Old
Farnhamians' Association
Obituaries & Tributes
Charles W Rees CBE, FRS
One of our most eminent old
boys died on 21 September 2006.
Charles W Rees (1939 –
1944) was born in Egypt
in 1927 and educated at FGS. After three years as a laboratory technician at
the RAE in Farnborough, he went to University College of Southampton (later the
University of Southampton) where he graduated in 1950.
He took his PhD there with Professor N B Chapman and then spent two years as a
postdoctoral fellow with Professor A Albert at the Australian National
University – then in the Euston Road, London.
He was then appointed Assistant Lecturer at Birkbeck
College, London
in 1955 (moving in at the bottom as Professor Derek Barton moved out at the top
to take up the Regius Chair in Glasgow).
After two years at Birkbeck, Charles moved to King’s College London where he
spent eight years as Lecturer and Reader. He collaborated for several years
with Professor D H Hey on various aspects of heterocyclic chemistry. He was
appointed to his first Chair at the University of Leicester in 1965, and four
years later moved to Liverpool as Professor of Organic Chemistry, and in 1977
he succeeded George Kenner there as Heath Harrison Professor of Organic
Chemistry. In 1978 he was appointed Hofmann Professor of Organic Chemistry at
Imperial College London (thus following Sir Derek Barton for a second time) and
remained there until his retirement in 1993. He still works at Imperial College as Emeritus Professor.
Charles was the Royal
Society of Chemistry’s Tilden Lecturer in 1974 and Pedler Lecturer in 1984 and
received the (first) RSC Award in Heterocyclic Chemistry in 1980 and the
International Award in Heterocyclic Chemistry in 1995. He was elected a Fellow
of the Royal Society in 1974. He was awarded an Honorary DSc by the University of Leicester in 1994, a CBE in the New Years Honours
List in 1995, the Fellowship of King’s College London in 1999, and an Honorary
DSc by the University
of Sunderland in 2000.
Charles served the chemical
community in many ways: he was the President of the Royal Society of Chemistry
from July 1992 for two years. He served on its Council and many Boards and
Committees at various times; he was Chairman of the Publication and Information
Board for four years. He was President of the Perkin (Organic) Division of the
RSC, and President of the Chemistry Section of the British Association for the
Advancement of Science. In addition, he co-edited three major reference works: Comprehensive
Heterocyclic Chemistry I & II, and Comprehensive Organic Functional Group
Transformations.
(adapted
with permission from a tribute to Prof Rees published in Arkivoc.)
Tributes
Royal
Society of Chemistry
Imperial
College London
Daily
Telegraph
The Times
________________________
Gordon
Webberley
Gordon Webberley died on the 27th May 2006 after a year-long illness. He
started at FGS in September 1941, as a member of Morley House of which he
eventually became House Captain. Gordon took his General School Certificate in
1946 (with distinctions in English and Mathematics) and his Higher School
Certificate in 1948 (Physics, Chemistry, Applied & Pure Mathematics) which
was the same year he became School Captain. During his time at school he
participated in swimming, athletics, boxing and rifle shooting and was the
first holder of the Waverley Cup for .303 rifle shooting. A member of the
school choir and orchestra, he also became Vice-Chairman of the Debating
Society and the Vice-Editor of the school magazine. He won various reading
prizes and the George Sturt Prize.
He was a keen member of the Combined Cadet Force and
became a Lance Corporal, then Sergeant and finally CSM. He fully entered into
practically all aspects of life at Farnham
Grammar School.
He was an active member of the 3rd Farnham Scouts,
going on camps most years, including the Jamboree in Sweden in 1947. With other FGS boys
he took part in many Gang Shows.
Gordon joined the Royal Artillery for his National
Service where he was selected for Mons OCTU and passed out as a Second
Lieutenant. He saw service in Germany
as well as the UK.
With a family background of military service it was hardly surprising that he
had an interest in military history, particularly WW1 & WW2.
On completion of 2 years National Service he took and
passed the H.M. Customs and Excise Officer Grade exam in May 1951. His work
took him to various parts of the UK,
including Birmingham, London,
Southampton and Glasgow,
attaining the position of Principal. His final position was Controller of
Office Services at New Kings Beam and Dorset Houses retiring in 1990.
Throughout his working life,
Gordon was an enthusiastic and talented potter having started at Farnham School
of Art in 1961. He exhibited regularly at Farnham Art Society and was a
committee member until 1984, in the last 7 years serving as Vice-Chairman. At
this time his work took him Scotland.
