit. During his retirement he completed an MPhil thesis at the University of Birmingham on the history of GP education in Birmingham drawing on this extensive professional experience.

A cardiac arrest in 2007 prompted his complete retirement, which permitted him to indulge his interest in foreign travel and work on his family’s genealogical archive. This was curtailed by the onset of dementia, initially at home and for the last three years as a resident of Bradbury Court in Malvern. He died peacefully in his sleep. He is survived by his wife, Jenny; three children, Hugh, Luke and Tanya; and a granddaughter, Polly.

H.A.G. Houghton

Richard Gaskell rose from being an articled clerk to one of Britain’s most respected solicitors who was at the heart of the biggest shake-up of the legal profession in the 20th century.

As president of the Law Society, Gaskell was credited with persuading the government to break the monopoly that the Bar held on advocacy and litigation in the higher courts by granting solicitors rights of audience in the Crown Court, High Court, Court of Appeal, Court of Session, Privy Council, and House of Lords. As a result, the 1990 Courts and Legal Services Act became known as the “Big Bang” of the legal profession.

The full obituary can be viewed here.

Adrian Marston, christened Jeffery Adrian Priestley Marston, was born in London on 15 December 1927. Educated at Marlborough College (1941-45), Magdalen College, Oxford (1945-48) and St. Thomas’s Hospital Medical School (1948-51), he led a distinguished medical career spanning decades.

Undertaking his National Service with the Royal Army Medical Corps, Mr Marston went on to work as a Consultant Surgeon and Senior Lecturer at Middlesex Hospital, Royal Northern Hospital and later University College London. His interests lay in vascular surgery, and he published over 130 works in the field.

Mr Marston played an integral role in the Royal Society of Medicine’s academic programme, starting with his time as Honorary Secretary of the Surgery Section from 1971-73 and then its President from 1979-80.

He went on to become the Royal Society of Medicine’s second ever Academic Dean, serving from 1995-1999. Recognised for his significant contribution to the way the academic programme is run today, Mr Marston was responsible for directing the policy and strategy of the RSM’s academic programme, ensuring the provision of high quality educational services for all medical professionals.

Click here for the full obituary.

The placid Paisley silk-weavers who were the ancestors of Rear Admiral John Hervey would have blanched at the daring tasks his twentieth-century naval overlords asked him to do.

As a commander of nuclear-powered hunter-killer submarines, Hervey was one of a select body of modern British buccaneers who in the 1960s and 1970s stealthily explored the Arctic, gleaning high-quality intelligence on the then Soviet Union’s sea-power when, Hervey later explained, “they think no-one else is around.”

It meant trailing the Russian vessels up close – so close that with the limitations of the sonar equipment the British boats carried, together with the restrictions on its use that silent snooping imposed, the risk of collision and an unmarked, deliberately forgotten, watery grave was ever present.

The rewards were deemed worth the risk. Hervey was made OBE in 1970 for his command of the submarine HMS Warspite, in which, in 1968 and 1969, he and his crew obtained valuable and highly secret information.

Taken from the obituary featured in The Scotsman.

Professor Richard Batchelor, MD, FRCP died on December 21st 2015 at the age of 84. 

He was one of a group of eminent medical scientists who made pioneering advances in the field of tissue typing and organ transplants in the second half of the last century.  He was Honorary Research Professor in the Royal College of Surgeons (England), Professor of Immunology at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School, Hammersmith Hospital, London, and President of the (International) Transplantation Society.

Batchelor, born in 1931 in Woking, grew up with his parents in Chennai, then Madras, India during the last years of British colonial rule.  An early familial connection with immunology was that his grandfather was deputy Director of the Indian Medical Service and had established the Pasteur Institute at Coonoor with a mandate to develop vaccines for rabies.  Batchelor’s father was a businessman who worked for Binney’s & Co.  Batchelor was educated at Marlborough College and Emmanuel College, Cambridge. 

During childhood, Batchelor used to play hockey along the balcony of his father's house in Binney Road.  He was a keen bicycler, regularly cycling to the park at Guindy where he used to chase the deer on his bicycle.  He also claimed that he rode down the Western Ghats from Kodaikanl to Madras on his bicycle (but that is rather a long way).

Batchelor left the warm climate and privileged colonial life in Southern India for the colder existence in Marlborough.  He was there from 1945-49, which of course included the famous winter of 1947.

He went to Summerfield House.  Life-long friend, and head of house Nicholas Roskill, recalls that he was a good sportsman, particularly good in swimming – perhaps due to having had the advantage of a pool at home in India.

Janet was appointed to teach Spanish at Marlborough College in 1968, at the same time as the first intake of Sixth form girls.  From the outset two of Janet’s finest qualities were evident.  It required courage to join what had hitherto been an all-male, and predominantly bachelor, collegiate community of teachers.  Janet had courage in abundance and she also showed great dignity; never allowing any problems of acceptance to impinge on her public life.

She settled at once into doing what she did best – pursuing excellence.  Simon Barefoot writes of her teaching “If ever there was an advertisement for a rigorous approach, supported by a sturdy learning structure, this was it. The pupils felt secure in their learning and were always encouraged to demand the highest standards of themselves.”  Andrew Brown writes: “Janet effectively was Spanish for so many years. Her meticulous and sensitive teaching ensured a thriving language, and its steady growth is due to the firm foundations which she laid.”  Her former Head of Department writes of her reliability, clear headed and perceptive approach, always ready to see the best, even in the least deserving of pupils.

In 1980 Janet was appointed Director of Studies, a very senior post, which meant responsibility for writing the timetable, allocations of teaching staff and advising on curriculum change.  Her predecessor said: “During the six months before she took up the position she spent many hours studying the challenges and demands with academic precision.  She proved well able to plan the solutions with the eye of a chess Grand Master. Her approach was one of the attentive listener, and precise interpreter.  Behind the easy laugh and twinkle of an eye was a steely personality and a person determined to do what was necessary for the best.” Janet had to deal with a multiplicity of demands, mostly from the Heads of Departments. Janet continued in this post until 1991 and her successor writes of her sharpness of intellect and admirable administrative skills.  “Her grasp of all issues to do with the timetable was immense and really peerless – these were the pre computer days when sheer brain power and lots of sharp pencils were key. Janet was kind, thoughtful and, when you got to know her, great fun” Another colleague writes: “As the College considered full co-education Janet contributed to the working party that visited several prominent co-educational schools and her comments and questions helped us men to feel that we knew what we were talking about”.

The post required close liaison with the Head of the College, then as now, The Master, and successive Masters write of her good sense and efficiency: “My abiding memory of Janet is of her unfailingly proactive kindness as a colleague.  I couldn’t count the number of occasions on which Janet would wisely anticipate a knotty administrative problem ahead and, at the same time, present me with a lucid analysis of all the best options for its solution”.

In 1991 Janet relinquished the post of Director of Studies and became the first Senior Mistress. In this last role she was tasked with producing an Appraisal system.  That carries with it connotations of judgment that are always likely to cause alarm amongst colleagues.  It is tribute to Janet that such a system was successfully introduced and later used by Eton College as a model. Looking back on her career here a colleague wrote “When you consider how difficult things must have been for Janet in her early days one should recognise the immensity of her contribution”

Janet’s musical life did intersect with the College.  Almost throughout her time she played in the College orchestra and was an indomitable member of the Choral Society.  But she very much preferred to keep her orchestral life separate.  Janet joined the North Wiltshire Orchestra in 1968 and was still playing with us until the summer of 2015.  I think it typical of her self-effacing manner that she insisted on playing in the Second violins, although technically well able to join the Firsts.  To the outsider the term “Second” might carry implications of lesser importance or easier requirements. For the strings this is quite untrue.  The Firsts may have the glamour of all the melodies and the top lines.  But the Seconds have a demanding role.  There is the physical demand, with the bowing arm high to facilitate much playing on the lower strings. There is a mental demand of constant sensitivity to the needs of accompaniment and the reading of unfamiliar rhythmic patterns. For very many years Janet led the section, which means direction and ensuring both uniformity in playing and integrating new players. Later she moved back, but was always ever helpful.  One of the current section writes of how Janet would tactfully correct the bowing and “If I was ever lost then I could count on Janet to know when to come in and she was always right.  She kept going right until the end and was an inspiration to us all.” 

Janet also played with the Swindon Symphony Orchestra after her retirement from College until she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.  Although she never had such a prominent role as she did with North Wilts she was again a highly valued member of the Second violins. Retiring from Swindon might have been an opportunity to cut back.  However when the Marlborough Concert Orchestra was founded in 2006 Janet joined soon after its foundation.  She was always a supporter of the local community and realised that a new orchestra might find it hard to attract players, when there are established orchestras all around. Here too she took on the role of Section Leader, maintaining it until 2013 and writing scholarly programme notes.  To the end she refused almost all assistance; a friend recalls that: “At her very last concert in 2015 she let me carry her violin, but that was the only help that she ever accepted,” another example of the courage and determination, which were such hall marks of her life. The local musical community has lost a treasured friend and supporter, whose contribution over forty-eight years has been inestimable and her passing leaves gaps in the orchestras that we shall not readily fill.

To start with Janet lived in College accommodation, but she moved as soon as possible into Innerleith on the edge of town.  Here she could make the private life that she so much preferred.  Her longest friendship was with the late Beverley Heath, mathematics master at the College.  They loved the Marlborough countryside and enjoyed long walks, during which Janet came to share Beverley’s expert knowledge of the birds and flowers of the area and they spent much time at Jones’ Mill nature reserve at Pewsey. Together they bought a cottage in Brittany, near Dinan, and spent much time exploring that coastline.  They ventured much further afield.  The image of Janet and Beverley rafting on an Amazonian tributary or sailing in the Galapagos is far from what we might expect, but I am assured that it happened.  Sadly Beverley’s untimely early death robbed Janet of his companionship in her final years.  However she had strong friendships with her neighbours.  They write of her kindness and consideration, bringing meals to those who were ill, and sharing a love of gardens. Janet enjoyed the company of their children and one spoke of Janet donning a witches’ costume and joining in the fun of a Halloween “Trick or treat” party. It is appropriate to pay tribute here to all that Janet’s neighbours did for her as she became less able to manage her home and the tireless work that they did to enable her to enjoy house and garden for years longer than might otherwise have been possible.  In 2013 Janet moved down to Town Mill and there received much help from the management and again from neighbours, who enabled her to retain her independence to the end.  Janet dreaded having to move into permanent care and spoke with deep gratitude of all that Brian and Dotty Williams did for her.

The most private part of Janet’s life was her devotion to chamber music. The string player has the immense riches of a repertoire that includes some of the most sublime music ever written. But playing this music demands levels of virtuosity far beyond the average orchestral score.  Janet however relished these challenges. The friendships that she formed lasted for decades and grew out of attendance at music courses, where she met people who were not part of local orchestras. One friend writes: “We met first at Madingley, a course run by the Alberni quartet and, although we lived far apart, kept playing together, and going on courses, until last year.  Janet’s sensitive playing, humour, quick wit and demon crossword and Sudoku solving were an essential part of the group.” Bear in mind that these courses were ones where the group had to study pieces in advance and then be tutored by world famous ensembles.  Janet though loved this work and a colleague writes: “Janet was marvellous at doing research at what we played and had an amazing memory.  She was always the one who made copious notes after courses with all the bon mots such as no negative vibes.”  Betsy Zander writes “We were members of a quartet, which was originally formed on the Grittleton course in 1986, which has played together for a week every summer from then until 2014.  Janet led the quartet for most of that time, until after she became ill, when she swapped parts and played 2nd violin.  Ours was a very happy and warm relationship.  Our last meeting was in May last year, when we gathered at Janet’s house.” Twenty-eight years of friendship is a wonderful bond and all these players have suffered a grievous loss.

After this it is fitting that you will hear Purcell’s Fantasia number 8 which was one of Janet’s favourite pieces. As this happens let us hold in our memories all Janet’s qualities of intellect, musicality, humour and friendship and let us remember her as she was in the lovely photograph that graces the cover of the Order of Service.  Although we mourn her passing and extend deepest condolences to her family let us rejoice that her struggles now are over. 
Janet Rest In Peace.

Christopher Joseph

My friend and colleague Richard Constable, who has died aged 83, was the great-great-grandson of the landscape painter John Constable, and was himself an artist who did a great deal to further his ancestor’s reputation and legacy.

Born in Lewes, East Sussex, to John, a military officer, and Eileen (nee Saltmarsh), Richard was brought up on a farm in Devon. Time spent on Dartmoor made him a keen naturalist, with a passion for collecting and breeding butterflies and moths. Another early interest, which was one that had run in the family for generations, was painting, and in 1945 Richard won an art scholarship to Marlborough College in Wiltshire.

He took his entomological equipment and paints with him when posted on national service to Korea (1951-52). Although he was not cut out for military life – on one occasion he inadvertently directed his fire at the officers’ mess rather than towards the enemy – the experience proved formative. The landscapes he observed in Korea (and in Japan when on leave) were to prove a powerful influence on his painting in subsequent years.

After national service Richard taught art at Saxmundham secondary school in Suffolk for nine years. In 1967 he gave up teaching to concentrate on painting full time, producing a substantial body of work in gouache with an oriental flavour that featured, for example, junks, exotic flowers and insects. His paintings were exhibited in galleries from Suffolk to Singapore, and were widely collected, especially in the 1970s and early 80s.

Richard was fascinated by, and hugely knowledgable about, his family history, and there was nothing he loved more than showing family memorabilia to visiting researchers and enthusiasts. He did all he could to bolster his great predecessor’s artistic renown. In 1987, when the Clore Gallery was opened at the Tate in London for the fuller representation of JMW Turner, Richard wrote a letter to the Times suggesting it was time for his own ancestor to be accorded an equivalent honour in the UK’s primary gallery of British art. Sadly, the idea has yet to gain any traction.

