Class of 1940 - 1949

Arthur Aust
19.01.1918 – 07.02.2007
Provided by Jack Aust

Arthur Aust who was invested with the OBE in 1978 for his services to military defence has died at the age of 89 years.

Born in Tiensin to a missionary family he spent the first five years of his life in northern China returning to school and a place at Rugby in 1930. In 1935 he became a Youth in Training at the GPO Radio Station Rugby working on radio transmitters until he was granted a place at London University City and Guilds Engineering College obtaining a BSc Honours degree in Telecommunications.

In 1940 he was called up for duty at Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough where he joined the Radio Department Airborne radio communication section. He became a member of the team designing and building HF and VHF transmitter receivers for RAF fighters and bombers including the first 4-channel press button operated transceiver.

He married Mary Edith Lake in 1942 and they had two sons. In 1945 he was seconded to the RAF serving in India developing homing systems for Thunderbolt fighters preparing to attack Rangoon and went on to design airborne and ground UHF radio equipment for RAF and RN post war systems, moving on to the design of Digital Data Link for ground control of fighter aircraft. His next project was with SHAPE Air Defence at The Hague in Netherlands and was Project Leader for NATO ship to shore communications systems.

His first wife died in 1970 and subsequently married Sylvia Joy moving to London to join the Ptarmigan project at Project Manager, officially retiring in 1978 when he was awarded the OBE but worked for a while as Laboratory Technician at a Woking school.

Arthur was a devoted grandfather and great-grandfather, long-standing choir member of Hordle Church, a tireless supporter of the Mencap Gateway Club and kept his sense of humour through two long illnesses.

Barclay G Humphrys (Civil & Environmental Engineering 1942)
11.01.1922 – 03.03.2010
Provided by Jane Humphreys

Educated at Peter Symonds School, Winchester, Barclay started his studies in Civil Engineering at Imperial College London in 1940. An active sportsman, he rowed for the first VIII, competing in the annual boat race against Cambridge in 1942 when Oxford declined the challenge. On completion of his studies he joined the Royal Engineers. After surviving zero hour on Gold beach (demolishing anti tank defences) he progressed through occupied France with further demolition on the way until he finally got to use his construction knowledge building river and canal crossings. Following VE day he served in India near the Afghanistan border retiring with the rank of Captain. He then secured a post with Sir Robert McAlpine where he stayed until his retirement. He rose to a senior project manager particularly enjoying a spell in Scotland overseeing the construction of concrete oil platforms at Ardyne Point in the 70's. At the time these were the largest floating artefacts in the world. His retirement was equally full being involved in local conservation, serving as a church warden and parish councillor.

Carey D Baker (Westminster Hospital Medical School 1941)
11.05.1917 – 29.10.2008
Provided by Mrs Baker March

Carey Denis Baker, M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., F.R.C.G.P., was born in Tooting, South London, on 11 May 1917.  Educated at the Bec School, Tooting, he won a place at King's College, London in 1935 to study medicine, and went on to Westminster Hospital Medical School in London in 1937.  While still a houseman, he courageously volunteered for fire watching night duties during the Blitz of 1940. His training was cut short in 1941 when called up to join the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm, serving as a medical officer on board HMS Greenwich in the North Atlantic. 

On his return to Britain, victory was declared in Europe, but he was posted again, this time to Ceylon supporting aircraft carrier personnel in the Far East.  After the defeat of the Japanese, he supervised the closure of the military hospital at Colombo single-handedly, eventually returning to England in 1946.

During the war, he had married his first wife, Betty, and their first child, Christine, had been born. In 1947 he wrote a book ("The House You Live In") dedicated to her.  In the immediate post-war years he joined group practices in Worthing, Tamworth (Staffs) and finally South Woodford (London), to which he dedicated the next 35 years of his professional life. 

In 1948, he witnessed, and was an enthusiastic advocate of, the start of the NHS, later becoming a member of the Essex NHS Executive Committee, and a member of the North-East Metropolitan Hospital Management Committee. 

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of General Practitioners in 1967 in recognition of his work as a founding member of the College, and his contribution to early innovations in general practice, such as the appointment system, age-sex registers, health visitor attachments, practice nurses, dedicated clinics and morbidity/mortality registers. 

With financial support from the Medical Research Council and Upjohn Travelling Fellowships, he researched and published a number of papers on patient-doctor contact, non-attenders in general practice, and smoking addiction and treatment. The latter was collaborative and ground-breaking work with Dr Michael Russell at the Addiction Research Unit, Institute of Psychiatry, London. As early as 1979, for example, they were pioneering the idea of prescribed nicotine chewing gum for withdrawing addicts. 

Carey Baker was a dedicated member of staff at the Woodford Jubilee Hospital, until its closure in 1981, becoming chairman of the Medical Staff Committee, and Clinical Assistant in Gynaecology. He gave freely of his time in a number of voluntary capacities – as Lecturer in First Aid for St John's Ambulance and the British Red Cross Society, and Medical Officer for a local children's home (Mill Grove). Many of his other non-medical commitments reflect his deeply-held Christian convictions: the Boys' Brigade, the Scripture Gift Mission, and the Culion Leprosy Mission, Philippines among others.  He gave generously of his time and energy in supporting these and many other charities.  The family were shocked by the sudden death of Betty in 1968. 

After retirement from the Woodford practice in 1982, Carey moved to Canterbury, where he continued his work for the SGM, the Boys' Brigade, and various charities (including Orbis). With lay preaching and a monthly column, he gave support to local churches.  He always enjoyed reading, gardening, travelling and walking, and offered warm hospitality to many friends far and near.  His large and growing family (three children, eleven grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren) was a constant source of interest and pleasure for him.  He died peacefully at home in March 2008, aged 90, and is survived by his second wife, Muriel, whom he married in 1971. Carey's body was bequeathed to University College, London, for medical education and training.

Christopher Dell (BSc ARSM Mining 1941, MSc 1942)
13.01.1921 – 03.01.2007
Provided by Nevill Rice (DIC Chemical Engineering, PhD Materials 1966)

Chris Dell, who died recently just 10 days before his eighty-sixth birthday, was well known in the minerals industry for his outstanding contributions to the science, practice and teaching of mineral processing. He was an ingenious inventor producing at least three major contributions: the Leeds flotation column, the Leeds laboratory flotation cell and a counter-current decantation column. These were supported by the NRDC and British Coal who also tested the flotation column on a full-scale operation, whilst the lab cell proved to be widely popular for small-scale testwork.

He was always coming up with new 'wizard wheezes', many of which worked well. His philosophy for the design of flotation circuits was to keep it as simple and practical as possible using graphical techniques including release analysis, multi-component release analysis and timed batch tests. These techniques were thoroughly tested by several generations of his research students.

Chris helped to develop the Applied Mineral Sciences degree (now Mineral Engineering) at the University of Leeds, introducing many of these methods into the course especially in the final year projects. Students received a thorough grounding in ways of assessing plant performance and lab testwork. He produced the manuscript of a book on this topic that unfortunately has never been published. He also taught practical subjects such as materials handling and solid/liquid separation. He acted as Examinations Co-ordinator for some years and Departmental Safety Officer. He had an early concern for environmental matters. A good example of this was his investigation of the lead content of his garden soil and home-grown vegetables as a result of using compost from leaves fallen in the streets of Leeds.

He was educated at University College School in London and graduated with a degree in Mining from the Royal School of Mines in 1941. He spent the remaining war years working on sights for low-level bombing at the Royal Aircraft Establishment in Farnborough. From 1946 to 1952 he worked at the Mufuleira concentrator in the copper belt of Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia), acting as Plant Superintendent for a time. He then worked for several years at the Coal Research Establishment at Stoke Orchard, Gloucestershire, where he was a Head of Section. In 1959 he joined the Department of Mining at the University of Leeds as a Lecturer becoming a Senior Lecturer in 1966. He was a Fellow of the Minerals Engineering Society and the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy.

