Tributes to Former Players and Officials. (A-E)
Extracts from Eton Fives Annual Reports.
Lord Aberconway (1913-2003) 3rd Baron, industrialist and horticulturist - Etonian (EFA Report 2002-2003)
Charles Aberconway died at the beginning of February, just a few months short of his 90th birthday. This is not a full obituary; that appeared in the Times. Rather I have attempted here to give a rather more personal view of someone with whom I sat on the committee of the Old Etonian Fives Club for over 50 years and came to greatly respect and admire.
Charles was born with more than his fair share of gifts. As the Times obituary reported he ‘inherited his forebears’ immense energy and intelligence’. At Eton he was Captain of the Oppidans and Keeper of Fives, an unusual combination of academic achievement and sporting prowess.
Charles Aberconway was a leading figure in industry; Chairman of John Brown and English China Clays; a deputy Chairman of Sun Alliance and Westland Aircraft and a director of the Nat West. He had inherited from his Father a passion for horticulture and the famous gardens at Bodnant; he was for many years a vigorous and innovative President of the Royal Horticultural Society and as such very involved with the organisation of the Chelsea Flower Show.
Yet, despite all these varied and time-consuming activities, Charles never lost his interest and involvement in Fives. He was a key figure in reviving the Old Etonian Fives Club after the War; he was our Chairman right up to the early 80’s and then became our Joint President. Right up to two years ago, we held our committee meetings under his guidance at either his office or house. I was Chairman under him for about ten years and valued greatly his advice and support.
His involvement with the EFA was not so great, but he will always be remembered for initiating the Aberconway Cup for Fathers & Sons, which has proved such a successful tournament. As far as I know, this was entirely Charles’ idea; I well remember him floating out the idea at an OEFC committee meeting. It was also in keeping with the man that although neither of his sons was very interested in Fives, he understood the value of initiating such a competition.
Less well known is the fact that it is entirely due to Charles that I became Chairman of the EFA. He always took a keen interest in the affairs of the Association and in 1995 was a little worried about what might be happening. It was he, who said to me, ‘Come on, Michael, I think we had better put you forward as the next Chairman’. I have to say that nothing was further from my mind at the time. I had just retired and was looking forward to spending more time on the beaches of the south of France. But Charles Aberconway was not a man to whom you said, ‘No.’ At the time, I thought what am I letting myself in for? Now, as I retire as Chairman after eight years, I am delighted he did so. (M.D.C.)
A.T.Barber (1905-1985) - Salopian (EFA Report 1984-1985)
In the death of Alan Barber in March Eton Fives has lost its wisest mentor.
In retrospect, it is remarkable that the game enjoyed so much of his zeal. Such was Alan's skill as a sportsman, a real Corinthian if ever there was one, that he could have been lured elsewhere. Had he been other than a working schoolmaster by profession, perhaps cricket, football or golf would have claimed more of his time. His prowess as a player of these other sports needs little elucidation here. As a fives player Alan won the Kinnaird Cup with Desmond Backhouse in 1934 and in 1936. After the war he played briefly with Charlie Sheepshanks in a partnership which displayed, more than any other perhaps, the skills and beauty of the game. He was a very fine player until well into his fifties.
It was Eton Fives, then, which was lucky enough to benefit from his services for so many years. When Jack Peterson became Headmaster of Shrewsbury in 1950, Alan took over the Chairmanship of the E.F.A., a post which he filled with no little skill and enthusiasm for the next 23 years. In 1973 he succeeded Lord Home as President. and he maintained a lively interest in all aspects of the Association's business.
It was as Chairman, though, that Alan guided the Association with firmness and fairness at a time when the game was expanding: at more schools the game was thriving, and Eton Fives was no longer the preserve of a few bastions. While recognising that wider interest was beneficial, even vital, to the game, he, conservative to some, was determined that Eton Fives should avoid the pitfalls into which so many other sports had fallen and that the spirit of the game should far outweigh the confines of petty legislation. Fives, to Alan. should be a game which was entertaining and fun for all. How right he was! Meetings at the Sports Club were notable for the good humour of the committee members and for the generosity of their host.
At Ludgrove, too, Alan was a fine host. He took particular pride in doing all he could for the players and was regularly to be seen sweeping the courts before a Kinnaird or a club match. He realised it was a logical step, but he was naturally disappointed, when, after the Kinnaird weekends had become established, the semi-finals and finals were no longer staged at the school. However, school, Old Boy and univeristy teams have rich memories of games with A.T. Barber's IV and of the hospitality of the game's First Lady.
Alan's involvement in the game elsewhere was extensive, too. He would travel miles, because he wanted to be there, not because he thought he ought to be, and took equal delight in opening the courts at Queen Elizabeth's School, Barnet (sweeping again!), in presenting a trophy, or in playing against young or old. An incongruous pair, Alan Barber and Neville Ford, short in shorts and long in longs, was a familiar sight at Eton: a (too!) competitive young Harrow pair was rarely rewarded with more than a lesson tactfully taught.
As coach to generations of Ludgrove boys he would stand for hours in wind and rain. encouraging, suggesting, and even cajoling to bring out the best in any individual. Criticism was seldom part of his repertoire: Alan saw the best in people. One fears that all too often an absence of adequate protective clothing and of umbrella can have done little for the arthritis of which he made so light.