Richard is survived by his second wife, Valerie (nee Zelle), whom he married in 1970; by their children, Sasha and Ricky; and by four children, Yvonne, Julia, Caroline and Stephen, from his first marriage, to Elaine (nee Good), which ended in divorce.

As featured in The Guardian

Brigadier Tony Taggart, who has died aged 97, was awarded an Immediate MC in Italy in 1944.

On July 13 1944, Taggart was in command of a company of 2nd Battalion 3rd Queen Alexandra’s Own Gurkha Rifles (2/3 GR). He was ordered to capture a strategic strongpoint near Città di Castello, north of Perugia, before a battalion attack on Monte delle Gorgacce.

Taggart came under intense fire from machine guns as he led the attack. His three platoon commanders were killed but his company took two prisoners, seized five machine guns and caused the enemy considerable losses. While he and his men were on the objective, they came under heavy mortar fire and shelling for three hours.

Click here to read the full Obituary in The Telegraph.

Roger was born on 3rd October 1921 in Rothwell, Northamptonshire. He was the sixth of seven children born to John Arthur Malcolmson Morley (known as Arthur) and to Ruth, known as Mums, whom he adored.

His father was the local Church of England vicar. Shortly after the birth of his younger brother, David, the family moved to South Lawn, Ston Easton in Somerset. Here Roger discovered the delights of the countryside – a passion that was to live with him throughout his life. He ran free across the fields, fished and swam in Emborough Lake; cycled along numerous lanes and delighted in studying the birds and wildlife. Summer holidays were spent in Ireland in much the same vein.
 
He attended prep school in Haywards Heath and gained a scholarship to Marlborough College alongside three of his four brothers. He was at Marlborough between 1935-40 and was both a School Prefect and Head of House. Mr Jennings his housemaster remained a lifelong friend.
 
Roger studied classics but as he says his last year of school was more focused upon war than study. In 1940 he enlisted in the Royal Artillery and was commissioned in 1941. As part of the Eighth Indian Division he took part in the North African campaign at El Alamein and Tobruk and then as part of the Middle East Strategic Reserve he served in Iraq and Lebanon. He said that Lebanon was possibly the most beautiful country he ever visited. Between 1943 and 1945 he took part in the Italian Campaign. The Eighth Army fought its way up Italy on the eastern flank of the Allied forces and was present at the successful fourth battle of Monte Cassino before marching on to the Gothic line and then the River Po and then to Austria. Roger was mentioned in Despatches. He was demobilised in 1946 with the rank of Captain.
 
All seven Morley children survived the war and lived to old age.
 
Roger didn’t feel the need to go to university – he said in later years knowing that half his 15 classmates had been killed – made him want to go out and do something worthwhile not study. He joined the Colonial Service in Northern Nigeria and spent 16 years there; leaving as a Senior District Officer. Whilst in Nigeria he initiated and put into practice the financial reorganisation of the Kano Districts. He was one of the few people to read the Riot Act which he did in 1953 at the Kano Riots. One man ensuring the law was maintained in front of thousands of angry people. For this he was specially commended. He organised and was in charge of carrying out the Ilorin census in 1962. He was part of a team who hosted a visit by the Queen in Nigeria in 1956. His residence was deemed the most suitable for Her Majesty to stay in. As a result a new bathroom was installed or as Roger described it “I got a new Throne”.
 
More importantly, Nigeria was where he met Audrey who, having graduated from Cambridge, had qualified as a teacher and been sent to Nigeria. Family lore says that his opening chat up line was “Would you like to come and see my puppies”. And the rest, as they say, is history. They were married on the 13 July 1957 (the only date free on that leave) in Salisbury and honeymooned across Europe – Audrey commenting, after the honeymoon, that they met an awful lot of women who seemed to be fond of Roger.
 
Roger and Audrey returned to England in 1962 and set up home in Woodbury in 1963. It was to be their family home for 40 years. Their four children were born in the sixties and Roger took a “temporary” job running a charity for the physically disabled, Hertfordshire Association for the Disabled. As with everything Roger did – he did this job 100% - until he retired at 65. He was out three or four evenings every week encouraging volunteers and local committees. Most summer Saturdays were spent at fetes either pulling a ticket or rolling three dice to win a prize – Roger had worked out the odds carefully. Roger wanted to raise money but also wanted to ensure that everyone received a prize even if it was only a balloon. Winter evenings were spent making Christmas cards and at the weekend’s playing cards – Rummy and Slippery Anne were two favourites. He walked miles for charity completing his last walk at the age of 82 accompanied by some of his grandchildren.
 
He raised millions of pounds. His most ambitious project was the building of Hertford House at Clacton; a purpose built holiday home to provide respite for the disabled of Hertfordshire and their carers. He also provided workshops for the disabled to work in all the key Hertfordshire towns and funded baby monitors in the local hospitals to prevent the likelihood of disability from lack of oxygen at birth. He was ahead of his time in terms of charitable funding and together with Hoare Govett the stockbrokers looked at ways of raising third party capital introducing charitable bonds.
 
The evenings when he wasn’t working were spent in the garden, making the clay more fertile and growing flowers and fruit and vegetables. Some years were better than others but Roger’s stand out crop was always runner beans.  He also enjoyed having a bonfire and a lot of garden and household rubbish disappeared.  Roger’s gardening clothes were definitely “Eau de Smoke”. 
 
Sundays were focused around Sunday lunch where inevitably family or visitors turned up. Audrey would cook the most amazing meals using produce from the garden and the hedgerows – her pastry making skills in particular deserve mention – and Roger would polish off these meals with gusto and cheap plonk which he kept in a “cellar” in the downstairs loo. And then it would be a walk in Bury Woods or across the fields – with everyone bringing back a fallen branch for the woodpile - including the dogs. Woodbury always had open fires from September until April. Sunday evenings, for a number of years, were spent counting and recounting the church collection to ensure it added up.
 
In retirement Roger did not reduce his activities. He and Audrey travelled to some of the places they hadn’t seen; the Far East, Australia; Alaska and the west coast of America including the Grand Canyon. He continued to garden and welcomed the arrival of his 11 grandchildren teaching them the twin aspects of the countryside and finance.  Since his early years Roger was an avid follower of the capital markets and invested wisely and well in the shares of a number of different companies. His only disappointment was the oil crisis, in the early seventies, which put some of his plans on hold. He turned on Ceefax every day, read the business pages and was very aware of any changes in the tax system. As a result his children and grandchildren can all be thankful that they do not have any debts to worry about.
 
He was a member of Bovingdon Care; supported Macmillan nurses, the local Hospice of St Francis and Dens Night Shelter in Hemel Hempstead. He also spent 25 years looking after the churchyard at St Lawrence Church, where he and Audrey were regular churchgoers for more than 50 years. The family spent his 90th birthday with a bonfire there.
 
In 2003 Roger and Audrey moved to Skinners Cottage in Bovingdon and continued to be part of village life. Runner beans and raspberries were the staple summer diet. As old age took its toll they both slowed down and Roger cared for Audrey until he too acknowledged that it was now time for them to ask for help rather than offer it.

It is very sad to record the recent death of Pat Cotton, who was Dame of C1 and C3 for over twenty years between 1977 and 1997.
 
Pat was highly regarded by all who knew her and a true professional at all times, a very caring person and a great support to her Housemasters Martin Evans, Bob Sanderson, James Rothwell and Neil Moore.
 
Pat had a good sense of humour - very much needed in the role of a Dame - but she was also firm when required and no one could "pull the wool" over her eyes or dared to stay in bed overlong in the morning on hearing the advancing footsteps of Dame Cotton!
 
Pat had many interests, Campanology was a favourite and she was also a great supporter of House events and athletic pursuits.
 
Her cheerful presence will be much missed and we will advertise her Thanksgiving Service, which is to be held in March, when a date is confirmed.
 
Martin Evans
President 1843 Society

Anthony Stern died on 1st October 2015 following a long and brave battle against cancer. 

Following a successful career in business finance, most recently with Bass and Intercontinental Hotels, he served as a member of the Competition Commission and on the Determinations Panel of the Pensions Regulator.  He was also active in a number of voluntary and charitable activities.

Born on 28th May 1948 to David and Joy, Ant joined an eclectic group of boys in Preshute where his qualities of friendship and humour were much appreciated.  The story of when he ordered a Rolls Razor washing machine to be delivered to Preshute for one Absalom Smith is both legendary and true. 

He went on to study Engineering and Economics at University College, Oxford where, amongst the usual student activities, he joined the University Air Squadron (claiming to be the worst pilot of his year!) and used his scuba diving skills for underwater archaeology in Sicily.

Ant’s business career progressed from a holiday job selling blankets in the Harrods Sale, via a graduate traineeship at Marks & Spencer to a Diploma in Business Administration at Manchester Business School.  Following that he worked successively in finance for M&S, Dixons and Chase Manhattan Bank before arriving at Bass.  He became Director of Treasury at Intercontinental Hotels.  Ant retired at the age of 57 at which point he took on a variety of appointments including as trustee of pension funds, membership of the Competition Commission and of the Determinations Panel of the Pensions Regulator.  He lectured, and wrote for the Economist Intelligence Unit.

However, that was only a part of Ant’s wide-ranging activities.  He skied energetically right up to this Spring.  He was a considerable expert on mushrooms, principally for culinary reasons. He sang with several London-based choirs for many years including performances in the Festival Hall and the Albert Hall.  Ant was a distance walker of ambition and achievement; having completed the South Downs Way, he learned that my wife and I were proposing a long walk across northern Spain.  Ant joined us for a warm-up on the Saints Way across Cornwall, which demonstrated just how crocked our knees were, before we embarked on 150 miles across Castilla and Galicia into Santiago de Compostela.  He travelled heroically, from early years of hitching, to flying to Singapore with the Air Squadron and driving an ex-army lorry to Sicily.  In recent years he criss-crossed the globe, for instance spending a weekend in Chile whilst on the way to New Zealand and South-East Asia.

However, at the core of his life was his family.  His 40-year inseparably loving marriage to Elizabeth, in whose successful legal career up to the High Court bench he took immense pride, produced two wonderful daughters, Charlotte and Harriet.  He lived to attend Harriet’s wedding just a few months ago.

I was privileged to spend 54 years of close friendship, to walk hundreds of miles, to sing dozens of concerts and to have exchanged thousands of silly jokes and messages with this most companionable of men.

By Robert Shaw (PR 1961-65)

Herbert Nigel Raban (B3 1929-33) died peacefully on 16 October 2015, aged 100.

Beloved father of Nicholas, grandfather of Francesca and Benjamin, great-grandfather of Philippa and Theodore. Master of Fine Art Trade Guild 1959-61, President of Royal National Rose Society 1977-78.

A Service of Thanksgiving will be held at the Chapel of St Augustine, St Monica Trust, Cote Lane, Bristol, BS9 3UN on 28 October at 2pm.

No flowers please, but donations, if desired, to RNRS, c/o R Davies & Son, 63 Westbury Hill, Bristol, BS9 3AD

The death is announced of Andrew Shaw on 28th July 2015.

He was appointed an executive director of the newly merged Vosper Thornycroft warship-builder in 1967, worked in every part of the business - including the completion of the QE2 and repair of Oriana, and became creator of its Controls Division that had great success in the design and commissioning of machinery controls for warships for the Royal Navy and the navies of Brazil, Belgium, Spain, and Yugoslavia. For ten years he had a second job designing and managing, with Arthur Sayer MBE, all the company's capital and construction projects. These included the Glass Reinforced Plastic facilities for the Mine Counter-Measures Vehicle programme, the first such in the world, and the base for many subsequent successful overseas contracts. He was appointed Chairman and Chief Executive by British Shipbuilders, but Shaw quickly saw that nationalisation brought the end of entrepreneurial overseas warship success with its Whitehall and politically-controlled dead hand, and left with a gold watch and a painting. He was probably one of the few British businessmen to have negotiated personally with members of the Argentinian junta. He briefly worked with British Aerospace as marketing executive in Europe, visiting many countries and setting up contracts particularly in Switzerland and NATO.

Later, with major heart problems, Shaw turned to business rescue and was successful in 34 cases, the largest in size, but not of difficulty, of which was Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners. A characteristic of his approach to projects and assignments was his desire to complete them without apparent effort and with as much cheerfulness as possible. He was particularly proud that no industrial strikes occurred on his watches throughout his career.

Shaw was the second son of Wilfred Shaw, whose book on Operative Gynaecology has recently been published in its 7th edition.  He was educated at Marlborough and St John's, Cambridge, between which he trained and qualified as a pilot in the RAF on Vampire jets for National Service. Having a degree in engineering he started work in a large East End brewery, Charringtons, later moving to Guinness at Park Royal. Bored, he was accepted by PA Management Consultants, where he was put in charge of integrating two large London printing works on his first day.

Shaw was self-taught in subjects he chose or which were imposed upon him, ranging from Romanesque sculpture, to Thomas Brassey's railway contracting. Behind everything there was music, literature and family, to the exclusion of most social matters.

A High Court judge once pronounced: "No-one who has met him would ever forget Mr Shaw", but as this judge reached the wrong conclusion Shaw reckoned this, too, was suspect.

He was married three times. Mary Bless, who died in 1972, with whom he had four children, Anna; and Elizabeth (Biz), with whom he was idyllically happy in his later years.

Air Vice-Marshal Sir John Severne, who has died aged 90, was a Cold War fighter pilot before becoming Equerry to the Duke of Edinburgh; after a series of senior command posts in the RAF he was appointed Captain of the Queen’s Flight.