On returning to England
in 1987 he settled in Bromley but still managed to get to Farnham most Friday
evenings for pottery at WSCAD and more recently at West Street Potters in
Wrecclesham, while he still continued to exhibit with FAS. In addition to
ceramics, he also exhibited paintings and etchings until 2005. Other interests
included a great love of Bonsai trees, which he had been growing for over 35
years, an enjoyment of good food and wine, plus Egyptology, taking a Diploma in
Egyptology at London
University.
Brian Webberley
25 July, 2006
________________________
Squadron
Leader Alan Fordham
Alan
Fordham died on 12th October, 2005 aged 80 years. He came to FGS in
1962, initially to teach French and command the CCF with the rank of Major. Later,
he was appointed Dean of the Sixth Form. When FGS gave way to Farnham College
in 1973, Alan stayed until he retired in 1984. Here is a report of his career
compiled by Cyril Trust:
Alan was born on 24th March 1925. He joined the RAF from the Oxford
University Air Squadron in 1943. He trained in Canada,
flew in Australia and the
Pacific, and was a member of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force in Japan. After
the war he returned to Christ Church, Oxford
to complete his MA Degree in Medieval and Modern Languages, and he was granted
a permanent commission in the RAF in 1951. Following a variety of flying,
command, and staff appointments, he retired from the RAF with the rank of
Squadron Leader and joined the Farnham
Grammar School.
Here
he taught Modern Languages, commanded the Combined Cadet Force, and in 1968
became Dean of the Sixth Form. He became the first of the senior tutors
appointed to this position when Farnham
College was established
in 1973. Despite increasing administrative duties, he continued to teach
Spanish, English, Mathematics, Astronomy, and Meteorology. He was also a member
of the Associating Examining Standing Advisory Committee on Navigation
subjects.
Posted, 02 November, 2005
There are also reminiscences of Alan Fordham published
on the Members’ News page of the
Web-Members' Section.
GEORGE BAXTER MBE
Click here
to go to the special page celebrating the life of George Baxter.
SQUADRON LEADER SIDNEY
WILTSHIRE, GC
Sidney Wiltshire (1921 to 1926) was one of the
school’s most distinguished old boys, though there can be few of his
contemporaries still alive to recall him. The
Daily Telegraph has given permission for our website to reproduce the
following obituary that was printed on 30th September, 2003:
Squadron Leader Sidney
Wiltshire, who died yesterday aged 93, won the Empire Gallantry Medal, later
exchanged for the George Cross, for rescuing his flying instructor from a
burning plane.
On October 21 1929 Pilot Officer Wiltshire was flying
an aircraft under instruction with the No 2 Flying Training School in Lincolnshire. The plane
crashed on landing at Temple
Bruer landing ground,
near Sleaford, and immediately caught fire.
After extricating himself from the machine, Wiltshire
found that his instructor, Flying Officer H E Power, was trapped by his foot in
the wreckage.
Although under no illusions about the risk he ran,
Wiltshire went back into the flames to drag his companion clear, but was badly
burnt on his face and neck.
Both officers were flown to Cranwell Hospital;
the aeroplane was completely burnt out.
The citation declared: “Power would undoubtedly have
lost his life but for the prompt and courageous action taken by his pupil.”
Wiltshire was invested with the Empire Gallantry Medal by King George V at Buckingham Palace on March 4 1930.
Fourteen years later, he was re-invested with the
George Cross by the Governor-General of New Zealand, Marshal of the Royal Air
Force Sir Cyril Newall, at Government House, Wellington.
One of eight children born to the founder of a company
which supplied bicycles, and later repaired motors, at Farnham, Surrey, Sidney Noel Wiltshire was born on December 12
1909. He was educated at Farnham
Grammar School, where he
boxed and played cricket.
Then, at the age of 20, he followed the example of his
two elder brothers and joined the Royal Air Force on a short service
commission. Four months later Pilot Officer Wiltshire won the Empire Gallantry
Medal. In December 1930 Wiltshire was promoted Flying Officer and served with
No 4, Army Co-Operation Squadron at Farnborough. On completion of his service,
he transferred to the RAF Reserve of Officers.
It was difficult to obtain employment in England as a
commercial pilot, so Wiltshire followed his brother Bill to the South Pacific
to work for a short period for a gold-prospecting company on the construction
of a jungle airfield in Papua. When this project was abandoned, he joined North
Queensland Airways as a pilot before moving to Guinea Airways, which used New Guinea
landing strips cleared by the natives.
