12.07.2015 Views

Download PDF - St. Catherine's College

Download PDF - St. Catherine's College

Download PDF - St. Catherine's College

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS
  • No tags were found...

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

GAZETTEninety-four, he and Margery published ahistory of the Biochemistry Department. In alltheir work, Lloyd and Margery were very much‘hands-on’ experimenters: Lloyd was scornfulof 'theoretical biology' and also of 'health andsafety', scoffing at what he saw as a lack ofsolid evidence in the former, and regardingthe latter as stultifying and time-wasting –he had, it must be remembered, worked withsome very nasty chemicals and survived toninety-six! Lloyd was also suspicious of thetrend towards large research groups, sayingonce, while looking at a departmental annualreport, ‘tell me, if a paper has six authors, doyou count it as one paper, six papers or onesixthof a paper?’Lloyd was born on 30 January 1912. Heattended Nottingham High School andthen took a degree in Chemistry as anexternal student at Nottingham University.He obtained his BSc in 1934, and thenworked in the Boots Laboratories inNottingham. In 1937, he was appointed asa Nuffield Assistant in the Department ofBiochemistry at Oxford. During the SecondWorld War he served on the Ministry of SupplyChemical Defence Committee. In 1944, he waselected a Fellow of the Royal Institute ofChemistry and was also awarded the NewtonChambers Prize for Chemistry. He wasappointed a Senior Research Officer at theUniversity’s Biochemistry Department in 1946.His garden in Apsley Roadwas wonderful; his sweetpeas were legendary ...When, in 1959, Alan Bullock was searchingfor a Tutorial Fellow in Biochemistry, Sir HansKrebs, the then Whitley Professor, wrote thatLloyd was ‘the obvious choice’ and so, untilhis retirement in 1979, he acted in this roleas well as serving on the <strong>College</strong> InvestmentCommittee and acting as Pro-Master inthe interregnum between Alan Bullock’sretirement and the election and arrival ofthe <strong>College</strong>’s second Master, Sir PatrickNairne. There was some concern, when hewas appointed to an ad hominem Readershipin 1966, that his <strong>College</strong> stipend added tohis University Reader’s salary would puthim above the permissible University jointmaximum and might carry too heavy ateaching load! <strong>St</strong> Catherine’s was able toassure the University that Lloyd would not bepaid over the limit and would not be requiredto teach for more than six hours per week;thus he was able to continue as the Tutorin Biochemistry.In retirement, Lloyd continued to take akeen interest in the ups and downs of thestock market, poring over the Financial Times,while seated in his chair in the Senior CommonRoom. Into his early nineties he wouldcycle to <strong>College</strong>, clad in a brown overcoatand a deerstalker hat. His bicycle wasunmistakable: he attached a second pairof forks, back-to-front, to the front axleas a sturdy support for his bicycle basket.His garden in Apsley Road was wonderful;his sweet peas were legendary and he haspassed on his love of gardening to hisdaughter Jen and son Robert. It must havebeen in 1991, when I saw him holding a glassof champagne at the start of the Feast, that Isaid, ‘You know, Lloyd, you have been freeloadingon <strong>College</strong> for longer than you workedfor it.’ Lloyd did a quick tot-up on the fingersof his left, then on his right hand, went roundagain over both hands, started again and said,‘by God, you’re right!’. Latterly, he becameless steady on his feet but was brought into<strong>College</strong> for lunch twice a week by Margery Ordafter which, as was his due, he occupied hischair; he was seated thus, blue eyes a-twinkle,when I took this photograph in June 2005.Lloyd <strong>St</strong>ocken was born on 30 January 1912.He died in Oxford on 26 September 2008.ST CATHERINE’S COLLEGE 2008/59

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!