Ever since he was a small boy building model aeroplanes, Severne had been passionate about flying. His career in the RAF ranged from post-war fighters and jet trainers to the Nimrod maritime patrol aircraft. He won the King’s Cup Air Race in 1960 and became the British Air Racing Champion the same year, flying a Turbulent aircraft entered by the Duke of Edinburgh. In addition to the 32 service aircraft types, he flew 39 different civilian light aircraft.

The son of a Royal Flying Corps observer and doctor, John de Milt Severne was born in London on August 15 1925 and educated at Marlborough, where he served in the Officer Training Corps and Home Guard. He was a light aircraft enthusiast from his first flight in a Gipsy Moth at the age of 10. He joined the RAF in April 1944 and completed his training as a pilot in October 1945.
Click here to read the full obituary in The Telegraph.

In the opinion of Steve Chapman, Professor of Chemistry in Edinburgh and Vice-Chancellor of Heriot-Watt University, Evelyn Ebsworth was one of the leading inorganic chemists of his generation. He was also an excellent university administrator.

Ebsworth was a Fellow of King’s College and Christ’s College, Cambridge, Faculty member at Princeton, Crum Brown Professor of Chemistry and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Durham. In his tribute, Professor Roy Hudson recalled that during Ebsworth’s tenure, from 1990-98, the number of undergraduates increased from 5,200 to 8,320, and that links between the university and industry were dramatically enhanced.

Click here to read the full obituary in The Independent.

Wing Commander David Insall passed away suddenly on Saturday 8th August 2015 in Wales, a few days after being diagnosed with lung cancer.
 
David Insall had established a widely-known name for himself in Oman, first as an Officer in the Sultan’s Armed Forces since 1973 and subsequently in pursuit of a very wide range of natural history, heritage and historical projects connected with the Omani Government and with private sector organisations. He learned Arabic initially whilst serving with Sultan’s Armed Forces and through his local military operations. He subsequently developed a detailed knowledge of Bedouin tribes, their customs and their varied dialects in which was proficient. He was very highly respected for his local linguistic skills and his fondness of Omanis at all levels and throughout the Sultanate. He undertook many Government studies which contributed greatly to the development of the country from its feudal conditions in the early days after Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said deposed his father in November 1970 as Ruler of Oman and continued until July this year when he returned to the UK for medical treatment.   
 
As an Arabic language specialist myself and with a comparable passion for Oman over many years I know what a great loss to this country and his many Omani friends, as well as expatriates, David’s passing represents.
 
David’s funeral took place in Wales on August 24th. He left a wife, Jeannette, and two grown-up children, Kat and Nick.
 
Obituary by Ian Alston (PR 1957-62)

Patrick George Sharman, a member of the family which founded the Cambridgeshire Times newspaper, has died aged 75.

Patrick worked alongside brothers Nick and John in the newspaper group which had seven papers including the Cambridgeshire Times, Wisbech Standard, the Hunts Post, and the last paid-for weekly newspaper in Peterborough - the Peterborough Standard. The newspaper group was founded by the Sharman family in 1872 until it was sold to Thomson Regional Press in 1989.
Under Patrick and Nick's leadership, the group diversified into contract printing and became a leading publisher of the UK underground press, printing such avant garde publications as the International Times and OZ Magazine -  which was the subject of an obscenity trial in 1971 for the publication of a highly sexualized Rupert Bear parody. For Patrick, a lover of lewd limericks, this was likely an amusement.

Modernizing the business came with its challenges. In 1976, Sharman and Co became the target of the UK's first ever Flying Picket, as it sought to introduce Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology into the industry. Despite the unrest, Sharman and Co continued to publish, print and distribute newspapers, tossing bundles of papers over the back wall to hidden vans and making their getaway while the Flying Pickets blocked the front gates. Patrick's immense charm, strong negotiating skills and legal expertise (Patrick had practiced as a lawyer at Theodore Goddard prior to joining the family business) ultimately proved too powerful for the Union leaders, who ended the strike with minimum concessions.

With the tagline of 'the station you can really call your own', Patrick became the founding chairman of Heart Peterborough Radio, formerly Hereward Radio, in 1980, and also a Director of Anglia Television, working alongside Dame Mary Archer. "Patrick’s innate common sense and ability to put his finger on the nub of the matter saved many a board discussion from meandering down unproductive byways," Mary remembers.

A lover of Cambridge and of people, Patrick was an active member of the community, having studied law at Pembroke College and lived in the city since 1980. He stood as Conservative candidate in the City Council elections of 1997 – a doomed year for the Conservatives. Patrick chose not to stand again but was one of the main helpers in the following campaign.

"We canvassed every house," remembers Cambridge City Councilor Donald Douglas. "Patrick achieved this on a bicycle and would frequently cycle up to a doorstep and lean over the handlebars to ask householders their voting intentions. Of course, with his nonchalant charm and good looks, he was well received."

A welcoming, kind and generous man, Patrick's homes in Trumpington and also in the Caribbean island of St. Kitts, were always places of discussion and good humor. He will be remembered for bringing people together. Despite having very different political views from some of his friends, there was never an acrimonious discussion. He treated his family, friends and even those who might have become his enemies with kindness and an open heart – except on the croquet lawn, where he was a devious and ruthless opponent, hidden beneath the veneer of the perfect gentleman with a winning smile.

Patrick is remembered by his family for being a loving father and a devoted husband. He leaves his wife Wendy, children Caroline, Hilary, Nic, Robert, William, Michael, Tim and Algy, as well as fourteen grand children.

A memorial service will be held at Great St Mary's University Church on Saturday 19th September at 11am.

David Nobbs (CO 1948-53) was a prolific writer of novels, TV series and scripts.  His many TV series included The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, A Bit of A Do and The Very Secret Army.  

David was very supportive of the OM Arts and Media Industry Group and had expressed an interest in Mentoring.  In 2010 he generously contributed a short story to the Club Magazine.  Susanna Spicer (SU 1979-81), the editor, said ‘I commissioned him to write a short story on any subject of his choice, so long as it had some connection with Marlborough. 

The story he came up with was not at all what I was expecting, but he had a very mischievous streak, which is why Reggie Perrin is such fun.’

Read the story here.

Further obituary links:

Guardian
Telegraph
Independent
Scotsman
New York Times
Daily Mail

Evelyn Ebsworth (B2 1946-51) was born in Richmond, Yorkshire on St Valentine's Day, 1933. His father was stationed in Southern Africa during the Second World War and Evelyn sailed in August 1940 to join him. He lived in Southern Rhodesia and Kenya, returning to England in 1945.

After attending 7 schools in various countries he went to Marlborough College while his father was stationed in Paris (1946-7) and Gibraltar (1947-50). Evelyn went to King's College Cambridge as Exhibitioner in 1951 and graduated BA in1954 and PhD, MA 1958, ScD 1967. PDRA Princeton NJ 1958-9, with DF Hornig and J Weil.

Evelyn was University Demonstrator at Cambridge from1959-64 and Lecturer from 1964-7; Fellow of Christ’s College, 1959-67; tutor 1964-7. He came to Edinburgh University as Crum Brown Professor of Chemistry in 1967 until 1990.

He served as Dean of the Faculty of Science from 1984-88 and moved to Durham University in 1990 to become Vice-Chancellor and Warden for 8 years. He has been President, Dalton Division of Royal Society of Chemistry, Vice-President of RSC and chairman of various committees of the Society and was given Main Group Element award of the RSC and the Kipping Award of the American Chemical Society. He was awarded FRSC and FRSE in 1969. He took part in the BBC2 programme ‘God and the Scientist’ in 1981. He was made Commander of the British Empire in 1995.

After retirement from academia in 1998 he was appointed Professor Emeritus by Durham University and went on to establish the Council for the Registration of Forensic Practitioners for accrediting expert witnesses; this body collapsed after the resignation of the second chairman. From 2002 to 2012, he served as Chairman of Governors of two independent schools in Cambridge; St Faith's School and The Leys School.

In 2013, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science (ScD) degree by the University of Edinburgh 'in recognition of his major contribution to the growth in the study of Chemistry in Edinburgh'.

Fraser Scott was born on 9th September 1919 in Salisbury's Cathedral Close where his father an Instructor in Gunnery (IG), Major WFF Scott MC, and his wife were quartered.

Her uncle, Sir John Jackson, a great engineer, had been building army camps and a railway across Salisbury Plain and soon, when the new School of Artillery opened at Larkhill, they moved to Netheravon. Quartered next door but one was another IG, Major RSA Williams and his wife, Cicely, who soon after gained a daughter, Biddy, whose later home in Poulshot, outside Devizes, he would visit from Marlborough.

He arrived at Marlborough from the Wick, a preparatory school in Hove. After being in A1, with Geoffrey Chilton (who later taught his son, Adam), he moved to C1 and enjoyed playing hockey. He received Trollope's Barchester Chronicles as a prize for chemistry. When a half holiday marked the marriage of Princess Marina to the Duke of Kent, his future mother-in-law took him and his friend John Robinson, later Bishop of Woolwich to see Eddie Cantor in Roman Scandals (a breach of the college rules). He joined the OTC, became a lance-corporal and carried a rattle with which to simulate a machine gun; in 1937, his father could see the next war with Germany coming and wanted him to leave for university.

So he moved to Christ Church, Oxford to read chemistry. He continued playing hockey and joined the mounted horse artillery battery in the OTC being commissioned as a Territorial shortly before war broke out. 

In August 1942, just before sailing with 1st Survey Regiment, he proposed to Biddy Williams and was accepted. The regiment sailed on the Rangitata from Glasgow, via Sierra Leone, to Durban where he purchased and posted their engagement ring before proceeding on the Nieuw Amsterdam to Egypt and thence to Iraq in case the Russians fell. Then it was back to field gunnery in 154 (Leicestershire Yeomanry) starting in the Lebanon and supporting 10th Indian Division who then took part in the campaign in Italy. In October 1944, now a forward observation officer supporting 1st Battalion Durham Light Infantry in a silent night attack without preparatory fire, he was shot through the chest - it was a battle in which each, and every, officer with the leading company was a casualty. His own life was saved by a surgeon, who would become Colonel Professor Alphonsus d'Abreu CBE OBE(Mil) DL.

The combination of the bullet and surgery diverted him into a career in weapons staff. Medically downgraded he became a GSO3 in the Weapons Technical Staff Field Forces, AFHQ Caserta, (aka Wheatsheaf), the Ministry of Supply's Italian outpost. The war ended with his being granted a regular commission and being a GSO3 based in Trieste where he and Biddy lived after marrying in Poulshot in October 1945.

In October 1946, he joined the first technical staff course at the Military College of Science, Shrivenham, supplemented by practical training at Loughborough Technical College. From there, in 1949, he moved to Camberley and the Staff College before joining the Ministry of Supply where he dealt with fire control instruments. He met Ray Budden and, between them, they developed the paralleloscope, the Plotter Fire Control Field Artillery, He also worked on the Radar Field Artillery No.1 Mk.1, on a Decca radar adapted for ground surveillance and issued to 115 Locating Battery. He developed the survey beacon on the seven pen recorder (No.5) for sound ranging, the long-necked dial sight, later used on Abbot. He also worked on meteorological data and on an early computer, MOSAIC.

After 9 years away from regimental duties, he spent 1953-1955 in the Canal Zone, in anti-aircraft. At one moment, when there was trouble with insurgents and the British might have marched on Cairo, his troop were assigned to support 1st Battalion Durham Light Infantry once again commanded by "Crackers" May who had been in command when he had been shot with them in Italy ten years earlier. Shortly after a brief stay in Malta, he was posted to the Army Operational Research Group, West Byfleet. Here he examined what had happened in the use of artillery in Normandy in August 1944 and, amongst other things, worked on war games and kept in touch with counter bombardment and locating - knowing about which led to going back to Larkhill to do a locating course and then to commanding 115, 2 Div's independent locating battery based in Menden.

He was sent back to Shrivenham to do the 4th Nuclear and Technology Course before taking command of 94 Locating Regiment, the successor of 1st Survey and it was a very happy return with some soldiers still there from wartime service with him. Celle was a wonderful station and apart from making good friends locally, he kept up with many who had been in 94 - in August 2014, many of those who had been in 94 back in 1960 gave him a reunion lunch at the Army & Navy Club. One wrote: "a kind man who was interested in the wellbeing of those he commanded.  This got him into trouble from above for being too “soft” on discipline.  He was easy to work with for those who provided the standards he expected. I’ve no doubt he dealt firmly but kindly with those who did not come up to scratch."

Life as a weapons GSO1 back in London in 1962 might have been a disappointment after being a CO but he enjoyed finding situations that were worth examination and illumination, and working on re equipping the regiment with new guns and ammunition. He wrote the papers that got approval for Swingfire, FACE, the 175mm M107 and for Rapier. He used his understanding of ammunition to argue for a tripling of the budget.

Then he enjoyed being Assistant Director (Weapons) at the Inspectorate of Armaments then based in the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich with outstations at RSAF Enfield and at FN in Herstal, Belgium. In 1966, he was sent to the American Rock Island Arsenal to study project management (by then his son, Adam, was starting his own Gunner service and a fifteen year association with 94 Locating encountering many items of kit on which his father had worked).

His next appointment was at RARDE, Fort Halstead, being the military presence in B Division (guns and ammunition) and C Division (guided weapons) having imaginative ideas and returning to war games. His last military appointment was as a Brigadier back in St Christopher House as Director of Weapons A, working on the then new light gun as well as on new 155mm guns, FH 70 and SP 70 and on the M110 as well as on smaller calibre weapons including SA 80. He restarted the Barmine project and worked on the FOIL free flight rocket programme.

