Rhubarb

St Edward’s

V a l e t e

Fran was then educated at

Marlborough College, where he

became Senior Prefect. During

school holidays in the early years

of the War he volunteered for

night fire watch in Hereford

Cathedral. He joined the Royal

Navy in 1944 and served aboard

HMS Zealous on the Arctic

convoys. As he crossed the

Arctic Circle for the first time,

the Captain asked him for a

noon sun-sight. He responded

with his customary honesty,

though without the bluff

confidence that normally went

with it: ‘Well, sir… we appear

to be about eight miles north

of Derby…’

His grandfather and father

had both been up at Brasenose

College, Oxford, and in the

tradition of that time Fran’s

name had been put down at

birth, so he assumed that a stroll

around Christ Church Meadow

with the Principal in his last term

at school had been his interview.

On demob he phoned that

august personage from a public

box in Portsmouth dockyard to

announce his imminent arrival.

His father considered this to be

extraordinary behaviour – as,

upon reflection, did Fran himself.

But it worked. He embarked

upon his History degree two

weeks later.

After a brief flirtation with

industry, he tried teaching;

first at Summer Fields then St

Edward’s – where a job became

a vocation. He taught History at

all levels, some Latin, sports to

those that mattered – the 3rd

XI and below – and went on to

become secretary of the old

boys’ society, appeal director

and compiler of the School Roll.

It was as the Housemaster

of Sing’s that he was perhaps

most revered – though the

very mention of such a word

would have embarrassed him

hugely. Whilst pupils, colleagues

and parents considered him an

extremely gifted and at times

inspirational commanding

officer, he preferred to say

that his place was in the engine

room with an oily rag.

Fran valued people for who

they were, not on account

of their plumage, and never

ceased delighting in connections

and possibilities. His ability to

absorb, remember and recall

personal detail, even from the

most fleeting of exchanges,

was legendary. He was an old-

fashioned networker, always

for the benefit of others,

never himself. Amusement and

appreciation were his rewards.

He remained a pillar of

stability – but never inflexibility

– in a changing educational

world. He always valued loyalty,

discretion and integrity. He

eschewed tittle-tattle,

backbiting and displays of

immodesty. He was good

company. He would lead his

audiences in laughter, never

at their expense. His humour

was wonderfully mischievous,

self-deprecating, and peculiarly

British. His generosity of

spirit and the warmth of his

hospitality remained undimmed

by Multiple System Atrophy,

the rare, aptly named disease

he bore so courageously. Claret

was always on offer, even when

Fran could only sip it from his

favourite beaker, the Horn of

Plenty, through a plastic straw.

In 1951 Fran married Pat,

a War Widow and daughter

of Lieutenant General Sir

Frederick Morgan, the chief

planner of the D Day Invasion.

Together, they bought the

Martin Luther, an old Rochester

barge, firmly stuck in the mud

in the River Blyth, as a holiday

bolthole, and later graduated

to a much loved cottage next

to the Harbour Inn. She died

in 2005.

Common Room Obituaries

He is survived by two sons

– the elder an employment

judge, the younger a former

commanding officer of the SAS –

and a stepdaughter in California.

ALDEN

– On 4th March 2014,

Robin Wenham Alden (D,

1946-1950) and Former MCR

(1965-1970). The brother of JJW

Alden (1946-1947), he studied

for his MA at Worcester College,

and his Diploma of Education at

Oxford University Department

of Education. He was Captain

of boats at Worcester College,

Henley RR, and Leander Club.

He was Assistant Master at King’s

School, Chester, from 1955-

1961, taught at St Paul’s School,

London, from 1961-1965, and

returned to St Edward’s from

1965-1970. He was Housemaster

and Head of the English

Department, as well as Secretary

of Arts Society, participating in

Choral singing in Chester Bach

Choir, Rugby Philharmonic Choir

and Woodstock Music Society.

CUMMINGS

– On 14th May

2014, Douglas Cummings,

(MCR, 1997-2007). Mark Sellen

(MCR) has kindly provided the

following obituary.

It is with great sadness that

I record here the death of one

of the greatest British ‘cellists,

Douglas Cummings. Dougie

came to St Edward’s in 1997

and through the warmth and

generosity of his personality

immediately established a rapport

with pupils and colleagues alike.

He was a larger than life figure,

personally and musically.

Among the most celebrated

of British orchestral cellists from

the late 1960s to the end of

the last century, it seemed that

his was the only name to be

talked about repeatedly both

in and outside the capital. Born

in London in 1946, his father

Keith, a distinguished viola player,

PRICHARD

– On 31st

December 2014, Francis

Hesketh Prichard, Former

Common Room, aged 90.

Known always as Fran, he

was a dedicated and popular

schoolmaster, able to move

with the times and to bring

everyone with him. He dropped

anchor at St Edward’s, Oxford

in 1952, and stayed there, in a

variety of guises, for more than

four decades.

His father, the only one of

four brothers to survive the

Great War, served with the

Indian Civil Service in Assam,

where Fran was born on

30th October 1925. An only

child, he was dispatched to

England when he was barely

two, and farmed out to distant

(and, he reckoned, dusty and

reluctant) relatives until his

parents returned ten years later.

Stability of a kind arrived when

he was moved to The Elms at

Colwall and began holidaying

with the Chesterton family

at the vicarage in Tenbury

Wells. Their son George, who

was to become one of the

finest amateur bowlers of the

1950s, provided much needed

brotherly support and spirited

opposition as The Ashes were

endlessly contested on the

family’s front lawn.

Fran Prichard

O b i t u a r i e s