Outside of technical matters, Chris was a keen gardener, producing particularly fine Delphiniums. He was a very talented oil painter of portraits and landscapes. He was also a fine singer, participating in several church choirs. After retirement, he developed a keen interest in archaeology after finding a Roman well under his back kitchen in Aldborough. He was also Treasurer of the Yorkshire section of MENCAP for some years. These activities represent only a few of his many and varied interests. Chris was very much a family man. He is survived by his widow, Diana, and a son and two daughters, another son having predeceased him. He was always popular with students and colleagues, helpful to those in need and tolerant and fair to all. He was gentle, modest and unassuming. He had a good sense of humour - perhaps a bit 'school-boyish', making the odd, slightly risque comment, particularly about nick-naming politicians he did not agree with. He will be greatly missed by all for his enthusiasm, encouragement and balanced outlook on life.

The affection and respect in which Chris was held were shown by the large numbers who gathered in Ripon Cathedral to bid him farewell.

Provided by his son Phil Kear

29.10.1923 – 5.03.2019

David Kear died in March 2019 in Auckland, New Zealand, at the age of 95. He was a highly respected figure in the New Zealand scientific community.

Born in London, he was educated at Sevenoaks School in Kent. He was awarded a scholarship to the Royal College of Mines at Imperial College London and undertook degrees in mining engineering and geology, including several months’ practical experience in the South Wales coal mines. He spent the latter part of the war and its aftermath, from 1944 to 1947, in the Royal Navy, where he served in the Pacific on HMS Glory and HMNZS Achilles. Returning to Imperial to complete his degrees, he applied for a job with the New Zealand Geological Survey. He represented London University at hockey and became engaged to Joan Bridges, a fellow student at Imperial. They were married in 1948 and spent their honeymoon on the five-week sea voyage to New Zealand.

When the Kears arrived in New Zealand late in 1948, there was a major post-war energy shortage, and much of the work of the Geological Survey was concentrated on coalfield investigations. After a year based in Greymouth, Kear was transferred to Ngaruawahia to investigate the Waikato coalfields. It was the start of a highly productive scientific period during which Kear produced many reports, maps and publications. He was appointed District Geologist and throughout his career he always had administrative responsibilities, which he carried out efficiently.

Initial investigations at Ngaruawahia focused on detailed mapping of the Waikato coalfields and estimation of coal resources, and Kear was always proud that this work provided the basis for the Meremere and Huntly Power Stations. In 1956, he spent three months undertaking a reconnaissance survey of Western Samoa, aimed at locating groundwater resources, and he returned to Samoa many times to assist with groundwater investigations.

In addition to these and other activities, he enrolled for an external PhD from the University of London, and spent many weekends and holidays studying the geology of the Te Akau area, west of Hamilton. He returned to London to present his thesis in 1963.

In 1958, Kear was transferred to Auckland, where he was again District Geologist. He undertook a variety of investigations in the North Island, including work for the New Zealand steel investigating company. He located the ironsand deposit at Waikato North Head that is now mined, based on his knowledge of the local geology. This was only one of several major contributions that Kear made to the knowledge and utilisation of New Zealand’s mineral resources.

In 1965, David Kear was appointed New Zealand’s Chief Economic Geologist, responsible for all economic and applied geology within the Geological Survey, and the Kear family moved from Auckland to Lower Hutt. Two years later, he was appointed Director of the Geological Survey and, in 1973, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand.

The following decade was a period of general prosperity and economic development. Kear was responsible for setting up groups focusing on applied geology, including engineering geology, earth deformation and petroleum exploration.

In 1974, Kear was appointed assistant Director-General of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, and in 1980 he became Director-General, responsible for a large and diverse scientific organisation. The period he spent at DSIR Head Office coincided with a series of energy crises in the 1970s and 1980s, which led to the ‘Think Big’ projects developed by the Muldoon government, most of which required scientific input and evaluation. Kear played a significant role in the formation of Petrocorp, the state-owned exploration company, leading to the discovery of oil at the McKee field. This was particularly satisfying to the local geological community, as the oil companies up to that time had maintained that New Zealand was a gas province and, therefore, not worth exploring for oil.

David Kear retired in 1983 when he reached the compulsory public service retirement age of 60. In the 1983 Queen’s Birthday Honours, he was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG).

Joan and David Kear had already decided that they would retire to Ohope, the beach suburb of Whakatane, where they built a home that they lived in for the next three decades. David Kear took up work as a consultant, including several UN roles, both in New Zealand and overseas, and he and Joan entered fully into the life of their local community, for example as foundation members of the Ohope Probus Club and Friends of the Whakatane Museum. David wrote several articles on local geology for a non-technical audience. In later years, he became sceptical of the evidence for anthropogenic global warming. He also completed a substantial document recording the ancestry of the Kear family.

Joan Kear died in 2013. David continued to live at Ohope until early 2018, before moving into nursing care in Auckland. He was farewelled in ceremonies in Auckland and Ohope by family, colleagues and friends, who recalled him as a true gentleman. He leaves three children, seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Dennis H Phillips

1915 – 27.11.2009

Provided by Mrs Marcia Phillips.

Dennis studied at Wye Agricultural College until tuition ceased due to the commencement of the Second World War. Dennis joined the Royal Air Force and flew forty- seven sorties as a bomber pilot, and gained The Distinguished Flying Cross which is awarded to personnel who have shown acts of valour, courage or devotion to duty whilst flying in active operations.  After the war, Dennis trained as a horticulturist and founded Shallowmead Nurseries Ltd in South Hampshire, which is still being run by his daughter.

15 October 1925 - 30 October 2022

The Oxford Department of Physics is saddened to convey that Emeritus Professor Donald Perkins CBE FRS, died peacefully on the morning of Sunday 30 October in Oxford, Donald was 97. Donald had just celebrated his birthday earlier in the month and had also lost his wife, Dorothy, in 2021. We would like to extend our condolences to his family and to his two daughters.  

Don was a well-known and admired figure in Experimental Particle Physics throughout his life, both in the UK and worldwide. He began his career in ‘wartime’ Imperial College London (benefitting from scholarships he had won). Then, in Bristol University, Donald had contributed to the discovery of the pi meson using photographic emulsion techniques, and then finally in Oxford where he was the Professor from 1965 until his retirement in 1998.

He was responsible for creating the Particle Physics Research activity in the new university department, established by Professor Sir Denys Wilkinson. He led the UK and the European research programme in neutrino physics, which was pursued at CERN.

Don served as Chairman of the Nuclear Physics Board of the UK Science Research Council (SRC), which led to his CBE, and Chairman of the Scientific Policy Committee at CERN, to name only two of the many roles he undertook. He was also elected to The Royal Society in 1966 and received the Royal Medal of the Society in 1991.

Besides research Don will be remembered, by legions of students worldwide, for his books and his ‘Introduction to High Energy Particle Physics'. 

Douglas A Pask (BEng ACGI Electrical Engineering 1941)

23.03.1919 – 13.06.2008

Provided by Mrs D. Pask

Douglas served in the RNVR during the war. Afterwards, he was involved for 38 years in the electrical industry. Much of his career was in the construction of nuclear power stations, later becoming Director General of the South West region of the CEGB. He always retained his love of the sea and was awarded the V.R.D. He is survived by his wife, Denise, and son, Dominic. His daughter Dr Melanie J. Pask PhD (Imperial College London) predeceased him two years ago.

Douglas W Haigh (BEng ACGI Chemical Technology 1940)

07.01.1919 – 05.03.2012

Provided by Peter Haigh

It is with sadness we announce the death of Douglas Wilson Haigh born in Barnsley, Yorkshire in January 1919. He was a veteran of WWII landing on Juno Beach with the Canadians on D-Day. He lived in England, India, Australia, Sri Lanka and Canada. He was a Chemical Engineer by profession and spent many years in the Boy Scout Movement on three continents. Douglas was born in Barnsley, Yorkshire in January 1919. His father was a Technical Manager in a Coal and Coke Works in Yorkshire. Work was hard to come by, so in about 1921 the family moved to Bihar, India, to a coke works, and his father Benjamin was Manager.