Retirement from the Army in 1970 gave him more time to be at home with Biddy in Wonersh but his energy and imagination led to the foundation of the Defence Manufacturers' Association and Ring Sights with Ray Budden. Ring Sights went on to develop a variety of weapon sights many still in service and, even in his 70s, he would go out in the field down at the School of Infantry during trials.

He served on the local authority as a Liberal Democrat councillor. He served the Defence Surveyors' Association for thirty years as treasurer as well as cooking, arranging flowers that he grew, working on and opening his garden under the National Gardens Scheme, designing gardening quizzes, doing embroidery, including a multitude of church kneelers, local history, supporting the University of Surrey and returning to talk at RMCS, Shrivenham.

He first met Biddy 90 years before she died in 2011. They were married for 66 years and shared faithful membership of successive local churches. They had three children, six grandchildren and six great grandchildren. He kept a lively interest in the regiment and in technical matters, reading the New Scientist from its first publication right up to his death.

Brigadier Fraser Scott (9th September 1919 - 6th July 2015)

He gave his body for medical science. Service of Thanksgiving at 1230 on 9th September 2015 in St.Augustine's, Churchfields, Broxbourne EN10 7AU.

Written by The Revd Dr Adam Scott OBE TD (C1 1960-65)

Click here for an Obituary featured in The Telegraph

John Watson was born in 1918 at Poona, India,into an Indian Army family. He went to Marlborough in 1932 where he found his life long love of history, the later period at Marlborough being under the tutorship of HK Wylie a legendary Marlborough history teacher.

He achieved a scholarship to Peterhouse College Cambridge to read history where, in addition to his degree, he rowed and boxed for the College. Having passed the entrance exams and interviews to the Colonial Service the war intervened and he joined the Essex regiment as a subaltern and saw active service at Dunkirk. He later joined the Royal West African Frontier Force and saw active service in Abbyssinia and Nigeria, before being invalided home just before the end of the war. At the end of the war he took up his post in the Colonial Service in Nyasaland (Malawi), starting as a District Officer and served there for 18 years through the turbulent times of the Winds of Change, before returning to England in 1964.

He became the Secretary to the Birmingham Diocesan Board of Finance, and was elected a lay member of the General Synod of the Church of England until his retirement in 1983. His great project in retirement was a history of his family stretching from the 12th century until the millennium, including three generations of Marlburians, a volume of some 900 pages,  which on completion encompassed his love and understanding of history, his deep understanding of people, and his gentle humour.

He passed away on 9th December 2014. He is survived by his two sons George (B1 1964-1967), Charles (B1 1967-1972) and his four grandchildren.

Roger Elwyn Nott-Bower (C2 1940-45) died suddenly at home on 27th September 2014. 

Born in Aberdeen on 25.1.27 to Captain E.E. Nott-Bower MC RE and Angela Nott-Bower, Roger was raised at Holyford Close, Colyford Devon by his grandmother Susan Lister Kaye and sundry governesses.  He attended North House Preparatory School, Bognor Regis 1935-1940 and Marlborough College (1940-1944). 

In 1945 he joined The Royal Signals and was commissioned at OTS Mhow, India 1946.  He served with 17 Indian Division Meiktilla, Burma and Burma Army Signals before returning to the UK in 1947 for service at Catterick Camp.  In 1948 he was posted to the Middle East and served in Jordan, Egypt, Eritrea, Sudan Defence Force as Bimbashi.  He was then posted to 7th Armoured Div Signals in BAOR, Germany in 1953.  He retired as Captain in 1954.

In 1952 he married Pamela Painter (nee Rogers) – and celebrated their Diamond Wedding anniversary in 2012. He then trained as Marine Radio Officer and Flight Radio Officer at Air Service Training, Hamble.  He served as Radio Officer on HMT Nevasa (troopship sailing between Southampton and Hong Kong).

In 1958 he joined GCHQ as Radio Officer and after training at Bletchley Park served at Shaftesbury, St Erth, Cornwall, Taunton, Bude and Cheltenham before retiring in 1985 as Senior Station Radio Officer.
Roger was highly inventive, filing a patent for a fully automatic morse code generator in the 50s, and designing and riding his own wooden surfboard before such things were in widespread use in this country.  He was also an extremely talented photographer.
  
After retirement, he briefly worked as a motorcycle courier before settling down to gardening, surfing, motorcycling and photography from his home at Winchcombe, Gloucestershire.

Roger was a caring, generous, highly intelligent man with a wonderful sense of humour.  He will be much missed by his three children, Susan, Charles and David.

JMC Coates (LI 1945-50) died on Wednesday 15^th April in Sherborne.

After University, Michael taught at Sedbergh and at Rugby before becoming Headmaster of Bramcote School, Scarborough and later at Monkton Junior School.

He later became Secretary to IAPS, where he had a distinguished tenure. He had three children educated at Marlborough.

Michael's Thanksgiving Service will take place in Sherborne Abbey on Tuesday 19th May at 2.30pm.

Europe was the focus of the working and personal life of my friend Philip Whyte (PR 1979-84), who has died of pancreatic cancer, aged 49.

Philip joined the Bank of England in 1990, where he worked on legislation to complete the EU’s single market. In 1996, he moved to the Economist Intelligence Unit, where he wrote presciently about western Europe. In 2007, he joined the Centre for European Reform, the pro-European thinktank.

Although a passionate supporter of Britain’s membership of the EU, Philip was often at odds with the orthodoxies of pro-Europeans. In the aftermath of the global financial crisis, he was just as critical of policies in Brussels, Frankfurt and Berlin as he was of the eurosceptic tide in London.

Obituary by Jagjit Chadha (The Guardian). Click here to view the full obituary.

Douglas Quadling OBE (CR 1953-67), who was one of the four inspirational drivers behind the School Mathematics Project (SMP) in the 1960s and 70s, has passed away.

The School Mathematics Project, which radically changed the course of mathematics teaching in Britain, had its origins in an Oxford conference of 1959 and another held two years later in Southampton, but its impetus came from a meeting between Quadling and three other men (H. Martyn Cundy, Tom Jones, Professor Bryan Thwaites) in a Winchester garden in September 1961.

Eight schools led the way over the next 12 months in which SMP was established - Marlborough College (where Quadling was Senior Mathematics Master), Sherborne School (where Cundy was Senior Mathematics Master), Winchester College (where Jones served in the same capacity, and Thwaites had taught until 1959), Battersea Grammar School, Charterhouse, Exeter School, Holloway School and Winchester County School for Girls. Thwaites, Professor of Theoretical Mechanics at Southampton University, was the SMP's founding Director.

Douglas Quadling’s funeral will take place at Emmanuel College Cambridge on Thursday 9th April at 2pm.

Fran Prichard (LI 1939-43) was a dedicated and popular schoolmaster, able to move with the times and to bring everyone with him. He dropped anchor at St Edward’s, Oxford in 1952, and stayed there, in a variety of guises, for more than four decades.
 
He was then educated at Marlborough College. During school holidays in the early years of the Second World War he volunteered for night fire watch in Hereford Cathedral. He joined the Royal Navy in 1944 and served aboard HMS Zealous on the Arctic convoys. As he crossed the Arctic Circle for the first time, the captain asked him for a noon sun-sight. He responded with his customary honesty, though without the bluff confidence that normally went with it: “Well, sir, we appear to be about eight miles north of Derby…”

In adding to his time at Marlborough he was an Editor of the Marlburian, Head of Littlefield and 1st XV. As Senior Prefect in Michaelmas 1943 his No2 was later a Warden of St Edward’s and one his closest friends – Richard Bradley – and his No3 was a mere Field Marshal! – John Stanier. His father HMP and uncle FGP were both OMs, as were us sons GHP and RRPP.

Click here to read the full obituary courtesy of the Independent.

A cricket club administrator who spent 50 years in the same voluntary job has died after a short illness.

David Jervois, who was 86, died in Torbay Hospital where he was being cared for after suffering a stroke.

Jervois joined South Devon Cricket Club in 1963 after moving to Newton Abbot to practice law with Woollcombe Watts and Co. The following year he took over as secretary of the cricket club from former Herald Express journalist Clive Angel.
Jervois announced late last year he would be standing down at the club’s annual meeting in January.

David Jervois was more than just the secretary of South Devon CC. His list of sporting activites was extensive to say the least.

Jervois was one of the driving forces behind the creation of the Newton Abbot & District Recreational Trust in Marsh Road, which opened in 1971.

The Trust was formed to provide a home for South Devon CC, Newton Abbot Spurs FC, squash and tennis clubs on the site of the Recreation Ground.

South Devon had previously played on what is now Cricketfield Road car park next door, which had been acquired by Newton Abbot UDC under a compulsory purchase order.

At the same time Jervois was involved in talks between the leading cricket clubs in Devon to start a county league, which was formed in 1972.

He served the league as legal advisor and was competition president from 1989-2002
Jervois was a man of many sporting interests, which include more than 30 years as secretary of Torbay Hockey Club, for whom he played and later umpired.

He was legal advisor to and a vice-president of Newton Abbot RFC and played golf at Stover.

Jervois arrived in Newton Abbot from a law firm in North Devon in April 1963 and stayed with the same practice through numerous name changes until his retirement in 1989.

During his career in the law he was clerk to the Tax Commissioners appeal board and chairman of the supplementary benefits appeal panel.

One of his last tasks with what was by the Woollcombe Beer Watts was to oversee the acquisition of the old Congregational Church in Queen Street, which the firm moved into in 1988.

Jervois, who lived in Bovey Tracey with wife Pam, had been a member of the Rotary Club.

David Reginald Warren Jervois was brought up in Surrey and completed his education at Marlborough College in Wiltshire. He attended the college between 1942-47, following in the footsteps of his father, who was a pupil before the Great War.
He went up to Peterhouse College, Cambridge to read law with the intention of becoming a solicitor.

After graduating – and National Service in the Army – Jervois started work for a law firm in north Devon before moving to Newton Abbot about a year later.
After retiring from the law in 1989, Jervois remained as a consultant with the company for many years.

In retirement he was able to indulge his passion for cricket, which included following England in Australia during an Ashes series.

David married Pam in 1958.The couple have a daughter – Jane – and two grandchildren.

Thanksgiving service

A thanksgiving service will be held at St John Church, Bovey Tracey in Devon on Tuesday 3rd March at 3pm.

Family flowers only with donations if required to the Stroke Association or R.N.L.I, may be sent c/o Coombes & Son Funeral Directors, 73 Fore Street, Bovey Tracey, Devon, TQ13 9AB.

Conon Fraser (CO 1943-48), author and former TV presenter, film maker, and long time member of PEN, died last month after a long battle with heart and lung failure.

He was working his latest book The Enderby Settlement about Britain’s whaling venture from 1849 – 52 on New Zealand’s Subantarctic Auckland Islands up to the night before he died.   It is being published by Otago University Press and is due out this month.

Conon and his wife Jackie emigrated to New Zealand in 1958 with two small sons.   He wrote a dozen adventure books for boys and later became the writer and presenter of the weekly The World Around Us which gave television viewers the background to the news.   He then produced the highly popular weekly programme Looking at New Zealand.  During this time his journalistic work increased, writing articles, short stories and travel articles. 

In 1969 Conon joined the National Film Unit in order to make films about New Zealand and New Zealanders’ way of life in greater depth.   He made over 30 documentaries, several of which won awards.  

Most of his films are with National ArchivesConon Fraser is survived by his wife Jackie, five sons and eight grandchildren.

The name of Peter Hopkirk will long be associated with the “Great Game”, the cloak-and-dagger struggle between Britain and Russia for control over swathes of central Asia that raged through the 19th century.

The vast and sparsely populated regions stretching from the southern reaches of Russia to the northwest frontier of India had fascinated him since he read Rudyard Kipling’s Kim as a boy. However, Hopkirk was no armchair historian. He was an intrepid traveler who adeptly shrugged off the region’s ever-watchful authorities to piece together his rip-roaring histories. In his now classic accounts Foreign Devils on the Silk Road and Trespassers on the Roof of the World, he expertly evoked the lives of the fanatical archaeologist-adventurers who dug up and carried off the contents of ancient Silk Road libraries buried beneath the desert and the mapmakers who illicitly scaled ice-clad Himalayan peaks disguised as horse-traders or religious men.

There was always more than a touch of John Buchan about Hopkirk. When he was interviewed by The Times in 2006 he had a copy of Buchan’s Greenmantle sticking out of his pocket and a mini radio set about his neck to keep up to date with the World Service. One of his books, On Secret Service East of Constantinople, about German attempts in 1914 to unleash a holy war against the British and Russian empires, was even inspired by Greenmantle.

Hopkirk’s years as a foreign correspondent stood him in good stead. Known as something of a daredevil on Fleet Street – where he reported for The Times for two decades and for The Daily Express – Hopkirk had spent his career chasing stories from Cuba to Beirut. He was twice flung into jail and survived a plane hijacking. A journalist to his core, he told the authorities who wanted to interview him afterwards: “I must ring my newsdesk and you can overhear my call.” His story made the front page of The Times the next day.

Hopkirk produced more than exciting adventure stories. His travels through Asia resulted in six books and he was arguably the leading 20th–century expert on the region. President Muhammad Najibullah, the last Soviet-backed ruler of Afghanistan, spent his time sheltering in the UN compound in Kabul translating Hopkirk’s The Great Game into Farsi before he was dragged outside and killed on the day the Taliban took over the capital. Najibullah believed Hopkirk’s dramatic account of 19th-century Anglo-Russian rivalry in central Asia was on the Ministry of Defence’s required reading list for British soldiers who were deployed to Afghanistan.