It was the final illness, though, that was so cruel. For one who had been active in so many spheres to have been confined to sedentary inactivity was a crushing blow. Alan himself was stoical about it and made the most of what little he could do, ever keen to hear news of what he would have loved so much to witness for himself. Dorothy's support to him throughout the years had been inestimable: now her devotion and care were unremitting and her resilience quite remarkable. The sympathy of all their very many friends in the game goes out to her and the family.
The Alan Barber Cup, for which Old Boys clubs compete, inspired perhaps by Alan's ties with Arthur Dunn, is without doubt the most successful of the post-war introductions to the Eton Fives calendar, and has fittingly produced the highest standards of sportsmanship, which Alan held so dear. It would, perhaps, be right and proper if the early-season encounter at Ludgrove between the Jesters Club, of which Alan was an early member, and the Old Salopians, his own Old Boy club, were officially known as the Alan Barber Memorial Match. (D.J.S.G.)
Alhaji the Hon. Sir Ahmadu Bello, KBE., (EFA Report 1995-1996)
The death of the former Premier of Northern Nigeria, a keen and influential supporter of Eton Fives in Nigeria,
is recorded.
An extract from a biography by John H Paden, published by Hodder
& Stoughton, 1986
D M Backhouse (Salopian)
D. M. Backhouse won the Kinnaird Cup with fellow Salopian, A. T. Barber in 1934 and 1936.
D R Barker - Aldenhamian (EFA Report 1993-1994)
For all those who knew, or knew of, David Barker his recent death will have come as a grievous shock. He attended Aldenham School from 1954 to 1959 and represented it at the highest level at Football, Cricket, Hockey and Eton Fives. It is perhaps for the last of these sports that he will be best remembered.
He won the Public Schools' Championships in 1957 and 1959 with Vine and Mohammadu respectively, and would undoubtedly have done so to complete a unique treble in 1958, had he not broken his leg playing hockey.
I encountered him at Cambridge during his years there, where he demonstrated not only that he was a peerless player but also that he was a matchlessly magnanimous opponent. As one of such gifts, he did not glory in them, which in some way was, perhaps, not unrelated to his decision eventually to take on the headship of the church school in Harpenden. Previously, during his eleven years as a school master at Aldenham five of which he spent as a House master, he ran Eton Fives and contributed to much else. There was never any doubting the warmth of welcome that awaited when one took boys to play against his teams.
He went to Clare College, Cambridge. which he undoubtedly civilised as much as it might have wished to enrich him. He then spent a period in Zambia in a teaching capacity which is one reason why the world of Eton Fives was denied his talents for so long.
Games, schools, standards of decency and personal faith can ill do without the likes of David Barker, taken from us by cancer at the age of fifty-four.
To his wife Daphne, and to their two sons we offer our sincere condolences and our gratitude for what David was. (P.K.D.)
B D Barton (1920-2009) - Etonian (EFA Annual Review 2008-2009)
The EFA’s longest serving Vice-President – from 1972 – David Barton, has died at nearly 89, having been our Hon. Treasurer from 1952 to 1971. For a number of years he had also been Chairman and a Vice-President of the Old Etonian Fives Club. David was very involved in the EFA’s affairs in the start-up after the war, but it was a source of great regret to him that his memory of that period was very limited.
David would be amused to be reminded of how his initial exploits at the game were described, somewhat unkindly, by the then Keeper of Fives at Eton as: “Disappointing. He is steady in a game of average class, but against a first class player he is unsuccessful. Too slow and hits the ball far too high.” A report on house Fives recorded “Barton has not improved on last year’s form.” However, he and McKeurtan were the school second pair by 1939, David having been awarded his colours in 1938, in which year he was in the final for both school and house Fives. However, in 1939, the house captain recorded that “they failed to reach even the semi-finals of the school Fives: their failure was attributed to the fact that there was outside the court something which was far more worth watching than the ball.” Nevertheless, in the same year, he and J A Ponsonby excelled themselves by reaching the final of the Public Schools’ Handicap Competition. At school, David was a successful cricketer, having opened the batting both for Eton and later for Cambridge at Lords. In the field game, he was described as “very fast and clever.” He also ended as a sergeant in the Corps and as a member of Pop and the VIth form. In 1965, David was a perfect choice to be in the team of seven to represent the EFA in a tour of Nigeria, along with his lifelong Harrovian friend and regular Kinnaird partner, the equally quintessential English gentleman, Monty Moss. He was formerly on the committee of the Jesters and was an MCC member for over 60 years. He was among just a handful of the pre-war Eton XI.
Many will have seen David as the immensely able and successful chartered accountant, at the top of his profession – typically a quiet man of deep discretion, but in the village of Bosham only his concern with the community, his supportof the local church and congregation (as one-time hon. treasurer of the Bosham Parochial Church Council) and his lectures in the local debating society opened a window on the strength and compass of his convictions. This was the young man who attempted to leave behind a nascent political career as Assistant Private Secretary to Geoffrey Lloyd, then Secretary of Petroleum in the Ministry of Fuel and Power, to ‘do his bit for the war’. Rejected by the Army as unfit, he later joined the RAF, became Air Crew, then during bombing training in South Africa began to see the stark conflict between his beliefs and his impending occupation. “I will not drop bombs on civilians,” he wrote in his diary, but at present I am heading for just that.” Mercifully, the end of the war meant that his resolve would not be tested. But the moral dilemma was not to leave him. The Dresden firestorm worked a profound and lasting effect on him. Returning to Trinity, Cambridge to read Law, he wrote a notable essay on Federalism which he began to see as the organisation of government most likely to prevent future bloodshed, as well as a model for a closer Atlantic partnership.