While Benjamin continued to work in India, Douglas was returned to England to a boarding school about 1926. He attended Rydal School, in Colwyn Bay, North Wales. During summer vacations, he usually stayed with his grandmother and aunts. At age 18, he had completed his secondary schooling and so moved to Imperial College London, where he studied to become a Chemical Engineer, one of the first four graduates in Chemical Engineering and graduated with honours in 1940. He was on his vacation with his parents in India, to which he went out by ship, when War was declared in Europe in 1939. He joined the local Cavalry Regiment for a couple of weeks, before returning to England to complete his University studies. For this return trip, he travelled, by Flying Boat, a four-day flight, landing on the water each night to stay at hotels.

He graduated in 1940 and found a job with a Munitions Factory, Royal Ordinance in Scotland and Cumberland, but felt the need to join up for the War effort. After 3 years in the ranks, he trained with the Royal Engineers as an officer. He joined the 79th Armoured Tank Regiment, which perfected various activities, such as bridge placements, anti-tank ditch filling and personnel protection from within the shelter of a Churchill Tank. As Second Lieutenant, he landed with the Canadians on Juno Beach on D-Day and stayed with the Canadians through Holland and into Germany. At the end of the war, Douglas remained in Germany for a year before being demobilized.

For his efforts during the war, he was awarded the France and Germany Star, the 1939-45 Star, the Victory Medal and the Defence Medal. On his return to England he was employed as a Chemical Engineer and met Anne Sager, who was training to be a nurse and they married in August 1947. Douglas was the Scoutmaster of 1st Davyhulme Scout Troop; a troop which had their own band. His wife, Anne, was very active in Guiding. By 1952, he was becoming fed up with the continued food rationing, (it continued until 1954!), he decided to take advantage of the 10 pound scheme where the Australian government sponsored Europeans to populate Australia, providing you stayed for a minimum of three years. After some time, Douglas found work, as a Chemical Engineer at a Pulp and Paper Mill in Burnie, in Tasmania. He built his own home there and continued his involvement in Scouts, Rovers and the Church Choir.

In 1963 the family decided to move on to Canada. Douglas came first to find employment and a home for the family. His wife Anne and two children followed 4 months later. He accepted a job with Sandwell and Co., a consulting Engineer Co. He learned shortly after joining, that the company wanted him to spend two years in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) so in December the family flew to Colombo, stopping in Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Singapore on the way. They lived in Valaichchenai, on the East coast of the island, about 20 miles south of Batticaloa. In 1966 the family returned to Vancouver. On his return, he was again involved in the Boy Scouts, becoming District Commissioner Seymour District and over the years was an officer in various clubs; Orienteering Association of B.C., Baden-Powell Guild, Society of Saint George, North Lonsdale Ratepayers Assn., a choir member at St. Richard's Church and then St. Martin's and a member of the Professional Affairs Committee for the Professional Engineers of B.C. By 1968, because of the economy, he found work at B.C. Research, as a research engineer, where the work was interesting but the remuneration poor!!

By 1974, he changed jobs again and worked for H.A.Simons, a large engineering company in Vancouver until laid off in 1982, when he took retirement. He has been awarded both the 35 year Service Medal and Long Service & Good Conduct Medal, in Scouting. He enjoyed photography, bookbinding, woodwork, wine making and singing in the choir. He read widely particularly on history, and the classics and kept up to date on world politics. He enjoyed conversations on history and politics. In 1993, after 30 years in his home at 130 Kensington Crescent, Peter and Audrey arranged to purchase his home, demolish it rebuild with an In-law suite, where he has lived since. Douglas and his wife Anne celebrated their Golden Wedding, with about 50 family and close friends in attendance in August 1997.

Since his retirement, he has travelled extensively in Europe and took a 4 week tour through the USSR before it broke up. His enjoyment of Church music, particularly Organ music led him to visiting and hearing Organs in the great Cathedrals of Europe on his visits. He returned to Juno Beach for the 50th anniversary of D-Day (1994) and met up with his Commanding Officer from his military days. He has maintained his hobbies of Wine Making, and keeping up to date on political issues around the world. More recently he has enjoyed reading and social events with the family. He was a founding member of St Timothy's and kept up his attendance at the local Hard of Hearing Society and the BP Guild – for retired Scouters. Although he started as a Methodist in North England, he became a staunch Anglican for his married life, and took part in church affairs and sang in Church Choirs in Australia and locally.

He was predeceased by his dear wife Anne after 52 years of marriage. He leaves to mourn, his son Peter (Audrey), daughter Hollaye, grandsons Christopher (Veronica), Malcolm (Jill), & Julian, and great grandchildren Ella and Henry.

29 June 1924 - 7 January 2022

Known to his close associates as Lyn, Dr Hopkin studied at Imperial during the 1940s, spending part of his undergraduate time evacuated to Swansea University to avoid the bombing in London.

After graduating, he took up a post at The National Physical Laboratory in Teddington and whilst there, completed his PhD as an external student. A move to The Department for Industry followed in the late 1960s.

He married Una Grace Lilburn in 1952 and they had two daughters. The family lived in Surrey from 1953 onwards.

Lyn was a quiet, generous, and unassuming man with a great sense of humour. Away from work, he was passionate about the natural environment, a keen walker and gardener as well as being an accomplished badminton player.

He maintained his immense curiosity about the world at large throughout his 97 years and is a greatly missed husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. 

Edward Mellersh Jackson (Electrical Engineering 1941)

1920 - 2018

Provided by his daughter, Amanda Jackson

 Edward was born on 24 May 1920 in north London. He was educated at a prep school in Seaford in Sussex and at Uppingham School. 

He then took a degree in electrical engineering at Imperial College London. As the Second World War broke out, he helped maintain and repair the electricity sub stations of outer west London and particularly regulated electrical supplies to Ealing at night while he studied by day. It was agreed that he would be allowed to finish his degree before he joined the RAF as he was specialising in radar communications.

On leaving Imperial, he was posted to Stornoway as a Squadron Leader to lead a team, to install, manage and maintain the radar masts in the Outer Hebrides. During this period, he commented that he only saw one German reconnaissance plane.

Two weeks after the allied landings, he was recalled from Scotland to lead a group of engineers who where given orders to make their way to Brussels to help rebuild the airport and set up radar masts. In later years he would recount how harsh conditions where over the winter as all buildings had been bombed and the fact that there were no working drains, he always slept under a hedge because of the smell. However, within a few months the airport was operational and the allies where able to fly in large quantities of aid to supply the most deprived and bombed areas in the Netherlands.

He then spent the length of the period of the war he had missed as a student, continuing to work with the RAF and was posted to Singapore.

As soon as peace was declared he married his childhood sweet heart Gillian Jackson, who he had met on his holidays in Seaford.

Provided by his daughter, Zoe Shearman

17 November 1924 – 13 December 2019

Professor Emeritus, University of Birmingham, Ramsay Shearman DSc FREng FIET FRMetS FIEEE

Professor Edwin Douglas Ramsay Shearman was born in Cambridge on 17 November 1924. Ramsay studied Electrical Engineering at Imperial College London during the Second World War. During this time, he worked in the Post Office Research Station laboratory where key parts of the Bletchley Park Colossus decoding machine was being developed. In 1945, he was drafted to the Admiralty Signals Establishment as an Experimental Officer. He worked, until 1947, on shore radio stations including a mission in support of the Royal Family to South Africa. In 1961, as Principal Scientific Officer at the DSIR Radio & Space Research Station (1947-1961), he was dispatched to Canada for six months to join the NASA team designing the successful “Alouette” Topside Sounder satellite. 

In 1962, he joined the University of Birmingham as a Senior Lecturer in Electromagnetism and set up the Radio Research Group. In 1965, he was appointed Professor and later became Head of the Postgraduate School in the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering. He held this position until 1986. 

