John Willis Edwards

1961 College Prefects: John Edwards standing far right

John Willis Edwards was born in 1943, the son of E E Edwards.

John was in the Benson from the Lent term on 1957, becoming a School Prefect and representing College on the track as a keen middle distance runner.  He spent most of his time at the Benson under A Potter.

J W Edwards in his first year at Wellington

He had a long and successful career with Unilever after leaving College. Wellington stayed with him and he returned in  retirement as Secretary of the OW Society and Editor of the Yearbook from 2001 to 2006. 

He married Elizabeth (Liz) and they had three children, Daniel, Caroline and Charlotte, and 5 grandchildren.

He was initiated into the Old Wellingtonian Lodge in 2003 and became Worshipful Master in 2010. 

He died in June 2023.

He was a sincere and generous friend and much missed by us all.

Edward John De Salis

Edward John De Salis was born in 1853 at Grahamstown, South Africa. He was the son of Major Rodolph Johannes Leslie Joseph Hibernicus De Salis and his wife Sarah née Blake. He married Margaret Augusta née Le Fargue in 1873 and they raised six sons and one daughter.

He was educated at Wellington College and Sandhurst Military College. At Wellington he was in the Hill, arriving in the Michelmas Term of 1864.

He was commissioned into the Control Department, the predecessor of the Army Service Corps, in 1871 and followed on to the Ordnance Department in 1876, where he was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel in 1892. The same year he joined the Naval Ordnance Department, serving until 1913. He was very unusual in having been attached both to the Army and Navy branches. He finally became Naval Ordnance Officer at Portsmouth and then at Chatham before his retirement in 1913.

He was the Honorary Secretary of St. John Ambulance from 1894 to 1898 and organised the Portsmouth St. John’s Ambulance Brigade and Nursing Corps. He was an Honorary Associate of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem and was awarded the Diamond Jubilee Medal.

His masonry reflected his military postings: He was initiated in Aldershot Camp Lodge No 1331, Aldershot, Hampshire in 1875. He joined Atlantic Phoenix Lodge No 224, Loyalty Lodge No 258, and St George’s Lodge No 224 (IC), all in Bermuda; Eboracum Lodge No 1611, York; Cestrian Lodge No 425, Chester; Bulwer of Cairo Lodge No 1068, London and St Leonard’s Lodge No 1842, St Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex, where he was installed as Worshipful Master in 1923. 

He was a Founder and first Worshipful Master of Agricola Lodge No 1991, York in 1883 and Ordnance Lodge No 2399, Woolwich, Kent in 1891. In 1909 he was a Founder of this, the Old Wellingtonian Lodge No 3404, London and in 1917 he became a Founder and first Secretary of Maguncor Lodge No 3806, London, serving as Worshipful Master in 1925. He was a Founder of Shorncliffe Lodge No 4330, Folkestone in 1921 and the Founding Secretary of St Michael’s Lodge No 4426, St Leonards-on-Sea the following year. He was a Past Provincial Grand Senior Warden of Lincolnshire and in 1921 he was appointed Assistant Grand Sword Bearer of the United Grand Lodge of England.

In Royal Arch he was exalted in Royal Victoria Chapter No 358, Bermuda in 1876. He joined Zetland Chapter No 234, York; Doric Chapter No 362, Grantham, Lincolnshire and Emulation Chapter No 40, St. Leonards-on-Sea. He was a Founder and Second Principal of St Leonard’s Chapter No 1842, St. Leonards-on-Sea in 1924 and Founder and First Principal of Maguncor Chapter No 3806, London in the same year. In Mark Masonry he was advanced in York Time Immemorial Lodge in 1878. He joined East Sussex Lodge, No. 166, St. Leonards-on-Sea and was installed as Worshipful Master in 1924. He was elevated in York Time Immemorial Lodge of Royal Ark Mariners. He joined the East Sussex Lodge, No. 166, St. Leonards-on-Sea and was installed as Worshipful Commander Noah in 1924.