In September 1938, Wiltshire went to New Zealand where he joined Union Airways (later
New Zealand National Airways Corporation and now Air New Zealand).
He was working for Cook Strait Airways, based at Nelson, when war was declared,
and like other pilots in the reserves, found himself posted to the regular
list.
He was appointed to a temporary commission in the
Royal New Zealand Air Force with the rank of Flight Lieutenant, and posted to
the Air Observers’ School at Ohakeal; his brother Bill joined the RAAF while
brother Norman, who remained at home, was in the RAF.
In January 1941, Wiltshire was posted to No 2
Squadron, based at Nelson. He then moved to Wigram as Officer Commanding
Signals Flight and the following year he was promoted to Squadron Leader.
He attended a course of the Royal
Australian School
of Army Co-operation in Canberra,
returning to take up an appointment as Commanding Officer of the Royal New
Zealand Air Force station at Milson, near Palmerston North. In May 1943,
Wiltshire attended a 16-week course at the Army
Staff College,
Palmerston North, before being appointed Commanding Officer of Seagrove Station
on the Manukau Harbour, where No 25 Squadron was being
formed.
In September, he moved to Delta Station, near
Blenheim, as Officer
Commanding Elementary
Ground Training
School. In January 1944, he was posted to Wellington, where he was
stationed at Rongotai.
Wiltshire was now aged 34, and had logged some 5,300
flying hours. Realising that there was little prospect of employment matching
his experience, he approached the RAF, and was offered duties with Transport
Command, provided that he reverted to his reserve rank of Flying Officer and
left New Zealand.
He served with the RAF until December 1945, when he
returned to New Zealand
and rejoined Union Airways. In 1952, on finishing flying duties, he became the
passenger services manager for National Airways Corporation for about 18
months. Wiltshire first worked in the antiques business, then was employed by
Hutchinson Motors in Christchurch for some years
before retiring in December 1978 to Waikanae, outside Wellington, where he built a house called
Touchdown.
In 1960 and 1972, he attended the reunions of the
Victoria and George Cross association, on the first occasion as the sole living
holder of the GC in New
Zealand.
A tall, good-looking man with a quiet sense of humour,
he spent the last years of his life in Hunterville, on the North
Island, where he enjoyed playing golf and was looked after by his
wife’s niece.
Wiltshire married, in 1940, Mrs Gretchen Guy (nee von
Dadelszen), who predeceased him.
Posted 12 October, 2003
DR J. DUDLEY BACKHURST
8 February, 2003
Dudley Backhurst (1943 – 1951), who died 27th January 2003, was born on
2nd December, 1932, in West Street
in Farnham. He moved from there to Keep
Cottage at Farnham
Castle, then in 1937 to
10, Guildford Road. In 1939, he started at East
Street School,
then in 1943 gained a scholarship to Farnham
Grammar School. He was successful academically, on the
sports field and in the swimming pool. In his final year, he was School
Captain. He gained a Surrey Major Scholarship and took a BSc in Special
Chemistry at University College, London. He gained a PhD in Physical Organic Chemistry
then spent two years at Kings College, Newcastle,
doing radiation chemistry as a research associate from Harwell. In 1959 he went to Southampton
to work in the new laboratories of BAT where he stayed till 1983, when he
became a secretary to the Tobacco Advisory Council. He remained there till he retired in 1989.
While at BAT he was active with the sports and social club and became vice-chairman. He was founder member of the badminton and
squash sections. He also played tennis up until October last year.
In
1958 he married Sylvia. This was a very
happy marriage of 44 years, and they never threw anything at one another! They had two children, - Merilyn and Graham,
who now live in Sydney and Nursling respectively. The arrival of John and Merilyn from Sydney recently with baby grand-daughter Laura, brought
great happiness to Dudley.
Since retirement, Dudley
has spent many happy hours with the Hampshire Woodcarvers. He was president of the Old Farnhamians’
Association for three years and organised the Southampton
lunch for more than 30 years. He was trustee of the Farnhamian 400 Trust for
nearly ten years. For nearly ten years
he was chairman of the BAT Retirement Fellowship which organised the social
side of events for BAT retired employees in Southampton.
Dudley was committed, thorough and meticulous in his approach. He was a man of integrity and a source of
great dependence to his friends and family.
His cheerful character and admirable demeanour made his company a
delight. His opinion was always valued
for its logic and impartiality and would always be formed without a selfish
thought. Dudley
commanded respect for his knowledge, generosity, dedication and precision,
characteristics to which he attached far more importance than materialism or
pretence.