“Ramsay had the rare distinction of making major contributions to both forms of HF radar. Initially his work focussed on the physics of the ionosphere, determining its structure and properties as a medium for radio wave propagation. This knowledge proved invaluable during the development of HF skywave ‘over-the-horizon’ radars during the Cold War. Later his interest turned to investigation of the surface wave mode, and its exploitation for remote sensing of sea state. He addressed and answered critical questions relating to the propagation of the surface wave, its attenuation with distance, and the scattering processes that encode the sea state information on the radar echo. His group at the University of Birmingham became a leading centre for research into the theory and practice of this remarkable technology; a paper Ramsay published in the authoritative British journal The Radio and Electronic Engineer, in 1980, remains today as one of the cardinal references in the field, four decades on.” (Prof Stuart Anderson, University of Adelaide)

After retiring, he continued to work as a consultant with the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency, subsequently QinetiQ. In 1986, he was awarded the Faraday Medal from the Institution of Electrical Engineers for his achievements in High Frequency Radar and sea state sensing. In 2002, he was awarded a Higher Doctorate (DSc) by the University of London for his Scientific publications. Ramsay passed away at the age of 95 on 13 December 2019.

Provided by her son, Robin Tunnah

24/10/26 – 4/12/19

Elizabeth (Liz) was born in Southgate to Ken and Mary King.  She was an only child and enjoyed a happy childhood with her large extended family.  The family moved from London to Newbury when her father's work relocated at the start of the war.

Despite attending four different secondary schools Liz’s natural and varied academic ability shone through.  Her interest mainly lay in science subjects, and she moved back to London in 1942 to live with her aunt and uncle in order to attend Southgate County School to take her Highers in Botany, Zoology and Chemistry.  A teacher suggested she should apply for Cambridge, but she didn’t want to live in an all-female college, choosing instead to go to Imperial College to study Chemistry

These are some of her memories of her two years living in at Imperial:

"When I started at Imperial College it was still war time and all the college accommodation was occupied by fire watchers.  By the start of my second year the war was over, and it was decided that fourteen rooms in the new hostel should be for women.  I was lucky enough to have one of these. There were about one hundred rooms, fifty in the old hostel, at the back of the quad near the union, and fifty in the new hostel, on the first and second floors of the Beitt building. The women had seven rooms on each floor, built in short dead-end corridors, and we used a bathroom on the second floor. I have often told people this was the first mixed university residence, but I’m not sure.  I expect the rooms would be considered very spartan now, but we found them comfortable, we had washbasins and joy of joys central heating, even if it did go off at 9pm. This was especially welcome in the cold winter of 1947.

I think we were meant to be in by 11pm, but this didn’t seem to be enforced, otherwise there were no rules, but I suspect that Miss Sherwood kept a sharp if benevolent eye on the girls’ behaviour.

We ate in the refectory and the food was awful! It was a difficult time for food everything was rationed even bread for part of this time. The result was that you ate everything that was offered, or you didn’t eat!! I doubt if ever any of us became fussy, and certainly none of us were overweight. Even so I thoroughly enjoyed my two years living in."

Liz stayed on to complete a Masters in Microbiology and considered continuing to study for a PhD but she decided against this. Her vivid lifelong memories of her graduation ceremony at the Royal Albert Hall included sitting at the front alongside the few other female graduates near the stage, the King's difficulties in giving his speech with the Queen encouraging and willing him on and the King's rather obvious make up.

Liz began her working life at Crosse and Blackwell as one of their first female scientists working initially on salad cream, from there she moved to Crookes Pharmaceuticals and it was there she met her future husband, fellow scientist, and socialist George. They married in August 1952 and were happily married until George died in 1988.

Initially they lived in Acton before moving to a new house in Berkhamsted in the late 1950s to be near her parents who had moved to the Chilterns.  Liz taught Chemistry at Berkhamsted School for Girls for a few years, and also briefly at Berkhamsted School, which amused her because as an unqualified teacher she was unable to get a position in a state school, but the private sector welcomed her with open arms.  In 1962 Robin was born, followed 4 years later Ed.  Liz was a great role model, although she was an older mother, she was modern and open minded, honest, tolerant and non-judgemental.  Liz was very pro equality and saw promoting women’s reproductive rights as an important part of this.  In the 1960s she worked voluntarily for an NHS family planning department.

In 1971 due to George's work the family moved to Hampshire where Liz very much enjoyed life, especially being outdoors in the beautiful north east Hampshire countryside.  She became chair of Alton Natural History Society, successfully leading in an efficient and direct way.  Liz regularly led nature walks spotting birds and flowers, she loved the local bluebell woods and was particularly interested in butterfly conservation.  She regularly undertook survey work for various wildlife organisations.  She also took part in environmental activism helping to persuade an oil company to alter their plans for excavation on Weston Common due to the disturbance of a rare species of orchid.

In the mid-1970s Liz worked at the orthopaedic Lord Mayor Treloar Hospital in Alton where she used her microbiological knowledge to research into infections in hip replacement operations.  Liz took swabs during operations, grew cultures, and analysed the results with the aid of an early 1970s computer.

Liz spoke her mind in her calm way and had little time for superficiality; her scientific and logical training stood her in good stead throughout her life.  She had a very wide general knowledge, and she was an enthusiastic reader of a wide range of fiction and non-fiction.  She was also a lifelong reader of the Guardian newspaper, a habit that continued into old age.

In April 2017, Liz moved from Hampshire to the Tremona care home in Watford, to be closer to her family.  She died peacefully in December 2019, aged 93. Liz led a fulfilled, happy and contented life, always striving to help others, through science, education, healthcare and seeking greater equality for all.

Eric Arnot (Civil Engineering and Surveying 1947)
26.08.1925 - 31.12.2017
Provided by Richard Gunderson

Eric Arnot entered City and Guilds in wartime in 1941 and graduated with a B.Sc. (Civil) in 1947, after a period of interruption when he served in the Fleet Air Arm. In his final year 1946/47, he was president of the City and Guilds Students Union.

In 1948 he married Helene White, and in the same year they emigrated to South Africa. In 1969 he started his own engineering company which he ran for 37 years until he retired in 2006 at the age of 81.

He was a strong supporter of the South African branch of the Old Centralians. He became its Honorary Secretary in 1983, and Chairman in 1987 and President in 1996, which position he still held at his death on 31 December 2017.

He is survived by his two children and four grandchildren.

Ernest J Kaye (BEng ACGI Electrical Engineering 1942)

20.06.1922 – 21.04.2012

Provided by Frank Land - taken from The Guardian

Ernest Kaye, who has died aged 89, was the last surviving member of the original design team that built the Lyons Electronic Office (Leo), the world's first business computer. In 1949, he responded to an advertisement for electronic engineers and, much to his surprise, discovered that the job on offer was with the Lyons teashops and catering company, which had decided that the future of business data processing lay in adapting the newly emerging computers from their technical and scientific orientation to the world of business. 

Intrigued by the challenge, Kaye joined Lyons and applied his experience in circuit design to the Leo. At a celebration at the Science Museum in November 2011, marking the 60th anniversary of the first commercial job to run live on Leo – a bakeries valuation and a world first – he commented that he had never worked harder in his life and was designing circuit boards till they came out of his ears.  The team, led by John Pinkerton, took the basic Edsac (Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator) machine developed at Cambridge University and adapted it to run a whole range of business applications, propelling Lyons into computer manufacturing and sales, and for a decade or more it led the field against all comers, IBM included.

With Pinkerton and Ernest Lenaerts, Kaye published a series of articles in Electronic Engineering in 1954 that won them the Radio Industry Council's award for the year's best technical writing.  Kaye stayed with the Leo project through several mergers, showing that his managerial talents went well beyond design engineering. His range of skill was recognised by the next company he joined, the large American concern, Control Data Corporation, first as UK marketing manager and then as service manager in the UK. He attended many reunions of the Leo Computers Society and had intended to come to the reunion held the day after he died. He was interviewed for the BBC TV series The 1952 Show screened on 30 March this year, reminiscing about his early years with Leo.  He was born in London, the son of Dinah (née Hoffman) and Simon Kamenetzky, who had both migrated as children from Eastern Europe at the time of the pogroms in 1905. They subsequently changed the family name to Kaye. Ernest showed a prodigious musical talent from an early age and won all the music prizes at his school, Kilburn grammar, and it was his love and passion for music which was to play, for him, the most important part throughout his life. 

