Rhubarb 2017

ST EDWARD’S r h u b a r b

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HARRIS – Group Captain Peter Harris CBE (D, 1942- 1947), on 16th January 2016. The following obituary has kindly been provided by Peter’s daughters Pippa and Sally: Having been dissuaded by his father from applying for a regular commission in the Royal Air Force, Peter Harris went on to pursue a successful career in the electronics engineering industry, and simultaneously to devote much of his spare time to the Reserve Forces, which he served modestly and with distinction. Although none of his superiors in GEC ever openly questioned him as to where his primary loyalties lay, he did himself sometimes wonder which activity was the more satisfying. Peter Harris was born in Eastbourne on 6th September 1929, the eldest son of a bank official who was destined to become a leading member of society in the town later in life. His early education followed the peregrinations of his father, and included a wartime evacuation year at Llandovery College, but eventually he went to Roborough School, Eastbourne, from where he won an Open Scholarship to St Edward’s School, Oxford, having been just pipped to a Barclays Bank Scholarship. During National Service in the Royal Air Force from 1947 to 1949, he developed interests in both radar engineering and aviation, which were to determine the course of his life thereafter. He had won a State Scholarship from school, tenable not at Cambridge as was his great hope, but at the University of Birmingham, to which he went up in 1949 to read Electrical Engineering under the tutelage of Professor Tustin. Here he became involved in a range of

2003. He is survived by a son and three daughters.

He qualified as a solicitor and worked initially for Cumberland County Council before becoming a parliamentary agent and senior partner with Sherwood and Co in London. He became an expert in drafting legislation and as Government Agent he navigated the Channel Tunnel through the tortuous legislative process, starting in 1974 as a Bill, which was dropped but eventually revived and passed as an Act in 1987. Gamon was appointed CBE in 1979. He retired in 1995 and lived on at his home in Kent, tending his garden and singing enthusiastically in the local choir. His wife predeceased him in

extramural activities, including the Engineering Society, the University Conservative Association, the Council of the Guild of Undergraduates, and the University Rowing Club, of which he was a founder- member; but his primary interest was the University Air Squadron, which he joined at the first opportunity, learning to fly initially on Tiger Moths and later on the then modern Chipmunks, under the command of Squadron Leader JAC (later ACM Sir John) Aiken. The fact that in his final year he achieved more flying hours than in the two previous years combined, possibly contributed to his limited academic success in that he was awarded only a second-class degree. On graduating in 1952, he took a post as an electronic development engineer at the Borehamwood Research Laboratories of Elliott Brothers (London) Limited, where he was employed on the development of various experimental missile and radar systems. After some three years he decided to satisfy his wanderlust, and joined the overseas staff of the Decca Navigator Company, where he was to spend the next five years. His travels took him inter alia to Newfoundland, where he was in a team setting up a radio navigation system to facilitate the accurate laying of the first transatlantic telephone cable, and to Brunei, where he installed and managed an off-shore radio survey system on behalf of the Brunei Shell Company. The climax of this career stage took him to Christmas Island in the Central Pacific, where he successfully established a land navigation aid for use by aircraft and warships participating in “Operation

HANKS – On 10th January 2015, Michael John Hanks, after a short illness. Michael left St Edward’s in 1941. He enlisted in the KRRC in August 1945 before transferring to the Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry in 1947 undertaking his officer training in India. He left the army in 1948 and joined Dorland Advertising Ltd where he became a director, retiring in 1982. Michael is survived by Sue, his wife of 62 years, three sons, Simon, James and Willie, seven grandchildren and three great grandchildren.

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Michael Hanks