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www Artillery, then joined the merchant bank J.F. Thomasson. In 1955 he married Mary Knatchbull-Hugessen, a student at the London School of Economics who had been accepted by the Canadian diplomatic service. Meeting Keynes changed her plans. “I rather ruined her career,” he joked. “We had five children in six years.” Mary survives him with their children: Gregory, Elizabeth, Toby, Martha and Zachary.
John Savage (Lx)
died 28th December 2017.
His son, Andy, writes: “John studied at Oundle, almost entirely in the war years, and he retained a deep affection for the School throughout his life.
“After school he studied Medicine at Cambridge University and subsequently worked as a houseman at St Thomas's Hospital, London, where he met my mother.
“He served as a medical officer in the RAF for his National Service, before taking up a post as a GP in Southwell, Nottinghamshire, where he worked for the next 30 years, until he retired at the age of 60.
“He then spent the next 31 years in Southwell, where he continued to play a major part in the community until his age started to affect him, very late. He was a keen cyclist until he was 89. His MBE was awarded for his contribution to the town.”
1946
P.D.H. Chambers (N)
died 20th September 2017.
G.J.M. Doherty (S)
died 4th September 2017.
Robert Walkinton (S)
died 1st March 2017.
His son, Mark Walkinton (S 74), writes: “My father started at the Berrystead in September 1939, before joining his elder brother, Guy Walkinton (S 42), in Sidney in 1941. He always talked fondly of his time at Oundle and recollected cycling out to Polebrook to watch American bombers taking off and landing. He was in the School shooting team and shot at Bisley. He was also a cox in the House rowing team. Rather surprisingly (to his family at least), he was also in the School choir. He was a School prefect and was informed of this by the Headmaster whilst in the School San after the summer term had ended, where he was recovering from a fever.
“After Oundle, he joined the Royal Sussex Regiment on a short-term commission and spent time in Palestine and Egypt. In 1948 he went to Clare College, Cambridge, to read Agriculture. Whilst there, he joined the University Air Squadron and learned to fly in a Tiger Moth.
“He spent all of his working life in farming in Lincolnshire, except for six years in North Northumberland in the 1960s.
“In August 1954 he married my mother, Gill, in Tealby, Lincolnshire. I was born in 1956 and my sister, Sara, in 1958. He and Gill moved to Fiskerton near Lincoln in 1970 and this was to be home for the remainder of his life. They both quickly involved themselves in village life and Rob was at various times a church warden, church treasurer, parish councillor, village school governor and trustee of a village charity.
“Retirement was a very happy time for my father – playing golf three times a week with his friends at Torksey Golf Club; travelling with Gill; and watching his grandchildren, Tom and Lucy, grow up.
“Although quite a shy and reserved man, he never took himself too seriously and was often ready with a humorous aside, particularly if he felt either Sara or I were getting ahead of ourselves. Always supportive, he had the ability to advise and steer us through life whilst at the same time making us feel that decisions made were our idea rather than down to his guidance. He was a courteous and considerate man, and will be sadly missed by his family and friends.”
1947
J.B. Bibby (St A)
died 21st January 2018.
Charles Bingham (Lx)
died 11th November 2017.
His daughter, Suzanna, writes: “My father started his years at Oundle in the Berrystead and subsequently moved to Laxton. His younger brother, Stuart, attended Oundle at the same time and their father, Charles Henry Bingham, and grandfather of the same name had attended before them. Charles enjoyed the Northamptonshire countryside. He learnt to fish on the River Nene and was a keen ornithologist, keeping tawny owls and kestrels at the School. For this reason, he was permitted to keep a gun, because his owls needed fresh food, and he would creep out of Laxton in the early hours to hunt rabbits – an extraordinary arrangement even then. Charles made lasting friendships with Ted Herdman and Bernard Hibbert, and has shared with us happy memories of skating on frozen rivers and stories of schoolboys digging potatoes to help the war effort. The scouts provided him with essential skills and he was a member of the .303 shooting team. Oundle was a strong chapter in his life and in later years he would often sing hymns or recite poems he had learnt at the School.
“After Oundle, Charles attended Cirencester Agricultural College and was awarded his Diploma of Membership in 1952. In the 1970s he established a fly- fishing school in Devon and became a leading name in naturalist writing and river conservation. During his career he wrote 11 books, the first being a practical guide, Salmon and Sea Trout Fishing. The one he most enjoyed writing was The River Test. Some of his books were given to the library at Oundle and a full account of his school days was published in The Way of a Wildfowler (2011). His work was also regularly published in magazines such as The Field, Salmon and Trout Magazine, and Country Illustrated. As Charles was never a man to sit idly in his retirement, he wrote a collection of short stories and, most recently, Rogue the Rook, published by Country Life. There is a pool on the River Dart named after him.
“In 1962 he married Pamela Waldron and they were very happy for 55 years,
OBITUARIES
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THE OLD OUNDELIAN 2017 –2018