Towards the end of his life, Dudley
was comfortable and content - he died with Sylvia at his side - Sylvia, who cared for him
with such devotion during his illness. Dudley
will be sadly missed by friends and family - he was a much-loved father,
husband and grandfather.
Tribute delivered by Rev Sally Kerson at
Dudley’s funeral on 6th February, 2003 in Southampton.
DR ROGER DOWNHAM BSc PhD MICE
20 December, 2001
Roger Downham (1955 - 1962) died earlier this year from complications
that developed following a road accident.
Roger was born and raised in Farnham and lived
his childhood in Roman Way.
He had his primary education at East
Street School
and went to FGS in 1955. Roger was a relaxed, jovial and extremely bright pupil
with a keen sense of humour and good all-round ability. He played in goal for
the school football team, kept wicket in the cricket and won the swimming cup
three times.
His career was marked by professional success.
He left school to study Civil Engineering at Leeds University
and gained his BSc in 1966. At the end of the course, his professor, who was to
move to Aston University, invited Roger to continue
his studies at Aston. It was here that he obtained his PhD.
After his studies, Roger joined IDC
Construction, rising to be Managing Director and a director of the main board.
He had responsibility for many major projects, including the construction in
1980 of the prestigious Cambridge University Press ‘Edinburgh Building’.
He met the Duke of Edinburgh during the opening of these premises.
After a spell of three years working for IDC in Belgium and two
years with Sainsburys as Construction Manager, Roger worked for the Midland
Bank in a similar role. During this period he was the Treasurer of the British
Council of Offices and an external examiner for Coventry
and Oxford Brookes Universities.
He retired in 1998, continuing to live at his home in Stratford-upon-Avon,
and fulfilled a life-long ambition of buying a large motorcycle. Tragically,
this was the indirect cause of his premature death on 8th September.
Roger leaves his partner, Sue Main, and 14 year-old
son Alexander.
GEOFF CRAWTE
7th September, 2001
Geoff Crawte died on 6th February 2001
after a short illness, aged 56. Geoff was born in Farnham and lived his
childhood at the family home in Alfred Road, very close to the school. He went
to West Street
Boys' School for his primary education and then to FGS from 1955 to 1961. Geoff
was in the school choir, sang in the choir of St Thomas on the Bourne and was
an excellent swimmer, winning the Senior Swimming Cup.
From school, he joined the
National Westminster Bank and two years later moved to the Electricity Board,
where he worked for the rest of his career, rising to be a Quality Analyst in
Portsmouth.
When Geoff was taken ill in 1994,
he was told that his condition was serious and required an operation. He
underwent major surgery and a long period of recuperation. Following this
experience, Geoff retired to Honiton in Devon
and resolved he would try to help others facing similar challenges,
particularly young people. He devoted much of his time during the following 6
years to this task and was a great source of strength and reassurance to many
people facing major surgery.
Geoff's work has recently been
recognised by the East Devon Special Needs Action Group, where Geoff worked
with many youngsters. The Geoff Crawte Friendship Award has been established to
recognise the contribution of those who carry out similar work helping others.
Geoff married Carol in 1965 and
they had two sons and a daughter.
JACK GWILLIM
29th August, 2001
JACK GWILLIM,
who has died aged 91, was a character actor who appeared in the West End and on Broadway in a career which spanned half a
century on stage and screen. Tall and slim, and with a powerful voice, Gwillim
excelled at portraying figures of authority. On screen, he played various types
of potentate - majestic, military, civic and clerical - with roles ranging from
Poseidon in Clash of the Titans (1981) to George VI in Sink the Bismarck! (1960). He was
also a respected exponent of the classics on stage, especially during the last
decade of the Old Vic Company. The son of a regimental sergeant-major, Jack
Gwillim was born at Canterbury
on December 15 1909. Educated at Farnham
Grammar School, he joined
the Royal Navy at 17 and was posted to the training ship Iron Duke. As an
all-round track and field athlete, Gwillim played rugby for the Navy and, while
stationed in the Mediterranean, became
undefeated heavyweight boxing champion of both the Army and Navy.
At the outbreak of the Second
World War, Gwillim was a serving officer in Hong Kong and China. In 1946
he was invalided out of the Navy as a commander, having been the youngest of
that rank at the time of his promotion.
After testing for a wireless
announcer's job, a BBC producer who recalled his amateur acting in the Navy
suggested he became a professional actor. Gwillim took his advice and spent two
years at the Central
School of Speech and
Drama. This was followed by three seasons, from 1950, with Anthony Quayle's
Stratford Memorial Theatre Company.