Hopkirk did his homework in the India Office archives at the British Library and knew and consulted academics and museum curators. He had a huge collection of books on the region – many of them rare, primary sources – which filled his house in Fulham, west London, to the extend that his wife feared it might sink.

In the 1970s he travelled widely through central Asia and also covered the Times-sponsored exhibition of Tutankhamun’s treasures at the British Museum and a show of newly excavated Chinese treasures by the Royal Academy. He began to piece together the tale that would become his first book: Foreign Devils on the Silk Road (1980), describing the race between western archaeologists for the lost cities and treasures of the old trading routes of Chinese central Asia. He chronicled how paintings, silks, manuscripts, bronzes and coins lying buried in monasteries and temples beneath the sands were excavated and removed by the ton by camel and ox-cart, to be scattered among European museums. Sir Aurel Stein, for instance, carried 29 cases from one sealed chamber over bleak wastelands and ice-clad passes of Chinese Turkestan, which cost him the toes of his right foot.

Hopkirk read all there was to read and visited where possible all the sites. Although the region was still largely closed except to strictly monitored tour groups, Hopkirk became adept at seeking out individuals with recollections of key events and personalities: “Whenever my minders’ backs were turned I would sneak off to find where key events in the Great Game took place.” He was sometimes accompanied by Kathleen, his third wife and an author, who did much initial research and helped with inquiries in Peking, Tokyo and Delhi.

His second book, Trespassers on the Roof of the World, published in 1982, concentrated on the increasingly frenzied – at times lunatic – attempts by Europeans to reach Lhasa, the Forbidden City, and to achieve domination of the huge Tibetan plateau. He uncovered the stories of the Indian pundit-spies employed by the British, one of whom travelled for four and a half years in Tibet disguised as a holy man, counting his five million steps on a rosary. This book established Hopkirk as an authority not only on the Great Game but on the region in which it was played.

Peter Hopkirk was born in Nottingham, the son of a prison chaplain. He grew up in Danbury, Essex, where he recalled his mother reading him Greenmantle. He used to dream of being sent on a secret mission by Kim’s spymaster, Colonel Creighton, and later always carried the novel in his saddlebag. As a boy he haunted oriental bookshops around the British Museum and saved up to buy a brass camel with a mysterious inscription that he kept on his desk.

Competitive from an early age, he played rugby at the Dragon School against Antonia Pakenham, now Lady Antonia Fraser, and shot at Bisley for the Marlborough eight. He began his National Service in 1949 with a secondment to the King’s African Rifles, chasing armed bandits on the Italian Somaliland border. Years later, when Idi Amin seized power in Uganda, his name rang a bell with Hopkirk (“I think he was in my battalion”) and he made great efforts to contact him.

He was inspired by Sir Fitzroy Maclean’s Eastern Approaches to seek a life of adventure. With the Cold War at its height, journalism appeared the best option. He joined The Sunday Express and was assigned to the French counter-insurgency war in Algeria in 1955, where he accompanied French troops in helicopter assaults on rebels strongholds. He was then invited by the South African diamond millionaire Jim Bailey to edit his West African news magazine Drum. He took his first wife, Delphine, with whom he had a son, Tim (now a reputational risk management consultant). The couple later divorced.

After a stint at ITN as a newscaster he joined The Daily Express, and was based in New York. During the 1961 Bay of Pigs fiasco, and while working in Havana, he was arrested by the Cuban secret police and accused of spying for Washington. He was thrown into an overcrowded cell from which fellow captives were taken out to be shot. It was seemingly only thanks to the efforts of the owner of the Express, Lord Beaverbrook, and his contacts in Mexico that his release was secured. A year later, having been reassigned to the Middle East, he was arrested in Beirut and then expelled from Lebanon.

When Hopkirk joined The Times in 1966 he wondered how he would fare on a more serious newspaper. A colleague said: “Write exactly the same way. Just make your paragraphs twice as long.” He was for six years the newspaper’s chief reporter before becoming a Middle and Far East expert. He was on a plane from Beirut hi-jacked by Palestinian terrorists in 1974. With the aircraft on the ground at Amsterdam, he found himself on the tarmac between Dutch troops and the still-armed hijackers. He courageously persuaded the Palestinians to drop their weapons and avoid a firefight.

He relished being a reporter but now focused on his books. The Great Game (1990) drew under single cover his work. He then followed the itinerary of his boyhood hero Kim from Lahore to Varanasi and into the Himalayas, speculating on the models for Kipling’s characters in Quest for Kim: In Search of Kipling’s Great Game. Hopkirk’s second wife was the journalist Joyce Hopkirk, which whom he had a daughter, Victoria, a landscape gardener. He met his third wife, Kathleen Partridge, at an archaeology lecture. They married in 1970; their children, James (C1 1992) and Elizabeth, are both journalists.

“It’s extraordinary to see how history is repeating itself,” he said of the current situation in Afghanistan. “Some of the players are different, but the Game goes on. Perhaps my books should be read as cautionary tales.”

Peter Hopkirk, author, was born on December 15, 1930. He died on August 22, 2014, aged 83

Obituary courtesy of The Times

Mike Bayon (B2 1935-40), who has died aged 92, was awarded the DFC after completing 52 bombing operations during the Second World War; later he became an inspiring and charismatic schoolmaster and eminent garden designer.

From when he was a boy, watching the fighters flying from RAF Duxford a few miles from his home, Bayon had wanted to be a pilot. After he joined the RAF in November 1941, however, his attempts to fly a Tiger Moth were unsuccessful and he was selected to be a navigator. He trained in Canada and, after passing out top of his course, was posted to Bomber Command’s Pathfinder Force, an unusual appointment for someone with no operational experience.

On joining No 128 Squadron he teamed up with an Australian pilot, Doug Swain. Operating the high-flying Mosquito, they attacked targets over Germany, often acting as a “spoof” raid to distract enemy night fighters away from the main bomber force. They also carried out “nuisance raids” on important industrial centres. On one of these operations against Kiel, their Mosquito was badly damaged but they managed to return to base.

On another occasion, when tasked to drop a 4,000 lb bomb on Würzburg (where Bayon’s father had attended university), they found the city obscured by cloud. They decided to descend to low level where, despite the intense anti-aircraft fire, the risk from falling bombs from the bombers above and the ground explosions, they identified their target and dropped their bomb accurately. The two men were awarded the DFC, both having been previously mentioned in despatches for their skill and courage.

Mike Bayon, born April 30 1922, died May 29 2014

Click here for the full obituary courtesy of The Telegraph website.

Antony Laurence Easterbrook was born in Torquay on 20th March 1929 and was educated at Marlborough College where he was captain of both the athletics and rugby teams. 

After leaving school in 1947, he completed National Service in the Royal Sussex Regiment where he qualified as a parachutist and won the Western Command Cross Country Championships.  On leaving the Army in 1949, he joined the 11th Parachute Regiment (Middlesex) Territorial Army as a 2nd Lieutenant, whilst also studying French and Russian at Cambridge University.  On 10th August 1952 he was commissioned into the Royal Marines.

Whilst in the Corps he qualified as a Swimmer Canoeist in 1953 and served with the Special Boat Squadron until 1956 when he qualified as a Physical Training and Sports Officer.  Between 1956-1957 he was the Physical Training Officer at Royal Marines Barracks, Plymouth.  At the same time, he became one of the Corps’ and Navy’s leading athletes competing in track and field, cross-country and pentathlon, and he was placed fourth in the Combined Services National Pentathlon Championships.  In addition to this, he was also a prominent Corps rugby player and boxer.

From 1957-1958 he served with 45 Commando in Malta, North Africa and Cyprus.  He was the Unit’s Physical Training and Sports Officer and he proved to be an outstanding Troop Officer on active service in Cyprus.

In September 1958, he joined Infantry Training Centre Royal Marines as the Physical Training Officer and Sports Officer at a time when the facilities there were limited.  However, his enthusiasm and resourcefulness were such that he made an outstanding success in the physical training of both Young Officers and Recruits.  By this time, his own personal achievements, physical prowess and experience made him a superlative coach and natural leader, always instilling into trainees the value of supreme fitness for Commando service.  In June 1960, unsurprisingly, he was the first choice to command the Royal Marines Commando Display Team that played an important part in the Military Tattoo associated with the British Exhibition in New York.  He selected and trained the men as well as designing the spectacular assault course.  The display included several courageous descents down an 85 feet high Commando Slide.

Leading from the front as always, Captain Easterbrook volunteered himself for the most daring and spectacular deed.  Dressed in city attire, complete with bowler hat and umbrella, he would descend down the Commando Slide in dramatic fashion.  Whilst hurtling down the slide, he would wave his umbrella to the astonishment of spectators below.  At the bottom of the slide, a waiter would walk over to Captain Easterbrook and serve him a Gin and Tonic, which he would swiftly drink, before proceeding to waltz off as though he had just walked calmly down a flight of stairs. 

In New York, the Royal Marines Display was an immediate and outstanding success.  On 1st July 1960, in Madison Square Gardens, due to a faulty piece of equipment, Captain Easterbrook fatally fell whilst making his breath-taking descent.

As a true sportsman and Commando leader, he was a splendid example to the Royal Marines and it is for this reason that this Sports Pavilion is dedicated to his memory.

Peter Boreham (B2 1936-40) was born on 26 May 1922 in China of missionary parents. From Marlborough he went up to Jesus College Cambridge to read medicine. He graduated BA 1942; MA 1949; MB, BChir 1945; MChir 1952.

After completing his training at the Middlesex Hospital, London, he took up a post in 1958 as consultant surgeon at Cheltenham General Hospital. He retired in 1987 after a distinguished career in which he made major contributions to the practice, teaching and administration of medicine in the region. He was president of the 1921 Surgical Travelling Club, about which he wrote a history, Surgical Journeys (1990). He served the local community in many ways, in particular as the chairman of Rotary, of the Cheltenham Youth Trust, and of the Samaritans. He also was instrumental in setting up a private hospital in Cheltenham. Closest to his heart, however, was his work supporting healthcare in Sierra Leone which he did as a founder member and trustee of The Kambia Appeal. He was appointed OBE in 1986 for services to the community. His hobbies included sailing, tennis, reading and music. 

He is survived by his wife of 68 years, Ka, and five children. His brother, son, nephew and three grandchildren are all Old Marlburians.

Peter Boreham, born 26 May 1922, died 8 March 2014.

Robert Smith (B1 1943-48) died on Tuesday 11th February 2014 at the age of 84.

He was a former Secretary of The Marlburian Club (1989-96) and continued his involvement with the Club and the School until very recently, attending the OM Wiltshire Dinner last September and Club Day in October.

He was one of the proof-readers of The Marlburian Club Magazine until 2013 and remained sharp eyed and keenly intelligent to the end. He could be relied upon to spot errors that no-one else could see. He had had a most distinguished career in engineering, which took him all over the world, and he spent many years working in the Middle East.

Robert was a great conversationalist with a dry and ready wit and was immensely loyal to the College. Many years ago he anonymously endowed a fund to enable Members of Common Room to undertake training to further their careers and many members of Common Room have benefited from his generosity, and will do so in the future. He was also most kind and generous with his time within the community of Marlborough and had many loyal friends.

His wife Anne predeceased him and he leaves two children, Richard and Sarah.

Funeral details are as follows:

The funeral is at noon in Friday 28th Feb at Preshute Church followed by a wake at Marlborough Golf Club at 1pm.

Martin Evans, former Club Secretary (2001-2013)

An appreciation of Piers, 4th Baron Wedgwood (B3 1968-72), who died of cardiac failure in the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania on Wednesday 29th January 2014

Piers and I arrived in the same year at Marlborough College but I only got to know him well, when I taught him in the Hundreds. He was certainly ‘a larger than life character’ and thrived as a member of B3 with the remarkable Jake Seamer as Housemaster.

Piers had been born in Kenya, where his father farmed outside Nairobi and when Piers was 16, his father died of a heart attack at the early age of 45. Piers succeeded his father as the 4th Baron Wedgwood of Barlaston and after a colourful Marlborough career he was commissioned in the Royal Scots Regiment. His duties ranged from supervising the clearing of the Glasgow slums during the Binmens’ Strike of 1979 to acting as ADC to HM The Queen, when she was in residence at Balmoral.

As a direct descendant of Josiah Wedgwood, it did not take long for Piers to enter the family firm but he started out cleaning the pottery kilns and learning production methods at the home of Wedgwood in the village of Barlaston, Staffordshire. His charm, speaking ability and his uncanny resemblance to his ancestor, Josiah, made Piers the ideal spokesman for the Wedgwood brand and he travelled throughout the world as Wedgwood’s international ambassador. Piers devoted his life to keeping alive the high-regard for the distinctive blue and white pottery that bears his name and embellishes tea-tables and china collections worldwide.

Piers was an active member of the House of Lords for over 25 years and relished the opportunities afforded to speak his mind on many and various topics and to serve on Defence and Heritage Parliamentary Committees. He also helped raise considerable amounts of money for charity and loved his golf tournaments, which aided his very worthwhile projects.

Piers Wedgwood was such fun to be with and his smiling face and wonderful sense of humour were a tonic. He was always so well supported by his wife, Mary Regina, and his daughter, Alexandra (Sasha), of whom he was immensely fond and he was a most loving father and husband. He much enjoyed his life in Philadelphia and was a much respected figure there.

A great Gentleman and a superb ambassador for Wedgwood’s - a fine Old Marlburian in every way, and a dear and well-loved friend.

There will be a Memorial Service for Piers at Barlaston in the Spring.

Martin Evans
Former Marlburian Club Secretary.

Professor Colin Prentice (C3 1948-53), who has died aged 79, survived 33 days of captivity by communist Pathet Lao guerrillas in the 1960s and later built an international reputation for his work on blood coagulation.