America’s intervention in the war, the willingness of armies of Americans to lay down their lives in Britain’s war demonstrated the common ideals which would make this a viable political community. He lent his weight to consolidating the European anchor of the Alliance and remained active in the field of European and Atlantic unity for the remainder of his life. In 1959, the tenth anniversary of the Atlantic Charter, he played a major role in the organisation of the Atlantic Congress to explore ways in which the resolve that had founded NATO could deepen the civilian aspects of the Alliance. The same year, jointly with Martin Madden MP, he sponsored the Declaration of Atlantic Unity. In 1964, he stood for Parliament in Stoke-on-Trent North, bravely taking on a Labour majority of 12,000. His beliefs and abilities served many of the organisations looking towards a similar future, such as the European Cultural Foundation, the Federal Trust, the Atlantic Council, the Wyndham Place Charlemagne Trust ( to emphasise the spiritual dimension of the European endeavour), as well as the non-political Operation Raleigh and the Cancer Research Campaign.
In 1963, his book “The Atlantic Community – Dream and Reality” set out his tenets, demonstrating how close that reality could be to the dream. Ever forward-looking, this was followed by his “The United Nations Comes of Age – Prospect for a New World Order” and a plea for the European Union to work more actively for the benefit of the outside world, in his contribution to the Wyndham Placen Trust’s Europe’s Wider Loyalties. He also collaborated with his wife Sheila on the retrospective volume “Federal Union: The Pioneers”.
The same dynamism infused his professional life. Denied a place at the United Nations because of the small UK quota, he had joined the family accountancy firm of Barton, Mayhew & Co. A series of mergers propelled him finally to the top of the giant Ernst & Whinney (now Ernst & Young), but typically also to benefit the wider profession on the Council of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and as President of the Union Européenne des Experts Comptables.
In 1970, David rose to his feet at a meeting of his fellow partners and announced, “Gentlemen, I have to leave you now as I’m getting married in an hour’s time!” He threw himself into family life and the challenge of raising three stepsons. This could have been a contentious situation, but David had an unerring belief that, no matter how many mistakes the boys made, they were acting with the best of intentions and would get there in the end.
The tributes at his thanksgiving service showed that that he never once preached at, belittled, or raised his voice in anger but unfailingly encouraged and believed in his stepsons that they loved him as a father. Throughout 38 years of marriage to Sheila their mutual respect and admiration never waned, but grew to tender love and affection. They kept their romantic bond alive for all to see as they walked around the village hand in hand, a sight which will be much missed. In 1988, he published a book on his wartime memories and reflections, called “Toddling Safely Home.” He dedicated it thus: “To Sheila, Nigel, Martin and Simon, into whose home and lives I eventually toddled.” He was Sheila’s rock and model”. To Simon, “he was and always will be, quite simply, my hero”. David was still playing short tennis at 88 and was president of the local club. The manner of his participation in all the games he played also tells you a lot about the man. Our condolences go to all of his family.
Gordon Stringer/Simon Robinson/John Leech/Eton College Archives
G R Bolt - Whitgiftian (EFA Report 2000-2001)
Geoffrey Bolt as Master-in-Charge of Fives at Aldenham and latterly, Cranleigh, will be remembered as an outstanding coach. He brought out the maximum talent in his players to put Aldenham on the map by winning the Public Schools Competition five times between 1954 and 1961. He was also a member of the EFA Committee and a Jester, and a generous donation has been left for the benefit of both bodies.
In particular, Geoffrey was one of life's great characters - his wit and repartee was almost non-stop. He was always entertaining and indeed inspirational as the additional following tributes illustrate. (G.D.S.)
Funeral Address (in part) by Andrew Corran for the Funeral of Geoffrey BoltI first met Geoffrey when Gay and I returned from Australia in January 1968, at which time I accepted a teaching post at Cranleigh School. Appropriately, I met him in the Common Room bar; familiar ground for him. Oddly, for he did not make friends lightly (maybe in deference to the French justice system which regards people as guilty until proved innocent) we quickly got to know each other.
Born in 1923 in Croydon, he was educated at Whitgift School and Oriel College, Oxford, where he read Chemistry.
His fine mind and first-rate education led him naturally into teaching, where he was a gift to the more intelligent pupils. Never a strict disciplinarian, he was more likely to buy a drink for a miscreant illegally found in a pub than to invoke the school rules... He enjoyed being with small groups of potential scientists, who appreciated his knowledge of his subject and his ability to express chemical ideas and processes with minimum words and maximum clarity. He lacked the patience to waste time with bored and restive classes ('I fear I must now go and educate the young') but could be easily sidetracked into sharing his knowledge of oenology, literature or racing, to the delight of the enlightened. Indeed, there is a story, which Geoffrey admitted had some basis of truth, of a young man, Brown, say, who bet another, Jones, £10 that, during Mr Bolt's double chemistry lesson, Brown could stand up, walk over to the window, open it, climb out, stroll to the adjacent golf course, remove the flag on a green, wave it to the class and return by the same route without incurring Mr Bolt's displeasure. The bet was accepted and Brown performed the manoeuvres as outlined. Jones, astonished, handed Brown two fivers after class and departed. Brown returned to the classroom, approached Geoffrey, and said:'Here you are, Sir, your fiver'. Later, Geoffrey summoned Jones and returned his fiver with the words: 'Let that be a lesson to you: never bet if you don't know the odds'. On education generally, however Geoffrey adopted Lady Bracknell's view: an idiosyncratic approach for a career schoolmaster...
