Rhubarb 2019

42 ST EDWARD’S r h u b a r b

became Head of Department at Papplewick School in Ascot for several years. When he left the teaching profession in the 1970s he took up a position as a company accountant, working in the UK and Saudi Arabia, and he remained in this occupation until he retired. A guardian Angus often stayed with during the late 1940s was his grandmother’s cousin, the enigmatic Hugh Borthwick (a wartime Secret Service spy) and his wife Eva, proprietors of the Southwick estate and the village of Purbrook near Portsmouth. The grand Southwick House was requisitioned by the government during the second world war, and it became the operations centre for the D-Day landings in 1944. The house has remained in the hands of the Ministry of Defence ever since. Angus’s acquaintance with the Borthwicks led to an amazing adventure, which began in 1957 when he set out to prove against the odds that a painting owned by the family, a portrait of Archbishop Fernando de Valdés, was a genuine Velázquez. Grateful for his heroic efforts which took him to the Prado Art Gallery in Madrid and beyond, Eva Borthwick gifted the painting to Angus, and in 1967 he sold it for the princely sum of £100,000 to the National Gallery, where it still hangs to this day.

BAKER – On 10th November 2018, Roger Franklyn Whiston Baker (F, 1946-1950). Brother of William (F, 1947-1952), father of Clive (F, 1977-1982). These words were kindly provided by Roger’s daughter, Victoria: Roger was born in Cyncoed, Cardiff in December 1932. In 1938 he, his parents Cecil and Gladys and his brother Nigel moved north. Years later Roger recalled the fact that they had been a bit smug, thinking that they had moved to a safer city in case of war, only to be dismayed when the shop holding Roger and Nigel’s Christmas presents was bombed when war did break out. After leaving primary school in Sheffield, he attended St Edward’s followed the next year by his brother. Although he was never very academic they were still the best years of his life. National Service beckoned after school and Roger served with the Green Howards until 1953. Posted for two and a half compulsory years to the Hallamshire Battalion (TA) he then volunteered his service and retired in 1965 as a Captain and with the Territorial Decoration. His first job was as a sports reporter for the Sheffield Post in 1954 but by 1958 he was working as a financial rep for Lombank, a division of Lombard Bank, which is where he met Lynne, who became his wife in 1961. The following August, Victoria was born in Hull closely followed by her brother Clive, by which time they had moved back to Roger’s beloved Wales. The family moved from Llanelli to Dinas Powys in 1965, where they settled. In 1974 they moved to Rectory Road in Penarth with Roger’s mother, Gladys. Unfortunately, shortly after this Roger lost his job and, under the strain, the marriage failed. Roger stayed in South Wales

Martin attended St Edward’s School 1954-1958. On leaving school he joined Blackwell’s bookshop, where he honed his chess skills, and worked for nearly two years in their export department. In 1963 he graduated from the University of Wales (Swansea) with an Honours degree in Politics. After two years working in Germany and then with the Oxfordshire County Library service at Norham Gardens he gained entrance to the North Western Polytechnic School of Librarianship and later became an ALA. His first professional post was at Christchurch Library, near Bournemouth. In October 1966 he joined the Bodleian Law Library (only two years after it opened) with Reading Room and cataloguing responsibilities. He became Head of Cataloguing following the retirement of his predecessor in December 1996. He had seen the Law Library undergo many changes and had endured cheerfully the changes from manual cataloguing to computer-based cataloguing. He had maintained and overseen consistently high standards in the cataloguing of law books, which were often rather poorly treated by non-specialist staff in general libraries, and had thus made an important contribution to the Bodleian’s input to shared databases. Martin was blessed with a cheerful and gregarious disposition and the social life of the Library was the poorer for his departure. Many library problems were solved with a cheery word, perhaps followed with a visit to a local hostelry. His positive outlook enabled him to make light of the disability of an artificial limb to the extent that colleagues were seldom aware of it. Martin’s main leisure activities focused on wildlife and nature conservation, with

V A L E T E O B I T U A R I E S

Roger Franklyn Whiston Baker

for a couple of years before joining his brother Nigel’s family in Ealing, London, where Gladys had already taken up residence. Re-inventing himself again, Roger trained as a financial consultant - a move that amused many people but particularly his brother, knowing Roger’s track record with money. Settled in London, Roger revelled in the social scene joining in Nigel and Daphne’s many parties. Many people would call in for a chat and end up with a glass of red wine, or two! Throughout his life Roger continued to follow the School’s sports teams, going annually to his beloved Henley Royal Regatta where he’d often be spotted in his Rhubarb blazer and boater - indeed a picture of him in his attire was used in The Telegraph to promote the upcoming Henley Royal Regatta in 2009. Roger outlived both his brother and sister-in-law Daphne who died in 2016, so his time in London came to an end. Aged 83 he moved back to South Wales and landed on his feet with the best flat in his residential complex, situated around the corner from his daughter. Being one of the few male residents, he used his charms to the end. BARNSLEY – In 2017, Martin Patrick Barnsley (A, 1954-1958). The following words were written by Robert Logan, OU Law Library:

Angus Bainbrigge