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V A L E T E
ST EDWARD’S
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O B I T U A R I E S
He qualified as a solicitor and
worked initially for Cumberland
County Council before becoming
a parliamentary agent and senior
partner with Sherwood and Co
in London. He became an expert
in drafting legislation and as
Government Agent he navigated
the Channel Tunnel through
the tortuous legislative process,
starting in 1974 as a Bill, which
was dropped but eventually
revived and passed as an Act in
1987. Gamon was appointed
CBE in 1979.
He retired in 1995 and
lived on at his home in Kent,
tending his garden and singing
enthusiastically in the local choir.
His wife predeceased him in
2003. He is survived by a son
and three daughters.
HANKS
– On 10th January
2015, Michael John Hanks,
after a short illness. Michael
left St Edward’s in 1941. He
enlisted in the KRRC in August
1945 before transferring to
the Oxford and Bucks Light
Infantry in 1947 undertaking
his officer training in India. He
left the army in 1948 and joined
Dorland Advertising Ltd where
he became a director, retiring in
1982. Michael is survived by Sue,
his wife of 62 years, three sons,
Simon, James and Willie, seven
grandchildren and three great
grandchildren.
HARRIS
– Group Captain
Peter Harris CBE (D, 1942-
1947), on 16th January 2016.
The following obituary has
kindly been provided by Peter’s
daughters Pippa and Sally:
Having been dissuaded by
his father from applying for a
regular commission in the Royal
Air Force, Peter Harris went on
to pursue a successful career
in the electronics engineering
industry, and simultaneously
to devote much of his spare
time to the Reserve Forces,
which he served modestly
and with distinction. Although
none of his superiors in GEC
ever openly questioned him as
to where his primary loyalties
lay, he did himself sometimes
wonder which activity was the
more satisfying.
Peter Harris was born in
Eastbourne on 6th September
1929, the eldest son of a bank
official who was destined to
become a leading member of
society in the town later in life.
His early education followed the
peregrinations of his father, and
included a wartime evacuation
year at Llandovery College,
but eventually he went to
Roborough School, Eastbourne,
from where he won an Open
Scholarship to St Edward’s
School, Oxford, having been
just pipped to a Barclays Bank
Scholarship. During National
Service in the Royal Air
Force from 1947 to 1949, he
developed interests in both
radar engineering and aviation,
which were to determine the
course of his life thereafter. He
had won a State Scholarship
from school, tenable not at
Cambridge as was his great
hope, but at the University of
Birmingham, to which he went
up in 1949 to read Electrical
Engineering under the tutelage
of Professor Tustin. Here he
became involved in a range of
extramural activities, including
the Engineering Society, the
University Conservative
Association, the Council of the
Guild of Undergraduates, and
the University Rowing Club,
of which he was a founder-
member; but his primary
interest was the University
Air Squadron, which he
joined at the first opportunity,
learning to fly initially on Tiger
Moths and later on the then
modern Chipmunks, under the
command of Squadron Leader
JAC (later ACM Sir John) Aiken.
The fact that in his final year
he achieved more flying hours
than in the two previous years
combined, possibly contributed
to his limited academic success
in that he was awarded only a
second-class degree.
On graduating in 1952, he
took a post as an electronic
development engineer at
the Borehamwood Research
Laboratories of Elliott
Brothers (London) Limited,
where he was employed on
the development of various
experimental missile and radar
systems. After some three
years he decided to satisfy his
wanderlust, and joined the
overseas staff of the Decca
Navigator Company, where
he was to spend the next five
years. His travels took him inter
alia to Newfoundland, where
he was in a team setting up
a radio navigation system to
facilitate the accurate laying of
the first transatlantic telephone
cable, and to Brunei, where
he installed and managed an
off-shore radio survey system
on behalf of the Brunei Shell
Company. The climax of this
career stage took him to
Christmas Island in the Central
Pacific, where he successfully
established a land navigation aid
for use by aircraft and warships
participating in “Operation
Michael Hanks