Apart from various minor roles,
Gwillim played Macduff to Ralph Richardson's Macbeth as directed by Gielgud. He
then toured with the company to Australia, before returning to the West End in
Peter Brook's production of Fry's The Dark Is Light Enough (Aldwych, 1954).
In 1955 Gwillim joined the Old
Vic Company when it was led by Paul Rogers, John Neville and Richard Burton.
His roles included Casca in Julius Caesar, Banquo in Macbeth, Kent in King
Lear, the Duke of Exeter in Henry V, Brabantio in Othello, Hector in Troilus
and Cressida, Friar Laurence in Romeo and Juliet, Claudius in Hamlet, and the
Duke of Buckingham in Henry VIII - which completed Michael Benthall's five-year
plan to stage all Shakespeare's plays.
The critic Kenneth Tynan praised
Gwillim's portrayal of Claudius as "an iron-headed general at the awkward
age - slightly ashamed of having fallen in love - an original conception, of
which Coral Browne's maternally voluptuous queen makes splendid sense".
Tynan described both John Neville, who played Hamlet, and Gwillim as being like
Donne's "grim eight-foot-high iron-bound serving man" and
"robber barons of childhood nightmares come dragonishly to life."
Back in the West End, Gwillim
appeared in The Right Honourable Gentleman (Her Majesty's, 1964); Shaw's You
Never Can Tell, with Ralph Richardson as William the Waiter (Haymarket, 1966);
Maugham's The Sacred Flame (Duke of York's); and as Antonio in The Merchant of
Venice (Haymarket, both 1967) with Richardson in the role of Shylock.
Among Gwillim's American stage
appearances were in A Man For All Seasons (1965-66); Maugham's The Constant
Wife (1975); as Col. Pickering in Rex Harrison's revival of My Fair Lady
(1981); O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh and in Rattigan's Cause Celebre. His last
Broadway performance was in 1988, as Duncan
opposite Christopher Plummer and Glenda Jackson in Macbeth.
Among Gwillim's screen credits
were as Brigadier Ames in North West Frontier (1959); King Aeetes in
Jason and the Argonauts (1963); Air Commodore Watling in the television series
A for Andromeda (1961); and General Sir Harold Alexander in Patton (1969).
Gwillim's final stage appearance was in On Borrowed Time in which two of his
children, his son-in-law, two grandchildren and their dog appeared.
Of more than 50 film and
television credits, among Gwillim's most recent were Discoverers (1993); Reason
for Living: The Jill Ireland
Story (1991); The Monster Squad (1987); and Anthony and Cleopatra (1983). He
made guest appearances in Remington Steele (1982), Gabriel's Fire (1990), and
Conan (1998). Gwillim gave his final performance, aged 90, as Jonah in Blue
Shark Hash (2000).
Jack Gwillim married firstly, in
1943, Peggy Bollard. She died in 1958. They had a son and a daughter. He
married secondly, in 1969, Olivia Selby, who survives him. They had a son.
Reprinted, with permission, from the Daily Telegraph,
29th August, 2001
PAUL FRENCH
Saturday, 23
June, 2001
One of the
unsung influential figures in the recent history of Farnham died peacefully on
June 5.
Paul Wilfred French (70) was the
first principal of Farnham
College. He was appointed to Farnham
Grammar School, as its last headmaster
in April 1971, with the task of merging it with Farnham
Girls Grammar
School and creating an Open Access
Sixth Form
College. The first one in Surrey.
The mood in Farnham for the new venture was tinged with scepticism rather than
enthusiasm.
Paul French arrived with an
impressive track record. A Cambridge mathematician with a later acquired Masters
degree in Computing Studies, he had taught previously at Maidstone
Grammar School, Dulwich
College and the Cavendish
School, Hemel
Hempstead. As a Surrey man he was almost coming home.
He was brought up in Haslemere and attended Godalming Grammar School where he met his future
wife, Dorothy. His intense dedication to
the task facing him ensured that the Grammar School pupils did not lose out as
they worked their way through the college, and equally that the girls and staff
of Farnham Girls Grammar School were placated for the move from a modern
building to a much older one and its attendant huts.
Superimposed on the endeavours was the creation of an
open access Sixth Form College
- a totally new concept in much of the
country and certainly in Surrey.
With a great deal of hard work and determination Paul
French oversaw successfully the creation of the new institution. Farnham
College became the Mecca
for visitors from other developing Sixth Form Colleges both in Surrey and elsewhere.
