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17 ST EDWARD’S r hubarb
Francis Prichard was my form master. I have
many fond memories of Francis, he was
a very kind and thoughtful man, he had a
ruddy complexion with always a fresh look
to his cheeks, always well dressed and ready
to give advice and always with a smiling, very
friendly face.
In the mid 1970s, more than 40 years
ago now, I had decided to build a house
overlooking the beach in Barbados. I made an
appointment to see the local Bank Manager
of Barclays Bank in Bridgetown, Mr King.
The moment we entered his enormous
manager’s office, his telephone started ringing
and he excused himself, and swivelled his
chair towards his phone. His call was a very
long one.
Sitting in front of his desk waiting for his
call to finish, I noted a handwritten airmail
letter, lying upside down, of course, from
where I was sitting, on the opposite side
of his desk. When he completed his long
call, he swivelled his chair back around, and
said ‘Now sir, what can I do for you?’ I said
‘Before I come to that, I would like to tell
you something’. ‘Yes’, he said ‘what is it?’ I
said to him that I could tell him from whom
he had received the handwritten airmail
letter lying upside down on his desk, with
no signature visible. ‘That sir is impossible’,
he replied.
I said that letter was written to you by
a Mr Francis Prichard, housemaster at St
Edward’s School in Oxford, England! Mr King
was absolutely amazed. ‘You are correct.
How on earth did you know?’ I told Mr
King that in 1956 I had been taken out of St
Edward’s School for a year because my father
had been appointed as a visiting scientific
research Professor at The Institutes of Health
in Bethesda, Maryland. Mr Prichard had kindly
written me numerous airmail letters in his
very characteristic italic script, encouraging
me to remember to do my set work to
enable me to proceed to the next form up at
St Edward’s on my return from America.
Mr King was dumbfounded that I
had correctly recognised Mr Prichard’s
handwriting and he then told me his son
was to be a Barclays Bank Scholar at St
Edward’s and he was in correspondence
with Mr Prichard who was by then
Housemaster of Sing’s.
Then Mr King again asked how he could
help me. I said I needed to borrow some
money to complete the house that I was
building which was facing the sea on this
most beautiful of Caribbean Islands, and he
said, ‘Of course, how much?’ He also said he
would like to come with me on a site visit to
see how the house was progressing which he
subsequently did!
Mr King said to me that as an old St
Edward’s pupil, I could borrow as much as I
liked, at minimal interest, and that the loan
would be guaranteed by himself. All this
thanks to Francis Prichard and recognising
his letter written in very characteristic italics!
Mr King and I and my mother, who was with
me at the time, remained friends for years
afterwards.
I then told Mr King that when his son came
to the School in Oxford, that I would invite
him to tea in Woodstock where my parents
lived which is only seven miles away from
the school. Subsequently, I kept my promise
and I collected his son and took him for tea to
our house in Woodstock where he met my
parents who were still alive then.
In later years, I told this story to Fran
when visiting St Edward’s at a special Gaudy
event and we were standing in beautiful warm
sunshine in the Quad and he enjoyed the
story about the Barclays Bank manager a lot.
He called over to his wife and said ‘Johnnie,
tell Pat as well’, which I did. This story is
just to let you know how often I think of
Francis Prichard who helped me in so many
ways. He never looked down on the boys,
always treated you as an equal and one could
always go to him in trouble and he gave such
excellent and well thought-out advice.
I attended his very moving and most
impressive memorial service at St Edward’s
in Chapel two years ago, (every seat taken
showing how much he was loved and
respected). I wish I had known that he suffered
for some years from a debilitating neurological
condition and that he was still living on
the Woodstock Road in Oxford. Sadly his
second wife Pat who also was very charming
and very attractive to look at had died some
years before Fran as a result of dementia. I
recall how well Fran’s son spoke as did Derek
Henderson (one of my former form masters
whom I could always imitate!).
I would just also like to mention Keith
Beaver (F, 1955-1960), still a close friend
of mine for over 50 years. Mr Prichard
and family rented a flat in Summertown,
at 5 South Parade, in the same house that
belonged to Keith Beaver’s grandmother Mrs
Bruce, or Dear Old Mrs Bruce, as we
referred to her with much fondness. She
was well over 90 at this time, very bent
but with all her faculties! Keith’s mother,
Marion Bruce, later Beaver, was Old Mrs
Bruce’s daughter and Old Mrs Bruce’s son,
Mr Bruce, had a very successful undertaking
profession in Summertown called ‘Bruce’s
The Undertaker’.
Old Mrs Bruce was a very dear friend to
the whole Prichard family (Pat and Fran had
two sons) and they were enormously fond of
her and I always felt thereby a closer link to
Fran because Mrs Bruce’s grandson Keith was
my best friend and protector at St Edward’s.
I also had the pleasure of meeting Fran’s
daughter, who now lives in America and who
came over especially for his memorial service.
OSE Memories
The following memories of Fran Prichard have been provided by John Glees (F, 1954-1959)
F E A T U R E S
Fran Prichard