Univ Record 2017

ERIC MATHIESON THOMSON (Ryde School)
died on 21 October 2016 aged 84. He read
Law at Univ, getting a congratulatory First in
his Finals. He was also awarded a Gibbs Law
Scholarship in 1955. After being called to the
Bar, Eric emigrated to Southern Rhodesia
(now Zimbabwe), where he worked as Judge’s
Marshall in the Federal Supreme Court and then
as Secretary for law at the Federal Government
Solicitor’s Office. In 1959, however, he returned
to the UK, where he joined the legal department
of the Distillers Company. He became deputy
head of the department in 1983, and head in
1985, and retired in 1987.
On his retirement, Eric’s life took a very
different turn. He had lived in Haslemere since 1966, and long been a keen member of
the local hockey club. He now devoted himself to raising funds to support sport, and
especially hockey, in Haslemere. First of all, he helped gain funding for a multi-sport
artificial pitch, which was opened at Woolmer Hill in 1992, and then he helped raise
money for a new pavilion, which was opened in 1995. His later efforts helped win for
Haslemere a grant of £1,700,000 for an indoor sports hall, which opened as The Edge in
2000, as well as other grants which helped create a sprint track for the Haslemere Border
Athletic Club in 2001, a second artificial pitch at Woolmer Hill (opened in 2003), and
the resurfacing of the original artificial pitch in 2005. Throughout all these projects, Eric
played a crucial role in raising funds, securing planning permission, and guiding them
through complicated application forms. Unsurprisingly, therefore, he was awarded an
MBE for his services to sport in Haslemere in the 2011 New Years’ Honours List.
Eric leaves a widow, Joanne, three daughters, and three grandchildren. He wrote
poetry in his spare time, and his family published a compilation of them, a copy of
which is now in the College Library. [We are most grateful to Mrs. Joanne Thomson for
providing information for this tribute, and also for the photograph of him.]
1954
JAMES ANDREW THRELFALL BEARD (St. Edward’s, Oxford) died on 27 June 2017
aged 83. He came up to Univ to read Chemistry. James emigrated to Australia in 1969
and taught at Canberra Grammar School, before becoming headmaster of St. Anne‘s and
Gippsland Grammar School in 1975. His grandson Edward came up to Univ in 2011
and has sent the Editor the following obituary:
James was born 12 October 1933 in Asansol, India, where his father was a manager
of a colliery in the Bihar coalfields. He was sent to board at a pre-preparatory school in
Eastbourne in 1939, but soon rejoined his parents in India in 1940 as a wartime child
evacuee. He enjoyed life as a young boy in India, and remembered playing in the jungle
and attending boarding school in Calcutta. He returned to England in March 1945 and
attended St Edward’s School, before starting National Service in the 5th Regiment,
Royal Horse Artillery. He served in post-war Germany between 1952 and 1954 as a 2nd
lieutenant.
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Upon completing National Service, he came up to
Univ in October 1954, where he studied Chemistry under
the tutorship of the renowned Edmund ‘Ted’ Bowen.
James described his own studies as ‘very erratic’, taking
far greater interest in playing cricket, rugby, and hockey
for Univ, later achieving a University Blue in hockey. He
fondly recalled ‘punting on the River Cherwell, often
with female company’ and organising the Univ Ball.
He taught at Sherborne School post-Univ, and married
Elizabeth Kitchin. They had three children during this
time; Jonathan in 1962, Michael in 1963, and Patricia in
1966. He migrated to Australia as a ‘£10 Pom’, arriving
in Sydney on Australia Day 1969. He re-married in 1970
to Beverley Gillen, and had two children, Robert in 1973
and Penelope in 1974. He was appointed headmaster of
Gippsland Grammar, serving successfully from 1975 until retirement in 1989.
James enjoyed an active retirement as a regular hiker and accomplished skier, before
suffering a stroke while dog-sledding in Alaska in July 2007. Adjusting to his mobility
disability, James held an inspirational and positive outlook on life. He passed away this
year in the company of family.
My grandfather wrote: “I have enjoyed what life has offered over my 83 years, what
with its opportunities, challenges, and various ups and downs. It has been a good
experience with many fond memories. For me life has been a success and I can with a
sense of satisfaction, reflect on what I consider to be a fulfilling, eventful, and rewarding
existence. And for that, I will always be eternally grateful.”
IAN JAMES GRAHAM-BRYCE (William Hulme’s GS) died
on 10 October 2016 aged 79. Ian read Chemistry at Univ,
both as an undergraduate and a postgraduate, specialising
in soil science. His contemporary Patrick Nobes (1953)
recalls that “he had won an Open Award at the tender age
of 16, and appeared in the College, aged 17, a most pleasant
youth, his fresh face, and courteous manner to his elders and
betters, including me, commending him to all, and rather
concealing the keenness of his fine intellect.” While up at
Univ Ian also showed himself a keen player of water polo,
rugby and lacrosse (the last as a half-blue). Graduate students
of Univ owe Ian a special debt because he played a leading
role in the creation of a separate graduate common room
in the college, and indeed was our first WCR President in
1960-1.
On going down from Oxford, he spent a few years at Bangor before joining the
Rothamsted Experimental Station in Hertfordshire in 1964, where, apart from a short
spell at ICI, he would remain until 1979, becoming Deputy Director. There he carried
out important research into pesticides and their effects. In 1980 he co-authored The
Physical Principles of Pesticide Behaviour, still regarded as a major work in this field.
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