Geoffrey loved France and Italy, both for the warmth of their people and for the food and wine available so deliciously and cheaply there. Perhaps it was because he was so keen on these that he acquired a reputation as a gourmet. He greatly preferred to enjoy the culinary offerings of others than to do any serious cooking himself. 'I never eat lunch' he used to insist, piling high his plate and accepting another full glass.'I have the appetite of a sparrow' was another frequent assertion until someone pointed out that a sparrow eats ten times its own weight in food every day.
Although he enjoyed many sports, Geoffrey's chief loves were Eton Fives and Tennis, never prefaced by the word 'real', as in his opinion it didn't need to be. He ran the Eton Fives at both Aldenham and Cranleigh, and was regarded as a quite outstanding coach; indeed, his Aldenham team won the Public Schools Tournament five times: an achievement which speaks volumes for his abilities and enthusiasm. In the last few days we have heard many tributes to his coaching and to his elegant hospitality before and after matches, and also to the dry wit and efficiency with which he promoted the cause of his favourite game. He was one of a benevolent mafia governing the EFA, and despite failing out with them over a triviality, resigning in a huff and thus, typically, losing out even more than they did, he would be delighted to see so many members, such as Michael Hetheringon and David Guilford here today. He was no mean player at Lawn Tennis and Rackets either, and he enormously enjoyed his membership of the Jesters, whom he frequently entertained at Cranleigh.
One of his main reasons for choosing Wisborough Green for his retirement was its proximity to Petworth, where he much enjoyed playing Tennis, or 'Realers' as he sometimes allowed it to be called. It was also a great pleasure for him to introduce and encourage new players to the game. Happily, he remained a respected member of the Club at Petworth until the end of his life. His other reason for choosing Wisborough was its closeness to his favourite pub. Sadly, his old friend Ted, its landlord, died all too soon. Geoffrey was forced to withdraw his custom from the modernised hostelry with its loud wah-wah music and trendy customers.
In addition to his participation in active games, he particularly enjoyed the sedentary pastimes, such as Mah Jong, Piquet, Backgammon, philately, The Times crossword and Scrabble, all of which exercised his considerable intellect without causing him to do more than move a languid arm. He played them with immense skill and some very powerful curses when things did not go his way. It was after listening to one of these battles that our daughter, Hens, aged eleven, decided to compile a list of forbidden words used by POG during the course of a Tidal visit. She logged some seventy-seven swear words ranging from those even Bob wouldn't sanction in church to umlauts, stench, pox, and ending with four stink hounds and two bleeding wasps. Geoffrey always maintained that it was grossly unfair of her to count his substitutes as swear words when he was trying so hard to conform; at the same time he was enormously amused by her calm authority. She recognised, as did all our children, that the use of a German word as a swear word was a reference to his dislike of all things Germanic, including wine, unless, of course, there were no other available. His trilingual Scrabble battle with Gay lasted for thirty years and ended about level. The highlight of all these years of deadly warfare was Geoffrey's single score of 203 with the last play of a game which enabled him to overtake Gay's supposedly safe lead of over 100. The word, across two triples, was 'canonize'. For all of us who knew and loved him, we doubt that it was prophetic...
William Goodman writes in Aldenhamiana:Mike Payne at Cranleigh wrote and told me that Geoffrey Bolt had died recently. I was not at Beevor's, and did not take chemistry, so it was as an outsider that I first observed Geoffrey and saw him as an inspiring figure, unconventional, sanguine, forthright. I was fascinated by his accounts of summer visits to Monte Carlo in his shabby old taxi cab, where he used applied mathematics at the casino and at least managed to break even, even when living in style. (England in the '50s was no place for an Epicure.) I might not have heard about this had it not been for Peter Harrington and Michael Heckford egging him on.
Years later Geoffrey did not disguise his bitter feelings at the circumstances of Peter Harrington's tragic death, also at the fact that the School's bean-counters had chosen to sell off the Stanley Spencer paintings.
I visited him on various occasions and was treated to his excellent cooking. In December 1999 he described a recent tour he had made of retirement homes in Dorset. He was characteristically scornful of almost all of them, since a good table was essential, and a decent cellar of his own choice. He found a place that looked promising, but did not live long enough to confirm this.
Considering Beevor's food uninspired and wasteful he dreamed of the possibility of providing really imaginatively-inspired food at the same cost. He hinted that he had come close to persuading the administration to adopt his plan, which would have made school food a culinary adventure. What happened to the plan, I have no idea.
At some point Michael Heathford was going to paint a picture using pigments that Geoffrey had compounded. The only colour was cobalt blue.
His passion for games probably reached its peak after he took up Royal Tennis. It is possible to imagine him, the
warrior, reaching his deserved place in paradise, and
Team Elysium meets Valhalla
On the Royal tennis court.
Geoffrey Bolt with cunning valour
Introduced them to the sport.
At the end of term, when schedules are disrupted, and classes end up with the wrong master - always something to look forward to - Geoffrey read us Saki and Stephen Leacock.