The blueprint was widely copied.
His computing skills ensured that the college enjoyed
a computerised administrative system that was in the forefront of what was
possible in the 1970s.
Above all Paul French was a man of educational
vision. He saw clearly the excitement
of the challenge of the new Sixth Form.
He understood the importance of inner motivation of
the student. Whilst in no way
under-estimating the importance of examination success and paper qualifications
he realised that education was much more than these.
He was concerned about unexaminable factors - maturity
of judgement, sense of humour, self control, a sense of values, purpose and
integrity. With these in mind he felt
the tutor-student relationship to be of great significance.
His door was always open to staff and students. He was at his most relaxed in philosophical
discussion, which he enjoyed greatly.
He was determined not to be solely an administrator
and taught mathematics and general studies throughout his time at the
college. He always encouraged people to
think about what they were doing.
In the 1980 he set up termly meetings with staff and
governors to discuss various aspects of the college's life and philosophy.
By the late 1980s it was clear that under the local
management of schools, the compulsory devolution of most financial management
away from LEA to staff and governing bodies did not appeal to Paul French and
he chose to retire - a little early - at Easter 1990.
He left behind a flourishing college which had laid to
rest the fears of the early 1970s about the benefits of re-organisation.
His successors were able to build on the firm
foundations which they had inherited.
In his retirement Paul French, essentially a private
man, continued to make music, play tennis and to teach mathematics - his real
love. In recent years he was dogged by
ill health.
He leaves his wife Dorothy, his four children, Sally,
Rachel, Helen and James, and 12 grandchildren.
A thanksgiving service will be
held on Sunday 24 June at 3pm in St Andrew's Parish Church.
(taken from the Farnham
Herald, Friday,
22 June, 2001)
Personal Tribute to Paul French
by Ian Sargeant
I didn't really know Paul during his professional life, but I came to
know him quite well when we returned to live in Farnham in 1992. He was our
church organist at Farnham
Methodist Church,
a position I had held in the 1960s before leaving to work abroad. We became
good friends and started playing tennis every Wednesday. He played with great
application and the victories were evenly shared between us over the years we
played. It was our joke that we were the most exclusive tennis club in the
world - The Old Farnhamian Methodist Organists' Tennis Club.
Paul was a slightly reserved and very thoughtful man, with great
compassion. It was self-evident that he was very clever, but I know from our
conversations that he also had a great capacity to explain complex ideas with
simple clarity - the stamp of a born teacher. He had a good sense of humour and
was generous by nature.
Paul will be greatly missed by members of the OFA, people in Farnham Methodist Church
and also very much by the sole surviving member of our tennis club.
Ian Sargeant
NORMAN
PATRICK
27 April,
2001
Norman Patrick, who died on 20 April 2001 in Frimley Park Hospital,
was an old boy of the school who distinguished himself in sport. He was born in 1914 in East Street, Farnham and attended FGS for
10 years, leaving in 1931. He was an outstanding sportsman at school, playing
in the first XI for both cricket and football, being the front-runner for the
school cross-country team and a keen boxer. After leaving school, he turned to
tennis, winning the Farnham championship seven times. He married his mixed
doubles partner, Joan Horne, in 1937.
Norman was called up at the beginning of the second world war and joined the 5th
Northumberland Fusiliers as a second lieutenant. He continued his sporting
activities and, on one occasion, faced Jack Petersen, British and Empire
Heavyweight Champion in the boxing ring. He played tennis at Wimbledon,
once playing on the Centre Court.
During this time, he became a great friend of the Arsenal captain Joe Mercer,
which started his long association and passion for the Highbury club.
After the war, Norman
returned to Farnham to resume work in the family business. Always a keen horse
rider, he became a member of the local pony club and took over as the Area Controller
after some years. Many people will also remember him as the percussionist in
the Farnham Amateur Operatic Society's orchestra during many years.
Norman leaves his widow Joan, two sons and a daughter plus nine grandchildren.
Based on an article
in the Farnham Herald
LESLIE LORD
January, 2001
Leslie
Lord, who left the School in 1925, passed away in January 2001 at the age of
92, having lived in Farnham for all of his life. Leslie was born in 1903 and
claimed the distinction of being the only person born in the council offices in
South Street.
His father was appointed the first care-taker of the newly-built Farnham Urban
District Council offices, into which the council moved from its rented
boardroom in the Corn Exchange in 1902, and the family occupied the flat over
the adjoining fire station.