He studied the piano with Harry Isaacs, achieving his performer's LRAM (Licentiate of the Royal Academy of Music) with honours. One of his first songs, a poignant setting of Shakespeare's Come Away, Death written when he was only 17, was published in 1949 by Oxford University Press, which went on to publish sets of his piano pieces for children and, later in his life, much of his liturgical music written for the West London Synagogue. In the early 1950s he supplemented his income by giving piano lessons and composing music for jingles and children's television programmes for the newly formed ITV.  But he was a man of many parts.

From grammar school he went to Imperial College London, gaining his BSc in electrical engineering, and then moving into government scientific research at the GEC Research Laboratories, working on the design of electro-mechanical relay technology for homing torpedoes. However, it was with Lyons and LEO that he made his mark. In 1970 he left the world of computers to run the family props hire business, Lewis & Kaye, which his father, an antique silver dealer, had started. Lewis & Kaye (now part of the Farley Group) provided props for television, films, advertisers and others, specialising in silver, glass, china and jewellery – everything from Upstairs Downstairs to Harry Potter. He ran the business for more than 30 years and did not retire until 2004.  In 1947 Kaye married Marianne Zeisl, a young refugee from Vienna – they met in the arena of the Proms the year before – and together they had three children, Charles and twins Tony and Nina. They all survive him, along with six grandchildren.  Ernest Joseph Kaye, computer engineer, born 20 June 1922; died 21 April 2012

Provided by his son, John Leighton

December 11, 1919 - October 27, 2019

Frank passed away peacefully in his sleep after a brief illness, attended by his family throughout his final days, less than seven weeks before his 100^th birthday. Predeceased by his wife Phyllis and sisters Mary and Freda, Frank is survived by his younger brother Arthur, son John (married to Teri), daughter Barbara (and husband John), five grandchildren (Heather, Jennifer, Mark, Ian and Sean), seven nieces and nephews in Washington State and England, as well as extended family in the UK, Australia and New Zealand.

Frank grew up in Norwich, England.  At the outbreak of the Second World War he enlisted with the RAF, Air Sea Rescue Marine Craft Section. Service took him to Malta where he remained under siege for nearly two and a half years, enduring relentless daily bombings, finally being relieved by the Pedestal Convoy a few weeks before surrender was imminent. He participated in liberating Sicily and post D-Day France.

Frank graduated from Imperial College London in 1949 with a degree in Civil Engineering.  He then emigrated to the USA, but soon settled in Canada where he joined the Vancouver-based firm of Swan Wooster Engineering, with whom he enjoyed a career of more than 30 years.

Coastal and port engineering became his specialty and he then went on to take those skills internationally, working on the development of major port infrastructure projects all over the world:  Indonesia, Central America, Pakistan, South Africa and Brazil among others. He later served on the British Columbia Utilities Commission.

Frank met Phyllis Grantham in Vancouver and it was true love at first sight.  They were married in 1953 and had two children, John and Barbara.  They spent most of their lives on Vancouver’s North Shore. Frank’s international engineering career often meant long absences, so he especially appreciated returning home to Phyllis and the serenity of his West Vancouver garden where he spent many happy hours.  Frank’s love of gardening kept him going until the age of 95 when they moved to a small townhouse in Ocean Park in 2015.  Phyllis passed away in 2017.

Frank was a warm, gentle and caring individual who inspired many friends and colleagues – a true gentleman. He will be deeply missed and forever remembered by his family, friends and neighbours.

Professor George Theokritoff (Geology 1945, MSc 1948, PhD 1961)
07.04.1924 - 19.12.2015
Provided by his wife, Elizabeth Theokritoff 

Palaeontologist and retired Professor of Geology at Rutgers University (Newark, NJ), 1924-2015. George Theokritoff was born in 1924 in Chiswick, the youngest son of Lydia and Vladimir Theokritoff, sometime deacon at the chapel of the Imperial Russian Embassy in London. After graduating from Imperial College London with BSc (Hons) and ARCS in Geology in 1945, he began fieldwork in the west of Ireland, working with Professor RM Shackleton, RG Carruthers and Dr CJ Stubblefield. In 1949 he left for Canada, where he worked for oil and gas companies for a few years before embarking on an academic career.

In 1956 he began fieldwork leading to a doctoral thesis on stratigraphy and palaeontology of the ‘slate belt’ in New York, despite having been warned that the area was impossibly difficult to map; the resultant publications and his later work especially on trilobites were highly regarded by his peers. From 1952 he taught geology and palaeontology at various colleges in Canada and the USA, ending with Rutgers University (Newark, NJ) 1967-1994. He was a popular professor and a valued colleague, remembered warmly for his helpfulness and encouragement; he was also a vigorous defender of academic standards, often deploring the increasing commercialisation of higher education and the subservience of research to industry.

George was also a man of broad culture and varied interests: he was an accomplished and meticulous photographer and a talented musician, with an encyclopaedic knowledge of classical and early music and a vast collection of recordings. A dedicated member of the Orthodox Church throughout his life, in retirement he became increasingly interested in the intersection between science, environment and theology- interests shared with his wife Elizabeth, whom he married in 1990 - and continued writing and speaking in this area until a few weeks before his death.

George Theokritoff died on 19 December 2015 after a short illness and is survived by his wife Elizabeth.  

Gerald (Joe) McCall (Geology 1949, PhD 1951)

02.07.1920 – 07.08.2013

Provided by Fiona McCall - written by Ted Nield

A geological all-rounder who, after a varied international career, dedicated his retirement to reacquainting fellow geologists with their subject. Joe McCall was born in London on 2 July 1920, the youngest son and seventh child of Charles and Dorothy McCall (nee Kidd). His father was Scottish but born in London and his mother was of mixed Irish and English stock. While growing up he lived in Blackheath London, Warberswick in Suffolk and Hastings. Joe McCall was born in Oxford London and he was educated at St Edward's School, Oxford, going up to Imperial College to read Chemistry in 1938. He was in Part Two when the War intervened; though by that time he had already taken a geology subsidiary (with H H Read) and vowed to return to study geology if he survived.

Joe joined the sailed Army Services Corps and sailed to Madagascar in 1942 where he was responsible for organising transport during the successful campaign to oust the Vichy French. After two bouts of malaria, he was sent to serve in East Africa, where he became an acting major in the army and while there explored the Great Rift Valley, which further encouraged his geological ambitions. On returning to Imperial Joe took up geology, enjoying the tutelage of Read, Illing, Wood, and Pitcher. He was a member of the Imperial College hockey club in which capacity he met John Hickman and through him John's sister Rosemary, who he married in 1956. He also met his lifelong geologist friend Alec Trendall, who lived with his wife Kathy and children in Australia and died a few weeks before Joe. By the end of year three of the four- year course, Read asked Joe to do a PhD. Research in Robert Shackleton's Donegal Project followed, centring on the Creeslough area, where Joe described the Horn Head Slide, comparing it to the Ballachulish Slide recognised by Sir Edward Bailey. Joe finished in just under two years, his work receiving praise from both Arthur Holmes and Doris Reynolds. After graduating Joe (who had learned Swahili in Africa) entered the Colonial Geological Survey, spending two years sitting water boreholes for farmers and government institutions and researching the caldera of Menengai.

In 1953 he mapped a dozen carbonatite complexes around Gwasi on the shores of Lake Victoria, conclusively disproving the notion that the then-mysterious carbonatite rocks were any kind of metamorphosed limestone. He also mapped the Neoproterozoic rocks bordering the Gregory Rift. Work in Kenya continued after marriage in 1956, but with a family to support he became Senior Lecturer at the University of Western Australia, Perth, teaching petrology and structural geology and curating the meteorite collection in his spare time. He also mapped Kenya's Silali Volcano and Ambrym (Vanuatu).

Joe left academia in 1970 to become a consultant on mining projects until 1976 when he returned to the UK - and was assigned to a reconnaissance project in the Makram, Southern Iran, managing (just) to complete the primary mapping of an area the size of England as the Revolution gathered pace. Writing-up took three years. Joe continued to work as a consultant, with Camflo gold mine (Quebec), and with GAPS (Putney) where he worked on a wide range of geoenvironmental projects. After moving to England, the family lived in Hereford for a few years and then moved to South Cerney where Joe had a very happy life for 28 years.

