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popularity at Magdalene led
to extracurricular jobs. He
drafted a new constitution for
the Junior Combination Room
with the same degree of care as
if it were a newly independent
colony; as senior treasurer of
the May Ball he restored a style
never subsequently lost.
One job that gave him
particular pleasure was the
presidency of Magdalene’s
Rugby Club, which he accepted
even though he had never
played the game. He brought
to it his customary enthusiasm,
turning up to support the team
in all weathers.
PEARSON
– In August
2016, Richard Pearson (B,
1953-1958). The following is
taken from the eulogy given by
Richard’s brother, Peter Pearson
(B, 1961-1966), provided by
Chris Sprague (C, 1957-1962):
Richard was born on 4th
May 1940 in Muree, a hill
station in the North of India.
In 1941, Pop had orders to go
to Bombay and then onto an
unknown destination, leaving
his pregnant wife and young
Richard at the railway station in
Nowshera. The arrangements
were that Moppy would then
go to Simla where Pop’s brother
Uncle Frank was stationed, to
await the arrival of the new
baby. On 8th January 1941,
our delightful sister Rachel was
born! Richard was brought by
his aunt to visit the new arrival,
I think reluctantly, because
he had been bribed with the
promise of a biscuit, eating half
on the way, he then presented
his sister with the other half,
which Mum thought showed “a
very generous nature”!
“This sturdy child” as Moppy
described him was about 19
months old, beginning to walk,
and a bit of a menace according
to my mother. Because of this,
delay in civil litigation. This
led to the Courts and Legal
Services Act two years later
that broke the monopoly of
the Bar and granted solicitors
the right to be advocates in the
higher courts.
Antony Derek Maxwell
Oulton was born in Gosport,
Hampshire, in 1927 into an
Anglo-Irish family. He spent his
earliest years in Egypt where his
parents, Charles and Elizabeth,
ran a cotton plantation. He was
educated at St Edward’s School,
Oxford, and stayed with his
cousins in England throughout
the war. He took law at King’s
College, Cambridge, where he
was awarded a First. He was
called to the Bar by Gray’s Inn
in 1952. He then went to Kenya,
where his parents then lived,
to join the Nairobi firm of Daly
and Figgis as an advocate.
In 1953, with the Mau Mau
rebellion against British rule
ratcheting up, the government
of British Kenya appointed
Oulton as a temporary
administrative officer.
Possession of a firearm was
essential, although at one point
Oulton’s weapon singularly
failed to protect him when he
shot himself in the foot owing
to a dodgy safety catch on his
father’s old service revolver.
He was later accidentally shot
in the back by friendly fire as
he was engaging with Mau Mau
raiders. He survived to bear the
scars for the rest of his life. He
arrived back in Britain with a
growing family, having married
Margaret “Mossy” Oxley in
1955 after meeting her on the
ski slopes of Kitzbühel, Austria.
Swapping the mountain air
for London smog, he settled
his family in a pastel-coloured
William IV house in St John’s
Wood Terrace.
From 1961 to 1965 he
served as private secretary to
three Lord Chancellors — Lord
Kilmuir, Lord Dilhorne and
Lord Gardiner. Oulton was
then appointed secretary to the
Royal Commission, which Lord
Gardiner established under the
chairmanship of Lord Beeching,
on Assizes and Quarter
Sessions. Oulton found time to
write (with James Matthews) a
textbook on legal aid and advice,
for which he was awarded his
PhD by Cambridge. He served
on the Lord Chancellor’s
advisory committee on legal
aid. In 1976 he was promoted,
most unusually, two civil service
grades at once, from assistant
secretary to deputy secretary
and given responsibility for
advising the Lord Chancellor
on judicial appointments. As
permanent secretary from
1982 he oversaw an extensive
programme of court building.
He had been appointed CB in
1979 and was knighted in 1984.
On his retirement in 1989 he
was advanced to Knight Grand
Cross of the Order of the Bath.
Oulton then started a
second career at Magdalene
College, Cambridge, teaching
law and how institutions of
government function. He
enjoyed travelling in his later
years, particularly to South
Africa, where he helped to
identify candidates for the
college’s Mandela scholarship.
He also started to research
his family history. His
Derek Oulton