He was installed as Knight Templar in Temple Bruer Preceptory No 143, Lincoln in 1917. The following year he joined Holy Sepulchre Preceptory No 174, St. Leonards-on-Sea. In the Ancient and Accepted Rite he was perfected in 1879 and was Founder and Most Wise Sovereign of Maguncor Chapter No 191, Grantham in 1918. He was awarded 30º and was a member of the Allied Masonic Degrees. He was a Life Governor of the three Masonic Institutions, Secretary of the Maguncor Masonic Benevolent Association and Charity Registrar and Collecting Steward for Maguncor Lodge and Chapter. He was a subscriber to the Masonic Million Memorial Fund.

He died aged seventy-six, at Hastings on 16 March 1929.

John Jehu Ross-Barnard

The Old Wellingtonian Lodge was sorry to lose one of our longest standing and devoted servants, John Jehu Ross Barnard, at the age of 83. He died on 2 November 2022.

John was born in 1939, the son of Capt J K Ross Barnard. He was in the Anglesey from 1953, a Foundationer.

This detail taken from an Anglesey House photograph shows JRB in his first year at College, and is courtesy of the Wellington College Archives:

On leaving College he joined the well known London Department Store, Selfridges, but very quickly found his true calling on the airwaves as a DJ and later as a broadcast and media professional.

John had a long and successful media career, starting on the early pirate station Radio Invicta, whose broadcasts where made from extremely rudimentary premises on an anti-aircraft fort off-shore (and relived by him in a chapter of Keith Skues’s book Pop Went The Pirates).

Known variously as JRB, Larry Pannell, Pete Ross and Peter Barraclough, he moved on to King Radio, then to the much better equipped Radio 390. 1966 saw him at Britain Radio (the “hallmark of quality” station). He also read the news on its Top 40 sister station, “Swinging” Radio England.

After the upheaval in the UK radio industry bought about by the combination of the Pirate stations and the public demand, he went straight, joining the BBC as a television continuity announcer. Since then he has held a number of posts including head of BBC Video, chief executive of Coventry Cable Television, managing director of Satellite Media Services and then becoming a broadcasting consultant. Perhaps as a balance to his activities as a [media] pirate, JRB also served as a Justice of the Peace for many years until forced to retire earlier than necessary by the imposed age limit. It was as part of his consulting role that he helped establish the broadcast media regulator in post-civil war Bosnia-Herzegovina.

John joined this Lodge in 1991 having been initiated in Coventry Foundation Lodge No 4543 in 1988. He served the OW Lodge for 30 years, being Master in 1996 and serving as Secretary for eight years. He also created this, the Lodge’s website, one of the earlier examples of a lodge presence online, appropriately enough for a man who was both a broadcast journalist and Lodge secretary.

He was made SLGR in 2016 and was a PAGDC in Warwickshire before being promoted PPJGW in the same year as his SLGR. He was a keen supporter of the PSLC in general and both the Public Schools’ Installed Masters Lodge and the Public Schools’ Chapter No 2233, having been exalted into Coventry Foundation Chapter in 1990.

He was also a member of the Chelsea Lodge No 3098, Collegiate Lodge No 9943, and Public Schools’ Installed Masters Lodge No 9077.

He was a keen mason beyond the Craft and in his own words was “a member of practically everything” at some stage. The Ross Barnard family have also supported our lodge as visitors, occasional ritualists, friends and welcome guests. JRB’s wife Connie is also a keen mason.

John passed away peacefully after a short illness with his family by his side: His wife of 62 years Constance, his children Beverley, Niall and Fiona and Son- and daughter-in-Law to Dave and Dora. He was grandfather to Tristan, Amy, Charlie, Annie, Sammi and Tim and great grandfather to Billy, Riley and Savannah.

John would want the final words of this all too short and inadequate tribute to be…

Happy Daze

 

Paul David Haynes

Our friend and Brother Paul David Haynes died on Friday, 15 July 2022 after a protracted battle with a brain tumour, made worse by the Covid Crisis over the last years. 

Born in 1964, Paul was educated at Amesbury School and Pangbourne College. He went into the removals business, first with Hoults and then Abels before joining Cadogan Tate, rising to become Managing Director. His roles took him around the world and enabled him to meet a great variety of people at all levels of society, both of which he enjoyed enormously. He had a great love of motorbikes, often touring long distances especially in the USA, and shooting of all types. He was gregarious and outgoing, always positive, always willing to help and always honest with all he met. 