Colin Richard Murray Prentice was born on December 13 1934 and educated at Marlborough College and at Cambridge University, where he read Medicine and served as president of the Medical Society. After clinical training at Westminster Hospital and house appointments at Westminster and Addenbrooke’s hospital, Cambridge, he took a Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and departed for Laos.

Professor Colin Prentice, born December 13 1934, died February 1 2014.

Click here for the full obituary on The Telegraph website.

Pat Reeves (B1 1981-86), who has died aged 46, was an adventurous entrepreneur and philanthropist who championed youth-focused charities and brought new ideas to the two, very different, industries of fast food delivery and sofa retail.

His first venture was the upmarket food delivery business Deliverance, established in 1997 with his long-term business partner Rohan Blacker, a fellow fugitive from the legal profession. Their plan was to cook an international menu of the highest quality and deliver it by a fleet of mopeds to people’s front doors in time for dinner.

With no previous experience in catering, Reeves set about drawing top chefs from China, Thailand, India and Italy to his unit on a Battersea industrial estate. His aim was to show that home-delivered food could be a viable alternative to eating out. Within a few years they were feeding several thousand people each evening. The business survived many setbacks – not least when Reeves absent-mindedly left a whole week’s takings on the back seat of a London cab – and has continued to thrive.

In 2006 Reeves and Blacker shifted their efforts from catering to furnishing, establishing the eponymous online retailer, sofa.com. In doing so, Reeves injected a mix of character, wit and charm into a previously traditional industry – an enthusiasm for innovation which also led him to champion underprivileged young people.

Pat Reeves, born November 28 1967, died January 10 2014.

A full obituary is available to read right here courtesy of The Telegraph

John Travers Cosgrove (B2, 1934-38), who has died aged 93, was awarded an MC in Germany in 1945; he subsequently worked for LNER and British Rail and was responsible for the design and introduction of innovatory equipment and safety measures.

Cosgrove was born on October 9 1920 in North Vancouver, British Columbia, and educated at Marlborough before going up to Imperial College, London, to read Civil Engineering. He gained a Blue for cross-country running.

Like his father, who had won a DSO and an MC, he joined the Corps of Royal Engineers, and was posted to 244 FCRE. He and his unit landed in Normandy shortly after D-Day.

In October 1944, in four days of bitter fighting to liberate the town of s’Hertogenbosch, Holland, Cosgrove’s team of sappers laid Bailey bridges across the canals.

He was demobilised in 1946 and returned to the London & North Eastern Railway, for which he had worked in the first two years of the war.

After LNER was nationalised in 1948, he worked for British Railways Scottish Region until 1955 and then for the Western Region. He was the Materials Handling Officer on the British Railways Board from 1962 to 1976.

In retirement in Reading, Berkshire, and subsequently at Huntly, Aberdeenshire, he recruited sapper veterans to attend the post-war annual reunions at s’Hertogenbosch. He used his expertise to help restore and reopen the Keith & Dufftown Railway, Morayshire, and also to assist people with disabilities to live full lives.

He married, in 1950, Elizabeth (Betty) Davidson, who survives him with their two daughters.

Travers Cosgrove, born October 9 1920, died December 27 2013.

Click here to read a full obituary which was published in The Daily Telegraph.

Roger Washbourn, OBE (CO 1924-29), died peacefully on December 30, 2013 in Norwich where he lived for nearly 30 years.  He was 102 years of age.

Born April 6, 1911 , he was the only son of  William and Mabel Washbourn of Blackfriars, Gloucester.  He attended Marlborough College and Trinity College, Cambridge, receiving a BA in Natural Sciences (Zoology) in 1933.  He was a Teaching Scholar in the department of Zoology at Birmingham University, and Assistant Keeper at the British Museum of National History, before serving as a commissioned officer in the Royal Artillery during World War II.  He was demobilized as Lt. Colonel (Honorary Major) in 1945.

He joined the British Council as an officer in 1946 and was posted to Antwerp, Stockholm, Helsinki, Bristol, and London.  When he retired from the Council in 1972, he was Controller of the Books, Art, and Sciences Division.

He married Margaret Hoppe in 1937.  They had four children—Celia (New York); Penelope (California);Giles (Suffolk), and Susan (Scotland), eight grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.  The family lived in Bath from 1953-1956, and Wimbledon for sixteen years.  Following his retirement in 1972, he and Margaret moved to Old Costessey in East Anglia.  She predeceased him in 1979. 

In 1984, he married Nest Brooks of Ludham, Norfolk.  They established a home in Bracondale, Norwich, where they hosted many guests and friends—including Roger’s children and grandchildren from around the world.  She died in 2004. ,.

An avid birdwatcher throughout his life, his main interest when moving to East Anglia was the Norfolk Wildlife Trust.  He edited a celebratory book, Nature in Norfolk, a Heritage in Trust, for the Queen’s Golden Jubilee in 1976, and was named Honorary Vice-President in 1977.  He was also President of the Norfolk Association for the Disabled, and Secretary of the Committee that established the first Norwich Cathedral Visitor Center.

During his retirement, he pursued his lifelong dedication to trout fishing on the rivers of Norfolk.  His hobbies included bridge and reading—particularly theology. He achieved proficiency at the computer and enjoyed keeping in touch by email with his children and grandchildren across the globe.

During his last decade, Roger was lovingly supported by his family and many friends, particularly his fellow parishioners at St. John’s, Timberhill, Norwich. 

Services will be held on the 27 January at 1pm  at Timberhill Church, and then 2.15pm at the Earlham road crematorium .

Annabel Freyberg (SU 1977-79), who has died of cancer aged 52, was a gifted and original writer who was arts editor at The Evening Standard before becoming interiors editor of the Telegraph Magazine; she died just 18 months after her nine-year-old daughter, Blossom, lost her own battle with cancer.

The granddaughter of General Lord Freyberg, VC, the postwar Governor-General of New Zealand and one of the most highly decorated soldiers in the British Army, Annabel combined huge moral courage and considerable intellectual gifts with a cheerful bohemianism and an enormous gift for friendship.

As well as being a much-loved editor, as a writer for the Telegraph Magazine, Annabel turned her hand to everything from interior design, country houses, the arts and travel pieces to cookery columns and restaurant reviews – but it was the articles she wrote about her daughter’s illness that were the most heartfelt and moving.

During Blossom’s illness and after her death in May 2012 Annabel campaigned to raise money for Kiss It Better, a national appeal launched by Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity to raise money to fund research into the causes and treatment of childhood cancer.

Tragically, Annabel herself was diagnosed with terminal mesothelioma just days after delivering a moving eulogy to Blossom in St Mary Abbott’s Church, Kensington.

Annabel Pauline Jekyll Freyberg was born on August 16 1961, at a time when her father, an officer in the Grenadier Guards, was on service abroad and her mother was living at Windsor Castle, where her father-in-law was then serving as Deputy Constable. The castle gates had to be opened in the middle of the night so that Annabel could be born in hospital.

She was raised at Munstead House, in Surrey, which had been built for her great-grandfather Sir Herbert Jekyll and his sister, Gertrude Jekyll, who had honed her garden design skills in its grounds. After education at Heathfield and at Marlborough she won a scholarship to Christ Church, Oxford, to read English (despite turning up to the interview in a dressing gown and transparent plastic sandals).

While working for the Telegraph Magazine Annabel Freyberg continued to write for The World of Interiors and to take leading roles in amateur theatre productions. In 1999 she published a book, Ceramics for the Home.

In 2000 she married the writer Andrew Barrow, who survives her with their son.

Annabel Freyberg, born August 16 1961, died December 8 2013.

Obituries can also be read from The Independent and The Guardian.

MEMORIAL SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

A Memorial Service and Celebration of the life of Annabel Freyberg (SU 1977-79) will be held this Wednesday 26th February 2014. The service will take place at 2.30pm in St. Mary Abbots Parish Church, Kensington, London, W8 4LA.

Alan Brooke Turner (PR 1939-44) spent three decade in the Diplomatic service and then he became even more closely involved in world affairs as director of the Great Britain-East Europe Centre.

This small body had an important role as Eastern Europe unshackled itself from communism and from Moscow in 1989-90. Brooke Turner worked alongside reforming politicians and intellectuals.  Romanian economists, Polish
lawyer, Bulgarian doctors, Hungarian judges- all came to London as the centre's guests, to be introduced by Brooke Turner to British colleagues.

It was a triumph. Many who went on to important roles in Eastern Europe had been through his workshops, including Hanna Suchocka, who became Poland's first female prime minister in 1992, and Viktor Orban, prime minister of Hungary since 2010.

Alan Brooke Turner was born in 1926 and educated al Marlborough. After four years' postwar service in the RAF he went up to Balliol to study classic He joined the Foreign Service in 1951 and served in Warsaw, Jedda, Lisbon,
Geneva and Moscow as cultural attache.  In 1964 he and a colleague, Bryan Cartledge, and their wives set off an intrepid journey through Central Asia.

Travel in the Soviet Union in the 1960s was far from easy but they reached Tashkent, Samarkand, Bokhara and their greatest triumph - Khiva.  Their success was in large part due to Brooke Turner's fluent, elegant Russian -
even their KGB minder began to thaw - as well as his good humour and his inexhaustible fund of tales.

From 1965 Brooke Turner had three years back at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and then a series of short posting. In 1979 he was appointed Minister in Moscow for three years.  These were the last days of the Soviet hawks. In the same year Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan. In central Europe antagonism over the stationing of intermediate nuclear forces was building. Moscow threatened action against Poland, provoking martial law. It was the worst of times for the return to Moscow of a loyal, gentle man who, as cultural attaché 20 years earlier, had sought ways to improve understanding between Britain and the Soviet Union. The prospects of continuing such work was limited, but as the second-most senior man in in one of Britain's most difficult missions, Brooke Turner gave the Ambassador unfailing support.

In 1983 he at last obtained a mission of his own, as Ambassador to Finland. He was to stay there only two years, far too short a time to make a firm mark but the Brooke Turners enjoyed their time in Helsinki and made lasting friendships, before he was appointed to the Great Britain-East Europe Centre (later the British Association for Central and Eastern Europe), a quango largely financed by the FCO and devoted to improving relations with Central and Eastern Europe. Brooke Turner needed all his enthusiasm to guide the centre successfully through a period of spectacular change in Eastern Europe and, almost as difficult, funding difficulties at home. As well as visits overseas, he worked hard to devise political workshops for people keen to promote parliamentary democracy in their own countries. He arranged for intellectuals to visit Britain, starting with a Polish group in 1989, and to meet M Ps to discuss how the British system worked in Parliament and in the constituencies. They were followed by Hungarian, Bulgarians and later Latvians, Lithuanians and Estonians. Brooke Turner's intellect, wit and his amazing memory and interest in people were critical to this role which brought him perhaps more satisfaction than his many all-too-short diplomatic postings.

Alan Brooke Turner was a devoted member of the Church of England and served it in various capacities. He also gave wise counsel to the School of Slavonic and East European Studies at London University. He was appointed CMG in 1980.

He is survived by his wife, Hazel and his two sons and two daughters. Alan Brooke Turner, CMG, diplomat, was born on January 4, 1926. He died on October 6, 2013, aged 87

The Times 1/11/13

Brigadier Bob Carr (CO 1933–38), who has died aged 93, was among a small number of soldiers to be awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross during the Second World War.

Carr volunteered to fly single-engine aircraft such as Austers and flew wartime sorties as a member of No 654 (AOP) Squadron RAF. As an Air Observation Pilot, he was a prime target for the enemy, who did all that they could to shoot him down; the survival rate of airmen like him was poor. . His courage and tenacity was recognised with the award — unusual for a soldier — of a DFC.

Robert Michael Carr was born in London on March 5 1920 and educated at Marlborough. Always known as Bob, he was an officer cadet at Woolwich and commissioned into the Royal Artillery in July 1939.

For two years after the end of the war Carr was a staff officer with Burma Command. He trained as a parachutist and, in the early 1950s, served in Egypt with 33 Airborne Field Regiment.

Carr commanded a battery of 96th Parachute Field Battery RA from 1956 to 1958 and then 41st Light Parachute Light Battery RA. A move to the War Office as Deputy Assistant Adjutant-General was followed, in 1961, by command of 45th Field Regiment RA.

He was then posted to the Imperial Defence College as one of the instructing staff. In 1965 he was promoted to brigadier and posted to Western Command as Commander Royal Artillery Lancashire and Cheshire Division in North-West District. The seven artillery regiments, all TA and with proud histories and traditions, were eventually reduced to one by cuts in the defence budget. Carr needed all his patience and tact in the negotiations to decide what could be saved and what had to go.

A good leader, thorough planner, and a highly experienced professional, he was appointed MBE during his career and retired from the Army in 1968.

He worked for a number of years for Hambro’s Bank in London and Essex. After settling in Hampshire, he was treasurer of his local Conservative Association and as a church warden; he was an enthusiastic fisherman. When watching school matches and plays, he was highly partisan and never ceased to congratulate his children and grandchildren for being the best performers regardless of the reality.

Bob Carr married, in 1963, Amabel Yorke, who survives him with their son and daughter.

Taken from an obituary which appeared in The Telegraph.

Lieutenant-Colonel Jimmy Eagles (C2 1931-35), who has died aged 95, was the fifth generation of his family to serve in the Royal Marines and later became Standard Bearer of Her Majesty’s Body Guard of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms.

At the outbreak of the Second World War, Eagles was serving in the cruiser Sussex and took part in the hunt for the German pocket battleship Graf Spee in the South Atlantic. In 1940 he joined No 1 Mobile Naval Base Defence Organisation, a precursor of today’s Commandos, as adjutant of the 2nd Anti-Aircraft Regiment.