Geoffrey Bolt, remembered with fondness and admiration.
Marcus Blake writes in Aldenhemiana:In the last Aldenhamiana William Goldman wrote a very accurate and amusing obituary of the late Geoffrey Bolt, which, I am sure, will have touched many an Old Aldenhamian who knew Geoffrey.
In his last year, aged seventy-six, I took him to the All England Club at Wimbledon, where four of the 1956 school tennis side played on the indoor courts and entertained him to lunch. He was in excellent form and complained about everything using his usual chemical phraeseology.
As was mentioned, he had great culinary skills and nothing pleased him more than to entertain in the flat above the cricket pavilion at Cranleigh School. Geoffrey cooked with the minimum of utensils, expected guests to keep their plates and cutlery, and drink copious amounts of excellent wine between courses, In his last year, aged seventy-six, I took him to the All England Club at Wimbledon, where four of the 1956 school tennis side played on the indoor courts and entertained him to lunch. He was in excellent form and complained about everything using his usual chemical phraseoIogy.
His funeral in West Lulworth was a triumph of organisation by Andrew Corran, past housemaster at Cranleigh, and his wife, Gay. After a moving service and requiem read in Latin by his great friend, Laverock Newman, he was buried in the churchyard of Holy Trinity Church, West Lulworth. A wake at possibly the most beautiful house on the Dorset coast, high on the cliffs at Lulworth, was attended by many friends from the world of Eton Fives and the two schools to which he gave his teaching life.He will be fondly remembered by many.
Postscript: The Strawson Memorial (Geoffrey Bolt Salver) - James Woodcock reports: "A Salver has been engraved with both the Fleur de Lys and Jesters emblems with a line suggesting they are in opposition and inscribed in memory to Geoffrey in Latin with the years of his life."
R O I Borradaile, MBE - Westminster (EFA Report 2006-2007)
Dick Borradaile, who has died at the age of 84, was the master in-charge of Fives at Wellington College, where for nearly three decades he encouraged the game against all odds from the pressures of other sports.
The setting of the courts at Wellington was similar to that of the late, lamented Portugal Place, Cambridge, where they were part of a courts complex and Dick must have been saddened that after all his efforts, the Fives courts were demolished to make way for what is now a cafeteria. However, this disappointment has to be minor in comparison to his other achievements in an altogether distinguished career.
Educated at Westminster, Dick became captain of Fives and cricket and secretary of football. He was also known as a good middleweight boxer. He graduated at Oxford, where he obtained a half- blue for Fives, became a Jester and joined the Navy to reach the rank of Commander.
Wellington College saw his appointment as an assistant master in 1948. He progressed to become a housemaster , Second Master, Commanding Officer of the CCF and President of the Common Room. His stature at Wellington led to him being known affectionately as "The Admiral".
To his family we send our sincere condolences.
Gordon Stringer
Richard Bourne, 31 August 1943 - 28 September 2007 (EFA Report 2007-2008)
Richard was a Fives player for over 40 years and loved every minute on and off the court. The game created many great friends and he treasured their company and mutual joie de vivre over the years.
He put on his first Fives gloves (albeit Rugby ones…) at UCH in London where he was a student. It was here that he developed his classic back of the court technique – always a potent force on the often cold and wet Wednesday nights that followed.
Richard’s move to Godalming in the 1970s brought him into contact with the Brigands – then solely a squash club – and he formed great friendships amongst its fraternity. Squash morphed into Fives as Danny Hewitt and others rekindled their schoolboy skills – and the “Brigands Fives Club” was born. Continuing on this journey of transformation, Richard was one of the driving forces behind the evolution of the club into the “Brigands Fives & Fine Dining Club” as members’ priorities progressed… He loved the Wednesday night games and always brought his infectious enthusiasm with him – sharing a joke between points or test firing that infamous spud gun over the courts. The annual Brigands competition trophy has been named after him.
One of his greatest Fives pleasures was in Switzerland at the Engadin Challenge in Zuoz. He visited on many occasions – enjoying the drive through the Alps – and made great friends with Daniel Haerring and the familiar faces at the Lyceum Alpinum. On his last trip he picked up the pepper pot trophy which took its place next to Elstead Paper Boat trophies on the mantelpiece at Riversleigh Farm.
Richard passed away at home with Roz and the boys beside him last September after a brave battle with mesothelioma for 18 months. He loved the game and we’ll all miss him on court.
O.G.C.Broome and G.T.O Broome - Etonians (EFA Report 2000-2001)
It is sad to record the tragic deaths of the young Etonian brothers, Oliver and Giles Broome in a car crash at Sunningdale. Giles was in the final of the Preparatory Schools with Will Sorrell in 1993. Oliver formed a very successful partnership with Will winning the Schools Under-12s in 1993, the Preparatory in 1994, the Under 14s in 1995 and were finalists in the Under 16s in 1997 and the Open in 1999, losing on both occasions to the outstanding partnership of James Toop and Seb Cooley (St.Olave's). (M.D.C.)Dr C J Bruton - Old Emanuel
Clive Bruton was one of Britain's foremost neuropathologists, noted for his work on Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease, and the pathological effects of boxing. As curator of the Corsellis Collection of brains at Runwell Hospital in Essex he looked after the largest brain archive in the world.
Clive was educated at Emanuel School in South London, where he excelled at rugby and Eton Fives. During the 60s and 70s he was a regular member of the Old Emanuel team.