Having travelled all over the world in the course of work, he had an extraordinarily broad range of scientific and cultural interests and knowledge, encompassing (amongst other things) poetry, Russian literature, astronomy, sport, art, history and above all else in his later years, classical music. After his [so called] retirement in 1991 Joe remained extremely active, singing in the Cirencester Choral Society and spending a further twenty years editing the Geoscientist, the successor magazine to the Institution of Geologists' British Geologist. Joe remained an Editorial Adviser until his death - covering a total of 225 issues. Joe was also active locally with the Gloucester Geology Trust, was Consultant Editor on Elsevier's Encyclopedia of Geology (2005), published 17 books, and hundreds of research papers, including a paper on the volcanos of mercury at the age of 88. He received the Geological Society's Coke Medal (1994), the Distinguished Service Award (2011) as well as the Distinguished Service Award of the International Union of Geological Sciences (1997). He was buried in South Cerney, the Gloucestershire village that had become his home, leaving wife Rosemary and children Bridget, Fiona, and Chris and grandchildren Thomas and Putri.

Provided by his son, Haydn Thomas

18/08/1928 – 23/04/2019

Life and career:

1928: Born in Dover, Kent.

1935 – 1945: lived in India; attended Bishop Cotton’s School, Bangalore.

1945: Returned to England and attended Imperial College until 1949.

1949 – 1953: Bibiani Gold Mine, Gold Coast (now Ghana).

1952: Married Josephine Disney.

1953: Eldest son Haydn born.

1953 – 1954: Cementation Company in Mansfield and then Scotland.

1954 – 1956: Frontino Gold Mines, Segovia, Colombia.

1955: Second son Justin born.

1956: Left Colombia following the outbreak of a civil war in 1955. At one point the site was cut off by insurgents and no food got through for three months.

1956 – 1959: Benguet Consolidated, near Baguio, and later Antamok, Philippines. Departed England on 6 November 1956, the day that the British and French took over the Suez Canal. Flight suffered many diversions because of the crisis.

1958: Daughter Megan born.

1960 – 1968: Mufulira Copper Mines (part of Selection Trust), Mufulira, Northern Rhodesia (later Zambia). Mufulira is only eight miles from the border with The Congo and the family suffered from some of the effects of The Congo crisis in the early 1960s including providing accommodation for refugees.

1962: Youngest son Gawain born.

1966: Promoted to Underground Manager.

1968 – 1971: Transferred to parent company, Selection Trust. In charge of an exploration project employing 700 men at Sar Cheshmeh, Kerman Province, Iran. The site was at an elevation of 10,000 feet and winter temperatures could go as low as -25℃. In 1971 the site was taken over by the Iranian government due to the inability of a British company to raise the necessary funds to finance such a project in that country.

1971 – 1988: Transferred to London office of Selection Trust, later being promoted to Group Consulting Engineer. Frequent trips to many parts of the world including the USA, South Africa, Australia, Oman, Brazil as well as being part of the first British-government sponsored industrial delegation to communist China. In 1980 Selection Trust was taken over by BP Minerals.

1988: Retired and moved from Sevenoaks, Kent to Plymouth, Devon.

1990: Briefly employed by Moonstone Mining to advise on two operations in Kazakhstan.

1998: Moved to West Hill, near Ottery St Mary.

In his spare time he enjoyed sailing, owning various offshore yachts for more than 25 years. He also liked gardening and woodwork, building rocking horses and a dolls’ house for his granddaughters. He leaves behind 4 children and 3 granddaughters. His wife died in 2016.

Gordon Wallwork (Civil Engineering and Surveying 1942)

20.11.1921 – 19.05.2010

Provided by Mrs Jean F Wallwork

After war time service with the Royal Engineers in Italy, during which he was Mentioned in Despatches, Gordon Wallwork spent the rest of his career as a railway engineer, mainly overseas.   From 1946- 1965 he was with the East African Railways and Harbours, first in Tanganyika, than in Mombasa and Nairobi. Upon his return to Britain he joined a firm of Consulting Engineers. Until his retirement he worked in many countries, especially Hong Kong, where he was involved with the planning of the Hong Kong Mass Transit Railway. Other countries where he worked on the planning and design of transport, especially mass transit railways included Kuwait, Iraq, Taiwan, Mexico, Indonesia, amongst other.  He is survived by his wife, son and daughter.

Provided by David Rattee

Professor Ian D. Rattee, OBE, BSc., C.Chem., FRSC, died on Friday 15 May 2015 in Harrogate District Hospital, North Yorkshire. He was 89 years old and although of late had suffered declining health he steadfastly maintained an active lifestyle. 

In 1953, working as a Technical Officer with Imperial Chemical Industries Dyestuffs Division in Blackley, Manchester, he discovered the chemical reactions which lead to the introduction of the world’s first practical system for colouring cotton, viscose and related cellulosic materials with “reactive” dyestuffs. This led to the introduction in 1956 of the Procion dyes and the subsequent appearance of an entirely new dyestuff class. It was for this work that he and Dr W.E. Stephen were each awarded the Gold Medal of the Society of Dyers and Colourists (SDC). 

This invention revolutionised the colouration of textiles which previously had been notorious for loss of colour when washed. The direct consequence of the invention was to facilitate the production and industrial use of the bright wash fast colours that underpinned British fashion design in the 1960s and beyond.  

In 1970 the importance of the invention of the Procion reactive dyes was further recognised by the SDC with the rarely awarded prestigious Perkin Medal, named after Sir William Perkin. Recognition also came from other countries and in 2000 Ian received the Henry E. Millson Award for Invention from the American Association of Textile Chemists & Colorists.

In 2009, on the occasion of his 50 years as an SDC member, it was noted that he had published numerous papers and patents and was renowned throughout the world as one of the foremost experts in this field.

By 1962 he was already credited with 25 patents in the UK, USA and France, relating to reactive dyes and new dyeing processes. His work on inventing dyes, printing inks and a new transfer printing process continued for the next 20 years.

Ian was born in Sydenham, London on 24 March 1926. He was the son of Stanley George Rattee (Editor of the Electrical Journal) and Josephine Mary McArthur Forbes Buckingham. He grew up in Wallington, Surrey and was educated at Purley County Grammar School and at Imperial College London. He studied Chemistry on the wartime two year degree course and at the age of 19 graduated with a BSc. (Hons).  After Imperial Ian started his first career in industry in Manchester as a chemistry research scientist, initially with Proctor & Gamble and then at Imperial Chemical Industries.

In 1962 at the age of 36, he left ICI when he was appointed by Leeds University to the role of Professor and Head of the Department of Colour Chemistry which he occupied for over 20 years until retirement from academia. 

At the request of the United Nations and the British Council, Professor Rattee visited universities and industrialists in China, India, and Iraq, as an advisor on textile coloration.

Professor Rattee’s other interests included the theatre, foreign travel and languages and he spoke German, Italian, French, Spanish, and Russian. Along with science his consuming passion was the performing arts. Once asked what he would have liked to have been if not a scientist he said, a film director. 

For 20 years he was a lynchpin of the Manchester Unity Theatre, as secretary to the group, an actor, producer and director of plays and designer and builder of sets. Then from the 1960’s an active member of the Leeds Proscenium Players and latterly the Harrogate Dramatic Society where he was Chairman from 2010 to 2013. An actor of some note he also translated a play from French and produced an English adaptation of a Russian play for performance on the stage in Harrogate. His acting career spanned over 60 years and entertained hundreds of audiences.

He was also an entertaining raconteur and with prompting would recount interesting events from his life. During World War Two, when he was 16 and due to his chemistry teacher joining the army his class were mainly unsupervised and so taught themselves working from text books. The six pupils conducted experiments in practical chemistry and learned by trial and error. They found out how to make flash powder, thermite for incendiary bombs, coloured smokes and an enormous range of things which should have been barred to schoolboys, even in the 1940s. Ian and a friend prepared a mixture of materials with the intention of igniting the compound in the school playground where the school army corps were drilling. Unfortunately, they were less competent in the deployment of this device and when the smoke bomb failed to go off Ian lit it a second time and it exploded in his face resulting in him and his friend being hospitalised with severe burns. He recalled that it being wartime no one was particularly disturbed by this alarming escapade and that some actually considered his action “heroic” if somewhat foolish, whereas today they would probably have been arrested.