After commanding the 23rd Light AA Battery and “R” Searchlight Battery in Egypt, in 1943 he became second-in-command of the 1st Heavy AA Regiment, based in India. In March the next year Eagles’s guns were redeployed to Kent, where they helped to defend London from the onslaught of Hitler’s V1 and V2 rockets — his tally of flying bombs was 122. In August 1944 he landed in France, tasked with the air defence of 21st Army Group around Cherbourg.

By October, his guns were protecting the Canadian and US Armies around Louvain in Belgium. “His next role was providing air defence around Antwerp and the Scheldt estuary, a vital logistical link between Britain and the advancing Allies on the Continent.

After the war he made an important contribution to experimental work on amphibious vehicles. He served on the directing staff of the School of Amphibious Warfare, was a student on the Royal Navy Staff Course, and, in 1955, was appointed Fleet Intelligence Officer on the staff of the C-in-C South Atlantic and South America, based in Simonstown. His final appointments included Assistant Adjutant General to the Commandant General Royal Marines and Director, Pay and Records Royal Marines.

A man of unfailing charm, Eagles was also respected for his integrity, sharp wit and sense of humour.
He married, in 1941, Priscilla Cottrell, who survives him with their three daughters and their son, Lieutenant-Commander Anthony Eagles, AFC, of the Royal Navy.

Lt-Col Jimmy Eagles, born May 14 1918, died August 26 2013.

John Cloudsley-Thompson was a naturalist, soldier, adventurer and a pioneer in the study of desert wildlife.

Known as "the desert naturalist" and "the Titan of the Sahara", he was one of the last of the great adventurer-scientists of the mid-20th century – a man whose considerable exploits read like something out of a Boys' Own adventure story.

Born in Murree, India (now Pakistan), John was educated in Britain, at Marlborough College and Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he read natural sciences.

The coming of the second world war interrupted his studies, and in 1941 he was commissioned into the 4th Queen's Own Hussars. His first posting, to North Africa as a tank commander with the Desert Rats at the age of 21, changed the course of his life. It prompted a lifelong passion for desert wildlife, which began when the tank crews decided to adopt local creatures as their mascots.

Before leaving for Normandy, he had married Anne Cloudsley, and they combined their surnames as Cloudsley-Thompson. After the war ended, John returned to his studies at Cambridge, gaining his MA and PhD, following which he became a lecturer in zoology at King's College London. But the lure of the desert was too strong and in 1960 he returned to North Africa, as professor of zoology at the University of Khartoum, and keeper of the Sudan Natural History Museum.

After a spell as visiting professor at the University of Albuquerque in the deserts of New Mexico in 1969, he and Anne returned to London in 1972. He was appointed professor of zoology at Birkbeck College, University of London, where he remained until his retirement in 1986, when he was made emeritus professor.

Anne died in 2012. Their three sons, Hugh, Tim and Peter, survive him.

Further John Cloudsley-Thompson obituaries:

The Guardian

The Telegraph

The Scotsman

Captain Jack Asbury (CR 1976-84), CBE, RN died in September 2013. Captain Asbury was Secretary of the International Military Staff at NATO, Bursar of Marlborough College (1976-84) and a Governor of Wellington College (1984-91).

Malcolm Charles Harper CMG (B2 1953-57), died suddenly on 9th May 2013. Beloved husband of Ann, devoted father of Clare, Kate and Charles, adoring grandfather of Samson, and a much loved brother of Michael, Ewan and Diana. Malcolm was a renowned Director of Oxfam before moving on to be Director of the United Nations Association of Great Britain…more. For The Times obituary Just Click.

Nick Maurice (C3 1956-61) has also written a personal tribute. Just Click...

Donald Gorrie (CR 1960-66), who has died aged 79, was a leading light on the radical Left of the Scottish Liberal Party, a prominent Edinburgh councillor for 26 years and ultimately Liberal Democrat MP for Edinburgh West and a member of the revived Scottish Parliament.

Maurice Balme, who died in December 2012, played a major role in ensuring the survival of Classics as a significant subject in school and university curricula. Oxford and Cambridge dropped Latin as a compulsary entry qualification in 1960. Balme, a master at Harrow for 33 years, with his colleague Mark Warman immediately published Aestimanda (Up for discussion), which took Greek and Latin extracts and presented them as subjects for literary debate, directly increasing the appreciation of classical literature within everyday classroom teaching. Balme was also instrumental in changing Classical teaching methods: in the 1960s he was a major contributor to the Cambridge Latin Course, while he also created the beginners’ Greek course, Athenaze (To Athens) - a grammatically based reading course published by OUP with a diverting narrative set in the fifth century BC. Athenaze is now the world’s best selling Greek course. A subsequent collaboration with James Morwood resulted in The Oxford Latin Course. See Telegraph obituary

Imogen Craddock (PR 1971-73) was born in Tabora, Tanzania (then Tanganyika), in 1955 where her father was a surgeon working for the British Government. After school she went to University in Scotland, later studying Fine Arts at the Courtauld Institute in London. After working in Europe for a period of time, she joined her brother’s oilfield recruitment company as its representative in Cairo.

Building on this experience, she was instrumental in setting up the successful Tabora Consultants as Managing Director. The company was based in Aberdeen, sourcing and placing high quality personnel for the oil & gas industry which took her all over the world.  She died in Aberdeen on 17 June as the result of an accident.

Tony Dale died in Salisbury suddenly on 12 November, aged 91. He and his wife, Stella (née Portas), who pre-deceased him (7 September 2005), moved to Salisbury from Doncaster in 1981, the year of his retirement.  Born in what is now the Old Rectory at West Dean (13 January 1921), Tony was the son of Canon Percy John Dale (Archdeacon of Salisbury Cathedral) and his mother, Dorothy (née Churchill). He was always proud to claim that he was a Wiltshireman, though the borders of both Hampshire and Wiltshire passed through the bedroom in which he was born!

Full obituary

John Greig, who died in January 2013, joined the family firm of WT Greig Ltd in 1950. A visionary, he worked his way up the company, becoming Chairman in 1973. A year later he led the merger with Fester, Fothergill & Hartung that created Greig Fester. Its Chairman for over twenty years, Greig presided over a rapidly expanding global business that became one of the leading independent international reinsurance broking houses. Joining the Council of Lloyd’s in 1986, in 1991 he became one of its two Deputy Chairmen. A fraught period in Lloyd’s history, Greig was deeply affected by the misery suffered by many Names. A founder member of the Worshipful Company of Insurers, Greig was its Master in 1992 and Chairman of the City of London Club 1988 to 1991.

On retirement in 1995 he became Greig Feister’s first President and, following its merger with the Benfield Group, Benfield Greig’s first Honorary President. Greig was a pioneer promoter of modern management practices, recognising the increasing need for corporate governance and the benefit of encouraging wider ownership of a company’s equity amongst its staff.
Obituary 1   Obituary 2

Mark Tancock (C2 1950-54) will best be remembered by contemporaries for his proficiency in the square ring and as an opponent to be avoided in the annual inter-house boxing competition. Conscription was with the Royal Navy, where he was posted to the public school slot of captain of the heads. This, if nothing else, substantiated the claim that nepotism was non-existent in the Senior Service, as his father was at that time Commandant RN section of the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Force.
Read the full obituary from Jeremy McCay (B2 1952-56)

Ernle Money (B2 1942-49), barrister and MP, with a lifelong passion for fine art died aged 82 on …/ He was a key figure in the campaign to save Titian’s Death of Actaeon for the nation. The painting now hangs in the National Gallery.

Obituaries appear in The Telegraph, The Guardian and The Times.

John Lloyd (C3 1937-42) died on 28th February 2013 aged 89. Having served as a Captain during World War II, during which time he was awarded the Military Cross. Lloyd read History at Trinity College, Cambridge and went on to have a successful career in business.

See his obituary in The Telegraph.

Martin Hartley Guy Rogers (B1 1939-43) died on 28 December 2012, aged 87.

Martin Rogers was born on 11 June 1925 in Birmingham. Son of the Rector of Birmingham, educated at The Downs School and Marlborough College, he served in the Lincolnshire Regiment and was Education Officer in Palestine before going up to Jesus College, Cambridge in 1947. He read Law, graduating BA 1949. On leaving university he joined the Commonwealth Relations Office (later to become the Foreign and Commonwealth Office ) and served in Karachi, Lagos, Ottawa, Jamaica and Bombay (now Mumbai). He then returned to Nigeria, this time as Deputy High Commissioner in Kaduna. His last overseas posting was to The Gambia as High Commissioner. On his return to the UK he joined the Civil Service Selection Board based in London. In retirement he enjoyed golf, cricket, bridge, crosswords, sport and current affairs. But in his last years he derived his greatest pleasure from seeing his beloved family, listening to music and living by the sea in the Channel Isles.

He married Jean Beresford Chinn in 1959 and they had one son and three daughters.

The Marlburian Club staff were particularly saddened to hear of Martin's death as he regularly sent in an entry for the Club Magazine crossword competition and 2012 was no exception.

Henry Ferrar (formerly Ferraboschi) (PR 1929-34) died on 19th February 2013, aged 97. He graduated in Modern Languages from Cambridge, served in Burma during World War II, was Second Master at King's School, Worcester and Head of Modern Languages at Radley College. He was the author of A French Reference Grammar (which is still in print) and a revised editon of the Concise Oxford French-English Dictionary.

Robert Stinson (B3 1944-49) died in early April 2013. Not only an accomplished athlete in his own right, Robert spent 50 years in various roles supporting athletics, most notably the British Amateur Athletic Board (BAAB) and the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). He was a recipient of the prestigious Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the UK, the IAAF awarded him with the Veteran Pin in 1989, with the IAAF Silver Order of Merit in 2001, and he was appointed as an IAAF Honorary Life Vice President in 2003.

Tributes to Robert can be found on the British Athletics and European Athletics websites.

Douglas Neil Cross (LI 1945-49) died on the 18^th September 2012. Neil attended Marlborough College where he developed his interest in railways from an early age. While the other boys played sport on the rugby field, Neil would escape to his own world and visit the local signal box. The signalman kindly showed him around, with Neil showing a great interest and taking it all in. Neil was an electrical engineer working for at Alstom previously B.T.H, AEI and G.E.C. Neil loved history and liked politics, geography, maps, reading, music and travel. Neil personified the Marlburian spirit with his simple charm of manner, fair-minded, intelligence and sense of humour. He is greatly missed by all who knew him ...more

Denys Hodson (B2 1941-46) CBE died on 13 January. He was a leading arts and leisure administrator who was head of arts and recreation for Swindon (later Thamesdown) Borough Council for 22 years. During that time, Denys was also chairman of Southern Arts and governor and deputy chairman of the British Film Institute, as well as vice-chairman of the Arts Council of Great Britain. In 1948, Hodson went to Trinity College, Oxford, to read history. Having had a successful career in advertising, he moved in to the public sector as the first controller of arts in 1970, becoming director in 1974. He was appointed CBE in 1981 for services to the arts. His wife, Julie Goodwin, whom he married in 1954, died in 2009, and he is survived by a daughter and a son.

Old school friend, Richard Russell (B1 1941-48) recalled Denys Hodson, as a pupil, taking part in the mock election of 1945 as the Labour Party Candidate. Richard explains, “The Chairman of the local constituency party, appropriately, was Lionel 'Whiggy' Gough, the splendid, eccentric and leftish Head of English [at Marlborough College]. He wrote to Clement Attlee before the election to say the Marlborough College Labour Party would be fighting his cause. Attlee sent a card, in his own hand, wishing the Labour candidate well 'in an obvious Conservative stronghold.' I wonder whether later potential Prime Ministers would have taken the time and trouble  to write personally to schoolboys.”

Richard was involved in the College Press (the printing press they used is situated in the new Art Deparement building and still used for art prints). The boys who worked in the College Press provided the election publicity. He added that "While the Conservative candidate won, Labour's Denys Hodson did do much better than expected in that 'Conservative stronghold'; and while the nation returned a Labour government.”

Alegría Gunner, wife of Laurence Gunner, Chaplain at Marlborough College (CR 1986-96),   passed away on 21st December.  She is survived by Laurence; Rafaela, Marisa and Xavier, her children; and Sebastian, Francesca, Marcos and Emilia, her grandchildren...more

A Requiem will be offered for Alegría in St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle at 8.00 am on Thursday 24th January and a Memorial Evensong in thanksgiving for her life will be sung at  5.15 pm that same day. Click on Memorial Services.

Donald Jackson died peacefully on January 2nd 2013. Born in May 1918, Donald would have been 95 next birthday and he was in good health until his sudden death. He was part of a Marlburian Family. His brother, Guy (PR 1934-1939), nephew Peter (C3 1969-73), niece Alexandra (CO 1974-76) and nephew Patrick (C3 1980-85) attended Marlborough, as did his great nephews and nieces: Matilda Kay (EL 2002-07), Arthur Kay (PR 2004-09), Benedict Kay, (PR 2006-11), Daisy Kay (EL 2009-) and Ami Jackson (MM 2012-).  He was Captain of Tennis whilst at Marlborough and gained a Cambridge Hockey Blue in 1939, scoring the winning goal against Oxford in the Varsity Match. He travelled widely during his career in the Foreign Office with postings in Brazil, Lebanon and Bulgaria, amongst others, but transferred back to the Home Civil Service where he worked during the 1960s and 70s. He is survived by his wife Rosemary, his daughter, Carolyn, and granddaughters Emily and Florence MacKenzie.