M L Charlesworth MBE 1919–2008 - Salopian (EFA/RFA Review 2007-2008)
Michael Charlesworth who has died at the age of 89, has long been regarded as the doyen of Shrewsbury School where he was for many years the Master in Charge of Fives and it was he who played a large part in having the court built at the illustrious Geelong Grammar School, thus introducing the game to Australia.It was during an exchange year to Geelong in 1953-54 that the then Reptonian Headmaster Jim Darling had a brainwave: “Now you are here” he said, “we’ll have Fives!” So an old ball court built for some defunct game was adapted for Eton Fives, Jim Darling having been a keen player himself. One day Michael received a note while teaching asking him to go to the Fives court; there were the Headmaster and the workmen who were building the top of the front wall. “It’s getting a bit expensive,” he said. “Do we really need the wall to be so high?” “No!” he said to the workmen, who at once suspended action. So the front wall to this day (as far as we know) looks like a medieval battlement. Michael taught a number of boys and they really enjoyed the game but it gradually fizzled out after he left, although there have been times of revival. Nevertheless Michael felt that his great contribution to the Southern Hemisphere had been to build the first and only Fives court.
As a player of good ability he made few mistakes and was particularly steady at the back. Once, he and fellow Salopian Geoffrey Phillips were drawn the against the legendary May brothers in the Kinnaird Cup. They came off court having had what seemed to them a fantastic match with numerous rallies, but, in common with other leading players of the day, they had won only a handful of points.
From Abinger Hill Prep School in Surrey, Michael proceeded to Shrewsbury School where he was happy and successful, and the School – what it stood for, the friends he made there and the arcadian magic of its setting – worked its way into the very core of his being, where it remained for the rest of his life.
After Shrewsbury, Michael followed his father to Magdalen College, Oxford, where he read History. A talented athlete, he pursued an active sporting life as well as becoming an enthusiastic member of the OUDS. Acting and the theatre were to remain lifelong interests. His Oxford career finished at the start of the war and there followed six distinguished years of service in India, Burma and, at the end of the war, in a newly-liberated Norway, organising the evacuation of 130,000 German soldiers and 40,000 Russian prisoners of war.
He then returned to Oxford to train as a teacher and was appointed to the staff at Shrewsbury in 1947. His career seemed destined to follow a conventional course and, following the one-year exchange at Geelong, he served as Housemaster of School House, the largest boarding house, from 1955 to 1961. This was a rich period during which Paul Foot, Richard Ingrams, Michael Palin, Willie Rushton and John Ravenscroft (Peel), with all of whom he later kept in touch, were at the School. In 1958 he married Joy Brooke- Smith, the widow of an Old Salopian with whom he had been at School. She had three children by her first marriage and they went on to have two sons of their own, Martin, born in 1959, and Alan, in 1961.
That same year, Michael returned to the East and took up the headmastership of Lawrence College in Pakistan, a school run along English public school lines which had fallen upon hard times. This experience gave him many Pakistani friends with whom he was in contact for the remainder of his life. Within four years the College was again holding its head high as one of Pakistan’s leading public schools, and Michael and Joy returned to Shrewsbury, by now in the grip of the changes being wrought by its great reforming Headmaster Donald Wright.
Although never actually himself Headmaster of Shrewsbury, Michael’s experience of running both a house and a school rendered him invaluable, and over the next 25 years and over a period of three different Headmasters, he served several stints as Acting Housemaster, Acting Headmaster and even Acting Bursar. He finished his formal Shrewsbury School career as Second Master for 12 years until his retirement in 1981.
A kind and compassionate man, for whom interest in his pupils very frequently evolved into lifelong friendship, he possessed a prodigious memory for people and a decisive and practical approach to life. These attributes gave him a very rich retirement, during which he edited the School magazine and continued to organise the Old Salopian Club, of which he was secretary for 48 years from 1950 until 1998. He served on the governing bodies of many schools, including Moreton Hall, where a new boarding house was named after him in 2004 and was involved in church affairs, as a lay reader at St Chad’s in Shrewsbury and for several years as a member of the General Synod. A prolific correspondent, his vast network of Salopian friends, a deep interest in the history and politics of the School and a facility with the pen resulted in numerous publications, principal amongst them his aptly named autobiography “Behind the Headlines”, published in 1994.
His wife Joy died in 1987 and he is survived by his two sons and two stepsons Bruce and Robin, to whom we send our condolences.
P.C.Curtis 1922-2002 - Reptonian (EFA Report 2001-2002)
It is difficult to do full justice to the unstinting services given to Eton Fives by Philip Curtis, who has died at the age of 80. In 1999, a dinner was held at Eton in his honour to celebrate fifty continuous years as an EFA officer. Starting as Honorary Treasurer, Philip then became Honorary Secretary, a Vice-President, President and then Chairman of the EFA Charitable Trust. The latter position was probably the most demanding in establishing the Trust in the first place, let alone overseeing the raising of substantial funds and guiding fellow Trustees and the EFA in the best use of the monies for the benefit of the game.
Perseverance was one of Philip's many qualities. His work in Eton Fives was frequently uphill and in the early '50s he was involved in protracted negotiations with Queen's Club over the possible rebuilding of the two courts which were bombed in the war. The costs of that time, however, were prohibitive. For many years he had an almost thankless task of running the Old Reptonians for mid-week evening games in London but had only few players to draw on.