However it is for his invention of the first Procion Dyes that Ian Rattee will deservedly be remembered since it has directly impacted on the lives of everyone who has ever worn clothing coloured using reactive dyes and which when washed the colour did not run or fade.

A Chartered Chemist, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, an Associate of the Royal College of Science, although of world renown and a university professor, when asked what he did for a living Ian would simply state that he was a “scientist” and a “teacher”. His contribution to both fields was recognised in 1977 in the Queen’s Silver Jubilee and Birthday Honours when he was awarded the OBE in recognition of his work in science and teaching.

Professor Rattee is survived by his second wife, Dale Cowen, and his two sons, David & Paul from his first marriage, two grandchildren Catherine and Robert and his great grandson Nathan.

Provided by David Rattee

Professor Ian D. Rattee, OBE, BSc., C.Chem., FRSC, died on Friday 15 May 2015 in Harrogate District Hospital, North Yorkshire. He was 89 years old and although of late had suffered declining health he steadfastly maintained an active lifestyle.

In 1953, working as a Technical Officer with Imperial Chemical Industries Dyestuffs Division in Blackley, Manchester, he discovered the chemical reactions which lead to the introduction of the world’s first practical system for colouring cotton, viscose and related cellulosic materials with “reactive” dyestuffs. This led to the introduction in 1956 of the Procion dyes and the subsequent appearance of an entirely new dyestuff class. It was for this work that he and Dr W.E. Stephen were each awarded the Gold Medal of the Society of Dyers and Colourists (SDC).

This invention revolutionised the colouration of textiles which previously had been notorious for loss of colour when washed. The direct consequence of the invention was to facilitate the production and industrial use of the bright wash fast colours that underpinned British fashion design in the 1960s and beyond. 

In 1970 the importance of the invention of the Procion reactive dyes was further recognised by the SDC with the rarely awarded prestigious Perkin Medal, named after Sir William Perkin. Recognition also came from other countries and in 2000 Ian received the Henry E. Millson Award for Invention from the American Association of Textile Chemists & Colorists.

In 2009, on the occasion of his 50 years as an SDC member, it was noted that he had published numerous papers and patents and was renowned throughout the world as one of the foremost experts in this field.

By 1962 he was already credited with 25 patents in the UK, USA and France, relating to reactive dyes and new dyeing processes. His work on inventing dyes, printing inks and a new transfer printing process continued for the next 20 years.

Ian was born in Sydenham, London on 24 March 1926. He was the son of Stanley George Rattee (Editor of the Electrical Journal) and Josephine Mary McArthur Forbes Buckingham. He grew up in Wallington, Surrey and was educated at Purley County Grammar School and at Imperial College London. He studied Chemistry on the wartime two year degree course and at the age of 19 graduated with a BSc. (Hons).  After Imperial Ian started his first career in industry in Manchester as a chemistry research scientist, initially with Proctor & Gamble and then at Imperial Chemical Industries.

In 1962 at the age of 36, he left ICI when he was appointed by Leeds University to the role of Professor and Head of the Department of Colour Chemistry which he occupied for over 20 years until retirement from academia.

At the request of the United Nations and the British Council, Professor Rattee visited universities and industrialists in China, India, and Iraq, as an advisor on textile coloration.

Professor Rattee’s other interests included the theatre, foreign travel and languages and he spoke German, Italian, French, Spanish, and Russian. Along with science his consuming passion was the performing arts. Once asked what he would have liked to have been if not a scientist he said, a film director.

For 20 years he was a lynchpin of the Manchester Unity Theatre, as secretary to the group, an actor, producer and director of plays and designer and builder of sets. Then from the 1960’s an active member of the Leeds Proscenium Players and latterly the Harrogate Dramatic Society where he was Chairman from 2010 to 2013. An actor of some note he also translated a play from French and produced an English adaptation of a Russian play for performance on the stage in Harrogate. His acting career spanned over 60 years and entertained hundreds of audiences.

He was also an entertaining raconteur and with prompting would recount interesting events from his life. During World War Two, when he was 16 and due to his chemistry teacher joining the army his class were mainly unsupervised and so taught themselves working from text books. The six pupils conducted experiments in practical chemistry and learned by trial and error. They found out how to make flash powder, thermite for incendiary bombs, coloured smokes and an enormous range of things which should have been barred to schoolboys, even in the 1940s. Ian and a friend prepared a mixture of materials with the intention of igniting the compound in the school playground where the school army corps were drilling. Unfortunately, they were less competent in the deployment of this device and when the smoke bomb failed to go off Ian lit it a second time and it exploded in his face resulting in him and his friend being hospitalised with severe burns. He recalled that it being wartime no one was particularly disturbed by this alarming escapade and that some actually considered his action “heroic” if somewhat foolish, whereas today they would probably have been arrested.

However it is for his invention of the first Procion Dyes that Ian Rattee will deservedly be remembered since it has directly impacted on the lives of everyone who has ever worn clothing coloured using reactive dyes and which when washed the colour did not run or fade.

A Chartered Chemist, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, an Associate of the Royal College of Science, although of world renown and a university professor, when asked what he did for a living Ian would simply state that he was a “scientist” and a “teacher”. His contribution to both fields was recognised in 1977 in the Queen’s Silver Jubilee and Birthday Honours when he was awarded the OBE in recognition of his work in science and teaching.

Professor Rattee is survived by his second wife, Dale Cowen, and his two sons, David & Paul from his first marriage, two grandchildren Catherine and Robert and his great grandson Nathan.

19/9/1926 – 29/7/2019

Provided by Anne Callaghan, his niece

Ian Higginbottom BSc, CGeol, FIGeol, CICE, FGS was born in Harrow in 1926. He attended Sutton Grammar School for Boys prior to moving to Brighton where he completed his secondary education at Varndean Grammar School for Boys.

He graduated from Imperial College London in 1948 with a BSc (Hons) degree in Geology, specialising in its application to engineering. He then worked for three years as a member of the academic staff at Imperial, six months of this period was spent geological mapping in Kenya, where he worked with Louis Leakey, the distinguished paleoanthropologist and archaeologist. In 1951, he worked for Howard Humphreys and Partners on hydrogeological reconnaissance in Libya.

He joined Wimpey Laboratories in November 1952 and remained with them until retirement. In his early days with the company, he worked in Australia. He later became Chief Geologist for Wimpey and spent many years of his career in the Middle East. A former colleague has described him as “a pleasure to work with.”

He lectured extensively on topics in engineering geology and site investigation and wrote many papers in these fields. He often wrote with Professor Peter Fookes (DSc Eng) who also studied at Imperial. In 1992, he was awarded the George Stephenson medal by the Institution of Civil Engineers for a joint paper (with D J Mallard, R Muir Wood and B O Skipp) on “Recent Developments in the Methodology of Seismic Hazard Assessment”.

His special professional interests were in the fields of construction materials, ground subsidence due to mining, seismic hazard assessment, and the engineering consequences of surface geological processes. These included the dissolution of soluble rocks, the effects of glacial and periglacial environments, and desert weathering regimes.

In addition to being a Chartered Geologist, he was an Associate of the Royal College of Science, a Fellow of the Geological Society of London (where he was Vice President from 1987-8), a Fellow of the Institution of Geologists, a Companion of the Institution of Civil Engineers, a member of the British Geotechnical Society and a Member of the Society for Earthquake and Civil Engineering Dynamics. He was also a member of various other committees and working parties related to geology and engineering. He was an external examiner at several universities and a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Luton.

Post retirement he became a consultant. One of his assignments in this capacity was advising the CEGB on assessing earthquake hazards at the sites of nuclear installations in Britain. As well as his lifelong passion for geology, Ian had many other interests. He was an accomplished pianist with a profound love of classical music. In 1976 he was a founding Committee member of the British Vintage Wireless Society. A fellow enthusiast commented that “Ian was a wonderful person to have on the Committee to steer the BVWS through its very early days – thoughtful, intelligent, kind and with a vast knowledge about practically every subject.”

