Page 46 - Old Malvernian Newsletter - Issue 43 - 2020

OM OBITUARIES
1940s
Collins Derek George Nuting (5.46-49) House Prefect. Swimming Colours. Football XI. Derek never played golf but for decades he supported the Golfing Society through the 100 Club and regularly attended annual dinners at the Dyers’ Hall. Upon leaving Malvern, football became his passion. He later ran the 2nd and 3rd OM Soccer teams; their Headquarters being the ‘Dive’ Public House, opposite the Houses of Parliament. He began his business life with Broadwoods, the piano manufacturers, and fairly quickly started a successful business from his store in Surbiton, made to look enormous with his clever use of mirrors. Remarkably he was still playing tennis into his 80s. Died 24 February 2019, aged 86.
Elgar Guy Lawrence (5.43-45) House Prefect. Guy joined the Navy just after the war had ended, and in mid-1946 was drafted as Ordinary Seaman on HMS Gambia for an 18-month tour of the Far East. In March 1949 he set off for Port Sudan with a couple of rifles, saddles, and other goods and chattels to work on the Sudan Plantation Scheme. He learned Arabic and developed a love of polo. On leave in England in April 1953 he married Pamela. Their three-month honeymoon included driving through France and Spain, exploring Scotland, and seats at Hyde Park for the Coronation procession. After two more years in the Sudan, Guy moved to Singapore to work for Shell. He subsequently worked in Libya, Kuwait, Qatar, Aden, London, Brunei and Nigeria. Pamela and Guy retired to Somerset taking over his family farm, with occasional visits to friends to Kenya and New Zealand. Polo continued to be a big part of his life; Guy loved his ponies, Purdie and Fizz, on which he would ride with the Hunt in winter and play polo in the summer. He arranged outings to the Coronation Cup and Windsor Great Park, and sponsored the Ethiopian Shield at Taunton Vale until 2018. Guy also had a life- long passion of fly-fishing, and in later life he travelled to New Zealand, Patagonia, Iceland and Russia on fishing trips. However, he had a special fondness for the river Spey, where he caught his first salmon at the age of 15 and
his last at the age of 89. Guy is survived by his son, daughter and four grandchildren. Died 20 March 2019, aged 91.
Humphreys Robin Myles Lloyd (6/8.40-45) Head of House. Senior Chapel Prefect. Robin won a Classics Scholarship to Pembroke College, Cambridge. He worked as a solicitor abroad for most of his career. He was a huge supporter of the Golf Society, played in the Halford-Hewitt, was Captain in 1989 and President 1991-96. Robin was ‘old school’, hated computers and led his life by example - always prepared to do the things no-one else would do - very much in the spirit of the war generation. A man of great warmth and humility. Died 19 July 2019, aged 92.
Mayne Kenneth William (5.41-45) Junior Chapel Prefect; Head of House; Football XI (capt); Cricket XI; Rackets1st Pair. Athletics (president). Ken won a scholarship to Clare College, Cambridge and achieved a First in Mechanical Engineering. He had a successful career with English Electric (latterly GEC) and commissioned gas turbines for Navy frigates and power stations in countries across the world. He enjoyed representing the OMs at both cricket and football, and went on to play 2nd XI cricket for Surrey prior to sustaining a detached retina whilst at Cambridge. In those days corrective surgery was of the open and scalpel variety, and Ken never quite recovered his eyesight to the top sporting level it had been previously. This did not prevent him from going on to play squash at County level, be elected to the Hawks Club, and win a county veterans’ tennis title. He continued to play competitive squash well into his 70s, recreational tennis until he was 89 and played nine holes of golf (walking the course!) the week before he died. Died 28 February 2019, aged 91.
Mitchley Anthony Owen Richard (4.40-44) Died 30 December 2018, aged 91.
Phillips John Keith Martin (3.43-48) School Prefect. After Malvern, Keith (the second of four Phillips’ generations to attend the College) went on to Imperial College London and worked for ICI, GKN, PA Management Consultants and John Anderson Associates. He was later a councillor in Malvern. He enjoyed fishing and golf - a maddening game,
as he called it. He is believed to be a founder member of the London University Ski Club, a sport fundamental to the existence to the oldest four Phillips boys and their offspring, as it was on a London University ski holiday in the early 50s in Kandersteg that Keith met - or rather gallantly rescued - his future wife after she had fallen and broken her leg. A keen skier and sailor even in his eighties, Keith defied his cancer, myeloma, to swim to shore for lunch after dropping anchor off the coast of Greece. Such was his determination. Admitted to hospital after a fall and with double pneumonia and given just 48 hours to live, he lived a further couple of weeks, the doctors calling him ‘miracle man’, until he could fight no more. Essentially a shy man, sometimes even taciturn, Keith was private, modest, not given to rash promises and not flash. He was generally reserved and uncomfortable with verbosity; and his scientific brain gave him a natural defence against gullibility. Something ill-thought-through or implausible would be greeted with his familiar sharp rejoinder ‘What a load of rubbish!’ Keith was a craftsman; he not only made beautiful silver jewellery, but he turned his engineering skill to adapting furniture for the disabled through his work with REMAP. And he loved his garden. He was a proud Welshman, from the valleys of Aberdare, with an excellent voice which he used to sing with great effect. Keith was tall, distinguished-looking, trustworthy and a man of integrity. Died 9 April 2018, aged 88.
Watts Robin Glen Burness (5.45-49) House Prefect Died 7 August 2019, aged 88.
1950s
Burns David Christopher Macdonald House Prefect (1.50-55) Died 25 January 2019, aged 81.
Ellis David John (5.47-51) spoke to Sheila (sister-in-law) Died 26 March 19, aged 85.
Erskine David Robin (4.46-52) Senior Chapel Prefect. Fives. Cricket XXII. Football XL. Robin won a Scholarship to Trinity College Cambridge. After university, he joined J. Walter Thompson where he enjoyed a successful advertising career. He was captain of the OMGS in 2008 and a regular at matches and meetings. He played in and then captained the veterans’ team in the Bernard Darwin for several years. In life, he would always undertake tasks that didn’t appeal to others and always went out of his way to help others - and never failed them. Died 1 August 2019, aged 86.
Franklyn Rodney Lawrence (8.47-52) Died 5 September 2019, aged 83.
Lord Michael John (5.47-50) After a year at Trinity College he decided that medicine was not for him and so embarked on a 40-year adventure in Africa that saw him achieve great success in the paint industry. Settling in Kenya to begin with, Michael paid a single visit to the Grosvenor Hotel in Nairobi, frequented by air hostesses from the UK, where, as luck would have it, he met his future wife Bridget.
46 | Old Malvernian Newsletter