That Eton Fives has survived at Cambridge University since the demolition of the courts at Portugal Place is due in no small measure to Philip. Whilst he coped with bureaucracy over the proposed new courts, his efforts were equally tireless to reinstate the game at the Leys School and pave the way for the University to have use of the courts in the interim. This was coupled with his own personal donation.
Perhaps Philip's greatest contribution to the game was just being himself. Although holding high office and having won the Kinnaird Cup in 1957 (with Old Olavian J.W.Biggs) he never lost sight of the needs of the ordinary player and how schools and clubs could be helped. In and out of committee he always had a measured response to any situation and an eloquence with exactly the right turn of phrase.
One of three brothers, Philip won a bursary Repton to where he did well both academically and in sport. He was a prefect, became captain of Fives and played in the cricket and hockey teams. He was also chosen for the role of Hamlet in the school play. He won the Belt of Honour at Sandhurst and was commissioned into the Northants Yeomanry where he became a Major. At Cambridge he was awarded an honours degree in modern languages, achieved a half-blue for Eton Fives, played soccer for the Falcons and hockey for Clare. He was elected to the Hawks Club and later became a director.
Diplomacy had been suggested as a career but he joined the City firm of stockbrokers, Fielding, Newson-Smith and Company, where he became Joint Senior Partner. He was much respected for wise, impartial and trustworthy advice, but his work was very demanding and just before he retired he confessed to one of his brothers that he really didn't understand the way the Stock Market worked any more and that there was a tendency for the younger generation to back- bite and be greedy. As in so many professions the gentlemanly age was disappearing.
Tragedy was to strike twice for Philip and his family. His wife, suffered a fatal heart attack in 1981. Notwithstanding, he slowly picked up the pieces of his life and had known Marijke, who was a colleague at Fielding, Newson-Smith. They fell in love and married. However, this was followed by one of the two sons Martin, being paralysed from a rugger accident. It was a challenging time for all the family and Philip set a wonderful example in actively supporting the International Spinal Research Trust.
Philip was a Jester, a Vice-Patron of the Peter May Memorial Appeal, Past President of the Old Reptonian Pilgrims Cricket Club. Philip also found time to be Chairman of Thaxted Festival Foundation and, with Marijke's support, changed it from loss-making to profit. St Mary's Church, Little Easton, overflowing with mourners at his funeral, benefited from his and Marijke's tendance of the church flowers and garden as well as the maintenance of the church itself. Gardening at home and music were another two of his passions. He also loved motoring and took particular pleasure in running a beautifully-kept classic Alvis for over forty years.
Entertaining was done in splendid fashion, whether for a few friends or a massive buffet. Wines were always of great quality and most carefully selected. Philip had his own vineyard in Italy and a small yacht on Lake Garda. Both he and Marijke took exams in navigation and seamanship successfully.
To family and friends Philip was known as a person of many gifts. He was a most caring and loving man, a very honest one, generous and very courteous. He had the knack of getting on with all sorts and condition of men, people he worked for, people he worked with and people who worked for him. He was a meticulous person, whether it was planning a journey, in dress sense, organising a fete or a festival, or just mucking out the horse - it would be done properly. He will be much missed, but paticularly remembered by so many.
To Marijka and his sons, Jonathan and Martin, we send our sincere condolences.
N Davenport - Olavian (EFA Report 1993-1994)
Neil died on 5th February 1994, a few days before his fifty-second birthday. His death was sudden and a shattering experience to family and friends. He died on the night that he returned home to Dallas after spending a week in England. In fact he had been playing fives two day earlier at Eton. He had spent that evening after fives with a group of us relating his experiences of travelling around the world in a style that was his very own.
He was a good fives player not quite in the top echelon but a very correct and consistent performer with one or two unique shots. He started playing Old Boys Fives in 1960 and played regularly for over twenty years. He was captain of the Old Olavians 1976- 81. He played second pair in the Old Olavian team that won the Barber Cup in 1971. He also played on the losing side in two more Barber Cup finals.
In the last twelve years, pressure of business forced him to curtail his appearances on court. However, he kept in touch with the game and managed to play a few times each year even after becoming domiciled in the USA in 1988.
In 1981 his business career took a quantum leap and he became an international businessman of some renown. For seven years he was the UK Managing Director of Cray Research. Then in 1988 he went to work in the USA first as President of the Cray Corporation and latterly as President of Systems Inc.
Despite working in these rarefied circles he never forgot his roots and one of his greatest enjoyments was to play a game of fives and have a pint and a chat with his friends after the game.
Neil was a man of many talents and he will be remembered for his success as a businessman, his sharp intellect, his outstanding memory and quick wit which could be barbed when he felt the occasion warranted it. However, above all Neil will be remembered for his very special brand of humour. He was the supreme purveyor of the one-liner; he could always find the appropriate and amusing comment.
To borrow a phrase - 'there will only be one Neil Davenport'. (R.T.S.)
A S Day - Carthusian (EFA Report 1998-1999)
It is sad to record the sudden death of Tony Day, who, for many years, was Master-in-Charge of Fives at Charterhouse. Sadly, too, his elder brother, Johnny, died only a few weeks later and they had been a regular pairing in the Kinnaird Cup.
Tony went to Harrow in 1944. He was in the School Cricket XI for five years, playing alongside Johnny for two of those. He was Captain in 1949 and was also a member of the school Eton Fives and Rugby team and became Head of his house.