He was a member of Sussex Archaeological Society and also a member of Brighton & Hove Archaeological Society until his death. Alongside his fascination with the past, Ian retained an interest in current affairs into his early 90s.  

1923 - 2024

Provided by Benedicta Nicholson (daughter)

Mrs Ione Benedicta Mary Graves nee Marten (Horticulture, graduated 1949) passed away in June 2024.

“Dickie” enjoyed 50 years on the farm with Maurice (Wye graduate, deceased) in Raffingora, Zimbabwe. Her keen interest and knowledge of the local flora, fauna, and pre-history, earned her the respect of many in these fields. They retired to Harare in June 2002 and are survived by a son and three daughters.

Provided by his daughter, Valerie Burrows 

1926 - 2023

John passed away on 8 June 2023, aged 97.

John graduated in Chemistry and became an industrial chemist after his National Service in the RAF.

During his career he worked in the sugar, paper and rubber sectors. He helped to develop carbonless copying paper and spent time working in Israel while involved in a project to spray a rubber compound onto sand dunes to help stabilise them!

Later, he became a Chemistry Lecturer at Kettering Technical College, Northamptonshire.

Having a lifelong passion for bells and bell ringing, John was Captain of Bells at St. Andrew’s Church, Kimbolton, Cambridgeshire for over 50 years and was an expert in bell maintenance and repair.

John was born in Bucharest in 1919. He left his home country at the age of 17 to study at Imperial College and pursue his dream of becoming a chemical engineer.

After graduating in 1941, John worked for British Industrial Solvents Ltd which, at the time, was part of the Distillers Company. It was while working there that he met Audrey who he married in 1945. In that year, they moved to Cheshire where he joined the Chemical Plant Development Department of Simon-Carves. There, he gained his first experience of plant design and the many other aspects of contracting. He became an all-round sulphuric acid plant specialist. In 1956, he moved back to London to take up a post at Humphreys & Glasgow where he established a Process Department. After 10 years, John left to start a British subsidiary of the French contracting company Heurtey Ltd to develop its furnace design and construction business. It was here that he first came into contact with the iron and steel industry. He returned to Humphreys & Glasgow in 1973 as European Sales Director before taking on the role of Director for development activities and consultancy.

John became a Fellow of the IChemE in 1955. In 1968, he was awarded the Council Medal for his work as Chairman of the sub-committee of the Engineering Practice Committee which produced the ‘Model Conditions of Contract for Process Plant’. He later served as President from 1978 to 1979. He stayed at Humphreys and Glasgow until his retirement during which time he travelled extensively for work, including two world trips. He was often accompanied by Audrey who sadly died in 2001.

During John’s long retirement he enjoyed playing the piano, listening to music and playing bridge which gave him a good social life. This was evident at his 100th birthday party last October where he was in his element celebrating with all his family and many friends.

He remained reasonably well and passed away suddenly on 3 April 2020 having lived a long, happy and fulfilled life.

Profesor Hugh Glanville Gerald (St Mary's Hospital Medical School 1942)
02.02.1916 - 21.12.2011
Provided by Felicity Glanville
02/02/1916 – 21/12/2011

The first Professor of rehabilitative medicine in the country, who dedicated his life to helping disabled people, has died at the age of 95. Professor Hugh Glanville, from Salisbury, was born on 2 February 1916, in Yorkshire. He qualified as a Doctor at St.Mary's Hospital Medical School in London and in 1942 was attached to the Westminster Dragoons as a regimental medical officer, a position he held on D-Day. After demobilisation, he joined the NHS, working in physical medicine linked to engineering, electronics and physics.

Between 1950 and 1970, he progressed to become a Consultant in physical medicine and rheumatology at Winchester and Salisbury hospitals, with a team of physiotherapists and occupational and speech therapists, In 1970. Having been involved with early research trials pioneered in Yugoslavia during the 70's, he was the first person to bring Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) to the UK, which can help people who have had damage to their brain or spinal cord to regain speech and mobility. He was taught by Sir Alexander Fleming (the inventor of penicillin) and Dixon-Wright (the famous surgeon at St Mary's and father of Clarissa Dixon-Wright).

Needless to say, he kept his family entertained with many amusing stories about his life at St Mary's as a medical student before the war. He is survived by his wife, Estelle, daughters, Felicity and Margot and grandchildren William and Hannah. 

1923-2018
Provided by PRW Hunt, Robert’s son.

Dr RWG Hunt, eminent colour physicist and past chairman of Crusaders, died in Salisbury on 23 October 2018, aged 95, after a short illness.

Robert Hunt was born in Sidcup, Kent on 28 July 1923. In 1937, he attended St Lawrence College, Ramsgate, Kent. In seeking entry into Imperial, in 1940, as he wrote in a 90th birthday memoir, he ‘found a notice pinned to the door of the College saying that the exam had been cancelled because of the bombing, but all candidates were accepted!’ His professor was world expert Professor WD Wright, who became a significant influence on his learning, his research and his career, for which he always remained grateful. He gained a BSc, First Class Honours, and an ARCS in physics in 1946, then a DIC in Technical Optics, 1946-47. In 1953 he was awarded a PhD, and in 1968 a DSc, both from Imperial College London.

Dr Hunt worked as an Experimental Officer at the Ministry of Supply on optical sighting devices for tanks, 1943-46. He was a research scientist at the Research Laboratories of Kodak Limited, Harrow, 1946-82, where he worked on factors affecting the quality of colour images, and devices for making reflection prints from both negative and positive images on film. He played a major part in the development of the Kodak S1 Printer for printing colour negatives and for which he held several patents: he was finally Assistant Director of Research.

He was Chairman of the Colour Group of Great Britain, 1961-63, Chairman of the Commission Internationale de l’Éclairage (CIE) Colorimetry Committee, 1975-83, and President of the International Colour Association (AIC), 1981-85. Following early retirement in 1982, he continued to be a popular conference speaker, enjoyed teaching and interacting with students, and was a Visiting Professor at the City University, London, 1967-1998, University of Derby, 1994-2004, and University of Leeds, 2004-2009.

Dr Hunt wrote over a hundred papers on colour vision, colour reproduction, and colour measurement, and two books 'The Reproduction of Colour' now in its sixth edition, and 'Measuring Colour' now in its fourth edition co-authored with Michael Pointer.

He was awarded the Newton Medal of the Colour Group (Great Britain), 1974, the Progress Medal of The Royal Photographic Society, 1984, the Judd-AIC Medal of the International Colour Association, 1987, the Gold Medal of the Institute of Printing, 1989, the Johann Gutenberg Prize of the Society for Information Display, 2002, the Godlove Award of the Inter-Society Color Council (USA), 2007 and Honorary Fellowship of the Society of Dyers and Colourists, 2009.

In the 1940s, as a young man at Sidcup, he became a Crusader Leader, and was subsequently a leader at Harrow, Pinner and Northwood Hills. He was Crusaders’ Chairman from 1968 to 1973 and from 1982 to 1985. In 2009, ‘For services to the field of colour science and to young people through Crusaders’, he was awarded an OBE.

Dr Hunt’s interests were travel, photography, and railways; but most of all his family. He was a man of committed Christian faith and showed great wisdom, kindness and generosity in his commitment to people.

Dr S C Pearce PhD, ARSM, FIMMM, CEng

Provided by Sidney's daughter, Ruth Kerrigan 

20.04.1925 - 19.12.2021

Sidney was a very proud alumnus of Imperial College London. He attained his BSc in Metallurgy, alongside which he was awarded an Associateship of the Royal School of Mines. His degree led him into his PhD research at the Institute of Mining and Metallurgy in the study of Alloys of Tin and Lead - which he achieved in 1959.

He is sadly missed by his wife Barbara and his children. Sidney will always be remembered by all those who knew him, not only for his achievements but for his generosity too.

William Henry Gordon Parker (Electrical Engineering 1948)
17.06.1926 - 10.03.2018
Provided by his wife, Mrs Jemima Parker

William Henry Gordon Parker ACGI, BSc, C.Eng, F.I.E.T.
17 June 1926- 10 March 2018
Graduated July 1948