'A Grandfather's Tale: Memoirs being mainly concerned with service in the Indian Army and the Indian Political Service in India and the Persian Gulf from 1932-1947' [‎6r] (11/118)

I wou
change into something less conspicuous,
sent for me Jd to“tod‘r^ v^dT^eT ° f "* houseraa3ter
was very seriously ill. j never saw the telegram myself^Ird I Vow
taken suddenly ^11^1“ to “ me he was dead - He had in fact been
m n suddenly ill on the sunaay of that week and had died in the nisht
oj. iuesaay, ihe l 8 tn December 1923 . He was onlv hR van-n " Lc *
fit, but th^ d^rno nr Sc; o-p c i i aS ° n ° years old and apparently
’ rxie a - manas of a large slum parish of 14,000 oeonle had taken
toll oi him and must, I think, at least have contributed ?o his earW death
It was a tremendous shook to all of us but my father's friends rallied
round and a house was bought in the parish of St. Alban's, Vestcliff-on
iql h r 7 - mJ ha ? SerVed as a ourat e- We moved down there early in
live only a mile or two away from where I had been born and mv
mother remained there for the rest of her life, and my sisters hter w
trD^^eflQsffd 0 ' 1 ^ 1?th T March 196 °' ^ elder "sister Bin " tS'
0tn Jecem - e t' i9o3 and my sisner Joyce on the 23rd June 1971).
, In 1 927 my younger brother Patrick joined me at Christ's Hoscital
nrst in the Prep and then in Barnes B. Like me he had beel ''presented’'
^ 1 er 3 oousin , Dr - - rank Howard Humphris,. whose own father, yreat-
S ^ ra Si.r t#red ^r 8 K ° SPital Preparat °^ School, then at Hertford,
i ^ later P roaee< ^ing to Newgate Street, London, where the Senior
choo! henwas. ne is said to have disliked the School so much that he
reiused m la.er lue to become a Governor but eventually heloed his son
t 0ne ^ ST:ead - A Raaaa cousin of my father was thereabout the
n of the century, so our connection with the School goes back some time,
n oruunae y, until very recently, it has not been possible for any Old
Blue who has done moderately well in life to send his own son to the School
as a \ery strict means test has always been operated.
wh-irh ^ Gnr j st ' s Hos P ital Athletics were run in the Spring (Saster) Term
inch, irom the weatner point of view had its drawbacks. I was reasonably
last at anything from a quarter mile downwards and in 1923 I won the School
ri a nlicap. In 1930 I won the 100 yds. open and was second in the 440 vds.
n the Saster holidays some of us competed in the Public Schools Championships,
st re r ed rhe flnal ° f the 100 yds ‘ but thsn ruined m y chances by an anpalling
Jhen I xeft the School at the end of the summer term of 1930 I was
a istory Deputy Grecian. At that time only boys destined for the Universitv
were made Grecians, and Sandhurst did not count as one, but in fact the
History ’’Deps and Grecs" were one form and I came 6 th out of about sixteen.
was in uhe 1st XXX but failed to get a permanent place in the 1st XV,
an in cricket I only achieved the height of captaining the School 3rd XX.
I had, however, full Athletics Colours. I was also 2nd Monitor or vice-
captain of my house, Barnes 3 .