After two years National Service with a commission in the Queen's Regiment, he went up to Magdalene College, Cambridge and came close to winning a Cricket Blue as an elegant, correct batsman.
During the fifties and sixties, Tony played much highgrade club cricket - for the Harrow Wanderers, Oatlands Park, the Free Foresters, the Butterflies and Jim Swanton's well known club, the Arabs, for whom Tony scored 133 not out on his first appearance.
In 1954 he was appointed to the Charterhouse staff as a Lower School form master. History was his main subject, but Tony also taught English, Latin and General Classics and in all these proved himself a thorough and interesting teacher, who always taught with great enthusiasm and success.
From 1959 to 1969 Tony was Master-in-Charge of Cricket. He had some very good sides with outstanding players, notably Richard Gilliatt, who later led Hampshire to win the County Championship and who now is Second Master at Charterhouse: and Edward Craig, who scored more runs in a season than any Carthusian previously. There were many others on whom Tony had a great influence for he showed to all that sport could be enjoyed whilst still being competitive. In all his sport he set the highest standards of behaviour and expected this of his pupils, instilling in them the etiquette of the game.
For a similar period of time he also ran the Fives, where again he was able to pass on his skill and knowledge. He produced 'Notes on Etiquette in Eton Fives' which was so comprehensive that the EFA asked his permission to circulate it to all Eton Fives schools. He also coached the Under-15 football team, doing invaluable work at that crucial level. During all this time he played a full part in the games life of Charterhouse. His great speed made him a prolific goal scorer for the Brooke Hall side and also enabled him to outstrip many opponents on the wing of the Brooke Hall hockey side. All in all for fifteen years Tony was a dominant figure on the school games scene, admired by friend and opponent alike.
Tony succeeded Tony Wreford-Brown as Housemaster of Weekites and was there for fifteen years before becoming Second Master and here too he continued to display that love of his fellow human beings and cared for them within a structured and well-ordered community. He was always thus. To a new member of Brooke Hall, coming in to an enclosed order he was a welcoming friend and his encouragement and shrewd advice, and the example he set in his attitude to life was a source of comfort and often an inspiration. To all the Charterhouse community he was a pillar - the embodiment of what is best in independent education and community living.
When Tony retired from Brooke Hall in 1990 Norman Evans wrote in the Carthusian 'With the retirement of ASD one more member of that endangered species leaves the fold, the genuine, old-style schoolmaster', and he ended a memorable article: 'He will be remembered as someone who gave total service to the community as a whole and to individuals in particular - it is for this that he will be sorely missed'. (R.N.P.G./R.H.C./G.D.S.)
R.G.de Quetteville - Etonian (EFA Report 1974-1975)
The Committee records with regret the death of R.G.de Quetteville, DSO., M.C., formerly President of the Association. A distinguished Etonian player in his day, he was, with R.A.Redhead, winner of the Kinnaird Cup in 1926 and 1928, the first two times the Competition was held.P K Dicker - Citizen (EFA Report 1994-1995)
It is especially sad to record the death of Paul Dicker from a heart attack in June at the age of fifty-six after an early retirement. He had been the master-in-charge at Berkhamsted School for nearly thirty years, was a Jester and had been appointed recently Honorary Secretary to the EFA.
Paul Dicker first played Eton Fives at the City of London School where the master-in-charge, Tom Manning, encouraged his game to the extent that he made the 1st VI and played in the Public School Championships. After National Service he was an Exhibitioner in Modern Languages at Caius College, Cambridge where he made the 2nd VI of the University Eton Fives team. He helped form the backbone of the Old Citizens Fives Club during its Golden age of the 60s and 70s and weekend tours were as much a highlight to him as his company was to others who took part. He was a wristy and unorthodox player and was noted for his peculiar shot, the Dicker flick.
Paul Dicker's career was one of distinction at Berkhamsted School where his talents and achievements were in the best traditions of any schoolmaster. He became a housemaster, Head of German and inevitably master-in-charge of fives. In the latter position his dedication was rewarded with winning pairs in the Public School Championships in 1972, 1977 and 1981, as well as Old Berkhamstedian Champions in the Kinnaird Cup. Equally important to him was the sense of fun which he instilled in his proteges. He was noted for his quick sense of humour and the generous hospitality afforded to visiting teams. His devotion to Berkhamsted was total. He produced school plays, edited The Berkhamstedian, also coached rugby and cricket and organised trips abroad - Vienna for the academics, Holland for cricket, Zuoz for fives, and the Pyrenees for cycling. He also had a deep love of German literature and music, knew his subject well and inspired many of his pupils. He could also compete with professionals in musicology.
Many will say that his greatest achievement was what he did for and what he was to his family and friends, colleagues and boys. He was a much loved godfather. He always appeared at the right moment to give support. He cared deeply for those for whom he was responsible. He was very good at helping boys who had difficulties. He could always keep the lines of communication open when others might have lost touch.
Latterly he found a new outlet for his kindness and sensitivity. He became a volunteer helper at the local day centre where he was much loved and is sorely missed. He also taught German briefly at the Mount Prison as a part time substitute teacher.
Those of us who knew him will remember him and mourn him deeply but will be thankful that he passed our way. (G.D.S.)
Constructed by Mike Fenn
18th May 2000
efa@etonfives.co.uk