He
first went to school at St.Polycarp's in Bear Lane and then moved on to the Grammar
School at the age of eleven. He enjoyed a variety of sports at the School and
played for the First XI at Football and was the captain of the Second XI
Cricket team. He also boxed very successfully for Childe House. He took an
active part in the cadet Force and by the time he left the School he was a
sergeant.
He
first worked for Swain & Jones for a short time and then moved to Mardon
& Ball and then to Tarrants, who were both local building companies. During
the second World War he was sent to East Africa to form batteries of African
troops, then he took a commission and moved to India. The end of the war prevented
him moving on to Burma.
Les returned to Tarrants, now taken over by Parkinson's, and worked there until
he was 65 years of age.
Les
never married, but took part in many local activities. He played cricket for
the Nelson Arms and in younger days played snooker at the Farnham Institute. He
was a long-time member of the Conservative Club and was twice elected captain
of Farnham Brightwells Bowling Club.
In his obituary in the 'Farnham Herald' it stated that Leslie Lord
had a great sense of fun, and will be remembered for his kindness, courtesy and
good humour and his talent for friendship.
REDVERS GODSLAND
For many years DUDLEY BACKHURST regularly visited the Isle
of Wight to see our oldest living Old Boy, REDVERS GODSLAND
(1908-16) and it is appropriate that he
should write his obituary now that Redvers has passed away in the latter part
of the year 2000.
Redvers Godsland was born in Middlesex in October
1901, but lived with an aunt in Aldershot. He
started at Farnham
Grammar school in 1908
and as his birthday was in October he was probably not quite seven years old.
As one of the youngest boys in the school he was one of 'Miss Williams Little
Darlings'. The school in Morley
Road had not long been opened and he travelled by
train each day from Aldershot. He had a cousin
at the school who also attended when it was still situated in West Street.
Later on in his school life he became a boarder
and even stayed at the school by himself during the half-term holidays. He was
be-friended by Dr. Brown and his family and at Southampton
Dinners Redvers and RAYMOND BROWN (1909-18)
would recall those days together. His father, a regular soldier, was
killed during the First World War and the news to him by the Rev. Samuel Priestley,
By the age of about thirteen both parents had died and the school took on the
role of surrogate parent. It is probably because of this that he developed such
a love for the school. One of his happiest memories was the time he joined the
school Cadet Force. He left school in 1916 when he was fourteen years old to
work on the Bramshill estate. Later he joined the army and during the Second
World War spent much of his time in India
and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka).
He married in 1932 and he and his wife ran a newsagents
at East Cowes until they retired in 1967. The
residents of Osborne House were valued customers. It was whilst he was living
in East Cowes that I first met him , at the inaugural Southampton Dinner in
1962 and he continued to attend until 1973. We then lost contact until 1992
when I visited him and his wife at their home in Northwood just outside West Cowes. They were enjoying a long and happy
retirement and had taken up bowls. Redvers had always been keen on cricket and
became president of the East Cowes Cricket
Club.
I persuaded him to attend the Southampton
Lunch in 1993 and 1994 and he enjoyed the occasions immensely. He had a great
love of the school and with the passage of a great many years viewed everything
with good humour. He maintained his impish ways and would sometimes telephone
me to relate something new he had recalled. I visited Redvers a few days before
he died when he was fast approaching his 99th birthday. We all hoped he would
reach his century- but it was not to be . He had enjoyed a long and eventful
life . With his death the Association has lost its last link with the early
days of the school at Morley Road.
It has also lost a chivalrous, gentle man. Our sympathies go to his widow ,
Clarissa, who still lives on the Isle of Wight,
and to his son and daughter.
GROUP CAPTAIN CEDRIC MASTERMAN OBE DFC
17th May,
2000
The death of this Old Boy was reported in the
'Daily Telegraph' on 17th May 2000 and it told the story of an extremely brave
man. He played a part in the ill-fated Norwegian Campaign of 1940 when he was
sent to Norway
to locate sites for makeshift airfields and whilst there came under heavy
attack from the Luftwaffe. He stated that' The machine-gunning was wicked, and
amid bomb blasts and the stream of bullets I prayed as I have never prayed
before.' He was finally evacuated by sea and awarded the OBE. Cedric joined the
RAF in 1935 flying as a Hawker Audax biplane pilot and was soon posted to the
West Frontier of India
where he flew on counter-insurgency operations to frustrate the troublesome
Waziri tribesmen. He returned home in 1939 and then flew Lysanders, and whilst
with 225 Squadron had his 'Norwegian Adventure'.
