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Shepperson Memorial

the Party again after his post-War demobilisation, and of his having travelled to Bosnia
as part of a youth railway-building project. In time, disillusioned he said, he had again
resigned and explained his involvement as having been a natural consequence of his
modest upbringing in the then semi-industrial environment of Peterborough and a
youthful enthusiasm to assist build a better, more inclusive world. A visa was granted.
Another letter he handed me, this time on official, embossed, government Whitehall-
headed paper from an unnamed office or department, a room number only being cited,
invited him in vague terms to a London meeting ‘in his interest’ on a specific date.
George had later added the annotation in pencil ‘taken for good lunch at Charing Cross
hotel’. He chose not to discuss this latter communication.
Mention should be made of George Shepperson’s association, indeed
friendship, with the Republic of Malawi’s first president Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda.
George first met Banda in London where Banda was then a practising GP; more than a
decade before Banda returned to Nyasaland and was elected firstly prime minister and
then president. Meeting at Banda’s lodgings, on that first occasion, George took with
him what he referred to as ‘a brown paper bag’ lunch. Banda declined to share
George’s offering on the grounds that ‘we Chewa do not eat with strangers.’ It might
well have been just a case of the choice of sandwiches; catering was never one of
George’s strongpoints! After what might seem an inauspicious start, the relationship
blossomed with, years later, Banda offering George the first Vice Chancellorship of the
new University of Malawi; an honour George politely declined. At Edinburgh
University, George fêted Banda whenever he visited, during which times he formed
most cordial relations with the Kadzamira family, particularly the Official Hostess,
Mama Cecilia Kadzamira. Indeed, when any of the Kadzamiras were visiting the U.K.
unaccompanied by the President, Banda would contact George and ask him to ensure
their appropriate reception and smooth passage. For well over a decade the President,
the Kadzamiras and even John Tembo, a senior government minister who was Cecilia
Kadzamira’s uncle, exchanged very chatty Christmas cards with George. As far as
President Banda was concerned, this most happy of relationships terminated abruptly
when George wrote to the president, as a friend, expressing concern at Banda’s
forcibly expressed intention to hang publicly Ali Medson Silombela (pour encourager
les autres) after his trial and conviction for the murder, amongst others, of a local
Malawi Congress Party Chairman, Ali John Mbewa, during the failed and short-lived
revolt led by former minister Henry Chipembere. Friendly advice was construed as
adverse criticism, which Banda appeared constitutionally incapable of tolerating.
Nevertheless, oddly perhaps, the exchange of convivial Christmas cards with the
Kadzamiras continued for some years following Banda’s sudden and lasting rejection
of his old friend and sometime confidant.
Fond recollections and accompanying nostalgia threaten to extend my tribute
exponentially, and so I shall conclude with two final abiding memories. The first
relates to George’s love of the Swahili and Chinyanja marching songs he learnt in the
KAR, the words of which never left him. I would be regaled with these songs almost
whenever he took a comfort stop during our Friday sessions. “Just going to the chim”,
he would announce, rising to his feet; the Chinyanja word chimbudzi meaning latrine.
He would then burst into a rendering of a marching song such as “Tu Funge Safari”
which would continue, spasmodically, until he returned once again to his chair. My last
recollection relates to the many hospital appointments to which I accompanied him
over the years when everyone we passed of apparent African descent would be greeted,
cheerily, first in Swahili and then in Chinyanja. If either elicited a response, the length
of ensuing conversations would frequently bring us nearer and nearer to the hour of his

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