The Rev John Burdett (C2 1938-43) died on Monday 10 December aged 86. His friend Christopher Hall (C3 1954-59) described John as a ‘much liked, wise and kindly man’. Towards the end of a Civil Engineering career John trained for the Non Stipendiary Ministry, and became a priest in 1980. He served at St John’s Episcopal Church, Edinburgh from 1979-87 and again from 1990-95. Between 1987 and 1990 he served as Assistant Chaplain at St Paul’s Nicosia and as Diocesan Secretary of the Middle East Anglican Diocese. After ‘retiring’ he continued to assist at St John’s until quite recently, and he also found time to write a very thoughtful book called ‘A Full Life’ in which he explored various aspects of Faith for believers and non believers. He also assisted in fund-raising for the 1999-2000 Restoration Appeal for the Cathedral of The Isles at Millport, Isle of Cumbrae (the smallest cathedral in the British Isles). John’s wife Margaret died in 2010 and he is survived by their son and daughter.

Justin de Blank (PR 1940-44) restaurateur and food merchant whose commitment to quality helped to launch a gastronomic revolution, died on 17th December 2012. For a generation of Londoners the name of Justin de Blank was synonymous with fine food. De Blank was a pioneer on a par with Elizabeth David, Jane Grigson and Terence Conran; one of the people who revived British taste buds after their long postwar hibernation. See also The Times and The Telegraph.

Christopher Martin-Jenkins (B3 1958-63), broadcaster and former cricket correspondent of The Times and Daily Telegraph, died on 1^st January 2013 of cancer at the age of 67. He was well known as a member of The Test Match Special team on Radio 4 and would have been current President of The Marlburian Club had it not been for his serious illness.

There were fitting tributes paid to CMJ, as he was affectionately known, on Radio 4 and in The Times on 2^nd January, and The Daily Telegraph. He was a fine man in every way and, in the words of the Leading Article in The TIMES was" THE VOICE OF SUMMER ".See also The Independent and The Guardian

Alec Bond (B3 1954-57), died on 18th November 2012, aged 72. Brother of Robin Wise and Colin, husband of the late Emmy, father of the late Will and grandfather to Jemima and Bertie. A Memorial Service is to be held at 12.00 on 9th January at St Lawrence Church, Marston St Lawrence. No flowers please. Donations , if desired to Injured Jockeys Fund and Thenford Church to J & M Humphris, 32 Albert Street, Banbury, Oxfordshire OX16 5DG.

Sophie Hamilton (PR 1971-72) aged 57, died on Friday 19th October 2012, peacefully at home in London, after a short and dreadful illness borne with her customary patience and fortitude. Beloved daughter of Geraldine, sister of Kate McFarlan and Lucy Webster, widow of the late Peter Goldie, step-mother to Alexander and William Goldie, and loving aunt to Charlotte, Donald, Alice and Emily. Her funeral took place on Tuesday 30th October at St John's Church, Lansdowne Crescent, Notting Hill. The President, Steven Bishop, represented The Marlburian Club. More..

P W B (Peter) Barrows (C3 1945-49) died on 26th October 2012. He attended Club Day 6th October, where he met up with old friends from his house and years including Tim Halton and Gale Coles and was also able to see his grandchildren, Catherine (NC) and James (B1) Barrows, who are attending Marlborough.

Michael Barnes-Gorell (LI 1939-43) died on 22^nd August. He is missed by family and friends. He left Littlefield early to joined the Army, where he excelled himself.  His final school report was very similar in content to his Army report and his ability to organise and his interpersonal skills were noted in both. He farmed for about 10 years near Marlborough, and then near Andover. In his retirement, he volunteered at the local hospice, among other things.

Dr JWB Forshaw (LI 1936-40) died on 20 April 2011 at the age of 88. He retired as a consultant physician from the Royal Liverpool Hospital in 1988 and enjoyed an active retirement fell walking in the Lake District well into his eighties and was still playing squash until a year before he died. Dr Forshaw is survived by his wife, Muriel, who is now in a nursing home in Norwich and by his two sons, Paul and David.

Michael Birley, Mike, MPB, was for most of his long life the right man in the right place. Born into a century of change he was the ideal man - as a young teacher, headmaster and housemaster - to embrace the demands of new generations on old institutions with alacrity and glee. Full Obituary

Joe Bain, who taught at English and Drama at Stowe from 1954 to 1973 and Winchester from 1974 to 1988, died in 2011.  A sculptor, painter, drama-director, musician, linguist and writer of verses, he is the subject of both a website and book, The Book of Bain: Verses, Orations and Essays, edited by Justin Wintle and published by Plumbago Books and Arts, London.  For further information please visit www.joebain.org.uk

Bill Freeman died in June 2012 after a short illness. A loyal OM and regular attendee at Club events, he was for several years the senior OM at the Annual Dinner. After Marlborough, Freeman went up to Oriel, Oxford to read law, though his degree was interrupted by war service as an anti-aircraft gunner. After graduating he became a solicitor in Winchester, working his way up to the position of District Judge in Shrewsbury, prior to his retirement back to Marlborough.

Professor Fritz Ursell FRS, who died in May 2012 aged 89, came to England as a refugee from Nazi Germany and was educated at Clifton and, when war required him to be moved at least 50 miles from the coast, Marlborough for two terms. At Cambridge he became an expert on fluid mechanics and, in particular, the behaviour of waves. Assigned to the group of scientists given the task of forecasting waves for the landings in Japan during the Second World War, Ursell’s understanding of the complex mathematics involved in the ‘Cauchy-Poisson problem’ subsequently become the basis of modern wave-forecasting, and shaped his subsequent career as a mathematical researcher in the linear theory of water waves. In fluid dynamics, he also gave his name to the Ursell number, and made major contributions in the field of asymptotic theory…For full obituary please visit The Telegraph obituary pages ... more

Lord Maples, who died in June 2012, was Economic Secretary to the Treasury from 1990 to 1992, and later joint deputy chairman of the Conservative Party under John Major and deputy chairman under David Cameron. Serving as MP for the south London seat of Lewisham West from 1983 to 1992, and then for Stratford-upon-Avon from 1997 to 2010, Maples was a mainstream “One Nation” Tory, a party loyalist and a well-respected and popular figure in the House. He made himself rather less popular among constituency associations, however, in his role as right-hand man to David Cameron during his drive to “modernise” the party and rid it of its public-school-educated middle-aged white male image. Read full Telegraph obituary

Bill Spray died on 24th July 2012. Bill was a Member of Common Room from 1946 to 1970 and House Master of C1 (1959-63) and Littlefield (1963-70) and was also a former Principal of The Methodist College, Uzuakoli, East Nigeria from 1954 to 58. He was later appointed Head Master of Leighton Park School, Reading (1971-81). His three children Paul, Christopher and Rachel all attended the College. Bill was a Founder Member of the Marlborough Brandt Group and later became its Chairman.

The funeral service will be on Thursday 9th August at 11.00 am in the Wesley Memorial Church, New Hall Street, Oxford. Those attending are recommended to use the Park & Ride service if coming by car. It is likely that there will be a Memorial Service at Leighton Park School, where Bill went on to be Headmaster until 1981. This would be at a considerably later date but if you are interested in attending please contact the Club Office marlburianclub@marlboroughcollege.org

John Tyzack (LI 1945-49) died aged 80 on 24 April 2012. He was an excellent sportsman and while at Marlborough played for the Rugby XV, the Hockey XI and the Cricket XI. Later he fought in Malaya and was mentioned in despatches. His father, W A Tyzak (PR 1908-11) and his son  A J Tyzak (LI 1973-78) also attended Marlborough. He is survived by his wife Jacqueline and son James.

Peter Naylor (C2 1948-53) died peacefully in his sleep on 1 May 2012 after a long battle with cancer. A fine cricketer, hockey player and golfer, Peter played for the XI in 1952-53, subsequently playing Minor County cricket for Wiltshire and Surrey 2nd XI. He was an active member of the Blues, playing in the Cricketer Cup until 1978, the Halford Hewitt in 1970 and the Bernard Darwins from 1991 to 2009. He will be sadly missed.

30 Dec 1930 - 13 Dec 2011. John died at home in Victoria, BC after a courageous battle with cancer. He is survived by his wife, Sue, of 54 years, daughters Penny (Ian), Kit (Jeremy) and Merion (David), and grandchildren Eric and Julia.  Born in England and educated at Marlborough College, he served with Royal Signals in Germany, Korea, Hong Kong, Borneo, and Britain ...more

It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Robert Avery on Tuesday 17th April after a long illness which he bore with great fortitude. Educated at Magdalen College School, Oxford, Trinity College, Dublin and Oriel College, Oxford. Robert taught first at Magdalen College School from 1958-65 where he was Senior English Master. Between 1965-68 he was a Lecturer at Westminster College, Oxford after which he joined Marlborough. Robert was amost talented Director of Drama from 1970 to 1990, having acted as Head of English from 1968-1969. He was also House Master of Elmhurst (then a Junior House) from 1981-88. Read John Byrom's Tribute and Andrew Reid's Tribute. Full Obituary

Diana Cook, wife of Raymond Cook (CR 1935-67) died in March 2012. For those OMs who knew her, Robert Smith has added the brief address which he gave at her funeral...more

After Marlborough and National Service, William Le Blanc-Smith (SU 1952-55), MBE, CBE joined the 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards in 1959. As a young Major, he designed and supervised advanced armoured training in Alberta, Canada. Returning to the post of Brigade Major of 7th Armoured Brigade, he went on to command the 4th/7th RDG. William caught the eye of Field Marshall Nigel Bagnall, one of the greatest military thinkers of his generation. William became part of his doctrinal team that developed the NATO cold war strategy and battlefield tactics and was at the heart of planning and execution of Army operations in the first Gulf War. As Brigadier, he commanded a TA Brigade in Wales. Lastly, he was appointed to run, design and implement the examination of candidates for the Army Staff College under the Chief of General Staff. Click on obituary of William Le Blanc-Smith.

Born on 3 March 1916, Sir David Bate (PR 1929-34), CBE, KBE, Chief Judge, Benue and Plateau States, Nigeria, 1975-77, died on June 4, 2011, aged 95. After MC and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was a scholar, Sir David was called to the Bar before the  war. He was commissioned in the Royal Horse Artillery, and left the Army in 1946 with the rank of battery commander. He then joined the Colonial Legal Service and was posted to Lagos, Nigeria where he became a Crown Counsel, rising to Senior Crown Counsel, Solicitor General, High Court Judge and, finally, senior Puisne Judge of Northern Nigerla and Chief Justice of Benue-Plateau State. After he retired in 1977, 17 years after independence, Sir David settled in Vancouver Island for over twenty years and then moved to Kwa Zulua Natal where he continued to ride, shoot and fish until he was well past 90. He was made a CBE in 1968 and KVE in 1978.

(James) Michael Pocock (C1 1942-46), younger brother of the late Anthony Pocock OBE (C1 1936-41), died in hospital on September 16 2010. Full obituary

“A teacher of outstanding ability, with all the gifts of intellect, personality and character” John Dancy (Master 1961-72)

Head of House and Secretary of Rugger at King’s School, Wimbledon, an Open Exhibitioner at Magdalen, Oxford and with a DPhil arising from research into Paramagnetism, Frank came to Marlborough in 1957 to continue his research and - almost immediately - head the Physics Department. He married Helen a year later and was soon an innovative Head of Science, overseeing a flourishing and talented department. Full Obituary

John Chesshire (C1 1928-33) former captain in the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC), who served as Medical Officer to 1st Battalion, The South Staffordshire Regiment (1 SSR), died on 27 November 20122. The citation for his MC estimated that 500 men had passed through his hands during the campaign. He married Marion Walker in 1949. She predeceased him and he is survived by their three sons and a daughter. Telegraph Obituary

Following Marlborough College, John Oliver Bowman Grace read law at Southampton University, graduating in 1970. For the first two years after leaving university, he went into industry as a management trainee. In 1973, John transferred to the bar. In 1974, he began a pupillage in Carpmael Building under the mentorship of Neil Butter. At the time, this was a fledgling common law set under the headship of John Rankin QC. It meant that the type of work undertaken in chambers was extremely varied... More

William Sommerville sadly died suddenly last Boxing Day 2010. He had a distinguised career as a Consultng Engineer, and in later years, he and his wife Mary had run a Retreat House together and he was a lay reader. He had helped to build the bridge near the water meadows. A retired clergyman in his village wrote these words, "His life was gentle; and the elemetns so mixed in him that Nature might stand up and say to all the world, 'This was a Man!'

David Clemmow (B3 1934-39) died on 17th November 2011, just two days before his 90th birthday. An obituary will be posted shortly. Read the full obituary of David Clemmow.

31 October 2010
Derek Huffam (SU 1935-39) passed away on 31 October 2010, aged 89. He left Marlborough as the 2nd World War started. He joined 1st Kings Dragoon Guards seeing action in the Western Desert, Italy, Greece and Syria and left the forces as a Major. Later, he joined Metal Box as a trainee and worked his way up to Vice-Chairman, retiring in 1979. Once retired he was delighted to be made Honorary Secretary of The Yarmouth, Isle of Wight RNLI  lifeboat which was another of his passions as a keen Sailor. He was also a Member of the Royal Yacht Squadron. Derek’s wife, Sheila, died two weeks later after 63 years of marriage.

19 September 2010
Richard Buchanan-Dunlop (C3 1932-38)) died peacefully in his sleep at his villa in Skiathos on 19 September 2010. He leaves three daughters and 11 grandchildren, three of whom also attended Marlborough College. 

For anyone who may be interested, there will be an exhibition of his oil paintings and poetry at 3 Bedfordbury, London WC2N from 19 October 2011 until 22 October 2011.

13 March 2011
Ian Barton (C1 1939-44) was born in 1926 and died on 13 March 2011.  Full Obituary