Afterwards he re-joined his squadron, then moved
on to flying Hurricanes and in October 1941 took command of No.72 Squadron
flying Spitfires in the celebrated Biggin Hill Wing. He lead his fighters over
France with great success and in 1942 became Biggin Hill's Wing Commander
before moving to Malta, where he doubled as No 2 on the fighter staff and ADC
to Lord Gort VC, the island's Governor. With the situation worsening he
returned to flying and in two weeks his squadron shot down 16 enemy aircraft,
he increased his own total to 6 and led his men shooting up aircraft on the
ground , damaging enemy shipping, attacking trains, petrol dumps and road
columns. For this bravery he received his immediate DFC (Distinguished Flying
Cross).
Having rested for much of 1943 as Wing Commander
Training in Kenya he resumed
operations in the Mediterranean with No 203 ground reconnaissance and light
bomber squadron before moving to India for coastal patrols and
convoy escort duties. Here he came to the attention of Admiral Lord Louis
Mountbatten and served on his staff in Delhi and
Burma.
Cedric returned home in May 1945 and after a spell
at Transport Command he went to Commonwealth Air Forces HQ at Iwakuni, Japan. Later he
served on the Intelligence staff during the Malayan emergency. His final
posting in 1955 was as Air Attache in Prague.
In 1958 he returned to civilian life and worked in the City of London until retiring in 1974. He married his
wife Cynthia in 1940 and they had one son.
Cedric Audley Masterman was born on September 25th 1914 and he
boarded at the Grammar School from 1925 until 1928 and was a member of School
House. Results show that he was a good athlete and in 1928 he was Class 5
Boxing Champion and a member of the successful School House Rifle Shooting
Team. He went to University College School
in London and
in 1932 joined Godsell & Co. a firm of foreign exchange brokers in the City
before joining the RAF. He is remembered by Sylvia Morgan, who referred us to
this obituary of an exceptional Old Boy.
MIKE
FOSTER
Mike
Foster, who was an English master at Farnham
Grammar School for over thirty
years, died in February 2000. Coming to the school in 1949 he was one of the
last teachers to join that excellent staff assembled by F.A. Morgan. He
eventually succeeded the legendary Harold Beeken as Head of English for the
Grammar School and remained at Morley
Road when the changeover to a Sixth Form College
began in 1973. Mike finally retired in 1982.
Mike (or 'Mac' as he was often known to his pupils)
was born at Kirton in Lincolnshire and was
educated at the village school, followed by Boston
Grammar School and finally St. Edmund
Hall, Oxford.
Before starting his career, he entered the Royal Air Force and, after training
on Magister Trainers, Tiger Moths and Oxfords, converted to Wellington
and Halifax
bombers. He began his operational experience in July 1943 piloting four attacks
on Hamburg, and went on a 'tour' of 33 operations for which he was awarded the
DFC (Distinguished Flying Cross).
During his early years at the Grammar School he began
the modern school library and, with limited funds, he visited Foyles in London to purchase the
first books. He introduced play reading at the school and this became a regular
gathering. To improve these readings he asked Dorothy Inman, Headmistress of
Farnham Girls Grammar School, if she would allow some of her pupils to take
part -
this request was refused!
Mike successfully combined with Alan Fluck to present
music and poetry evenings and also produced 'The Browning Version' at the
Church House in Farnham, with most of the furniture for the set coming from the
Foster household. In 1960, he combined with Alan Fluck to write and produce
'The Coolibah Tree', with the lead taken by a renowned pupil, Terry Hughes, who
later produced 'The Two Ronnies' for BBC and 'The Golden Girls' for American
audiences. For many years Mike edited 'The Farnhamian' magazine at the school.
During retirement Mike took a correspondence course in
journalism and began to write many articles, including holiday experiences that
he and his wife Ann shared as they travelled the world in their camper van. He
became interested in 'benchends' and 'misericords', in fact in any wood
carvings in churches and cathedrals, and had several articles published in
magazines. For a time he was 'Jim Clifford' who added humorous comment to the
Frank Scribe page in the local 'Surrey and Hants News', and he had humorous
short verses included in 'The Sunday Times' for several years.
Over the years Mike Foster played both football and
cricket locally, the latter for Farnham C.C. and several other local teams. He
lived with Ann for over forty seven years close to Morley Road and they had four children,
with one boy attending the Grammar School. Mike suffered a stroke in recent
years but still had a daily walk and was always in good spirits.
To
download a file of Obituaries printed in The Farnhamian 2002 Edition, click here
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