Masonically speaking he was initiated as a Lewis into his father’s Lodge Whitehill Lodge No 8425 in the Province of Hampshire & Isle of Wight in 1998, being Master in 2005. He became a Provincial Grand Steward for the Province in 2008, joining the Province’s Grand Stewards’ Lodge the same year. He went on to help found the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Motorcyclists Lodge No 9939, in 2017, combining two of his great loves, and was that Lodge’s first Master, and Hampshire’s Country Sports Lodge No 9992, combining masonry with another of his passions. The Province went on to make him a Provincial Senior Grand Deacon in 2011 before Grand Lodge appointed him as Grand Standard Bearer in 2015.

He was exalted into Woolmer Forest Chapter in 2007, becoming Z in 2016. The Province appointed him Past Provincial Assistant Grand Sojourner in 2021.

One of his regrets was that his School didn’t not have a Lodge, and he was always seeking other Pangbournians in the Craft to correct this oversight, and whilst doing so became a firm fixture at the Old Wellingtonian Lodge, making many friends and becoming an Honorary Member in 2020. His desire for a School Lodge for Pangbourne remains unfulfilled.

He married twice and had recently become engaged to Anne. He had 3 children with his first wife and became a firm fixture with his step children. He died surrounded by his extended family on Friday 15 July 2022. He was 57.

 

VW Bro Lt Cdr Sir Peter Richard Buckley RN KCVO FRGS

Sir Richard was born in 1928 and was in the Combermere from 1941. He played in the XV and captained the shooting VIII before joining the Navy in 1945. He served in HMS Mauritius and in HMS Ulster before retiring and becoming private secretary to their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Kent, a role he would hold for some 28 years.

He served Wellington as a Governor and was both President and the first Commodore of the OW Sailing Association.

Sir Richard was initiated into the Castle Lodge of Harmony No 26 in 1963 and became Master in 1971. As ‘Red Apron’ lodge, No 26 nominated him as a Grand Steward in 1970 and he went on to join the Grand Stewards’ Lodge. He was made Grand Standard Bearer by Grand Lodge in 1983. He was also a Past Master of the Lodge of Assistance No 2773. He was exalted into the Castle Chapter of Harmony No 26 in 1966.

Sir Richard joined the OW Lodge in 1991 and was made an Honorary Member in 1993. His guidance and advice was highly valued among the brethren along with his humour and fellowship. He was instrumental in the arrangements for the 1992 PSLC Festival at Wellington College that was honoured by the attendance of the HRH the Duke of Kent, the Grand Master and President of Wellington College.

Sir Richard was appointed a Member (Fourth Class) of the Royal Victorian Order in 1968 and promoted to Commander in 1973 and Knight Commander in 1982.

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in 1999. He was also Chair of the Torch Trophy Trust.

He died on his 94th birthday.

Requiescat in Pacem.

Sir Richard Buckley, centre below HRH The Duke of Kent, at the Colonel’s Dinner marking 30 years of the Duke as Colonel of the Scots Guards, with past and present Equerries.

RIP – Major Robert Bartlett

The Old Wellingtonian Lodge is sad to announce the passing of our friend and brother Major (rtd) Robert Anthony Bartlett of the Middlesex Regt (later the Queen’s) yesterday, 7 June 2021.

Bob was a true gentleman, a friend renowned for his great humour, fine company and inimitable ritual style.

Born in 1940 He was in the Picton from the Michelmas Term of 1954. He overlapped with several of the current members of the Lodge – he was a year behind JRB and a few years ahead of Peter Gibbs and John Edwards.

He was a good athlete, representing College in the VIII from the First Block (the photograph below shows him in his first year in the College team) and was the Secretary in his last year. His 51.8 second 440 yards at Ifley Road was notable in 1958 as was his retention of the Faringdon Cup for College at the Berkshire Championships. He also matched the College record of 10.1 seconds over 100 yards.

Having also been Secretary of the Boys’ Games Committee, a Corporal in the Corps, as well as a Dormitory Prefect it is perhaps unsurprising that he left Wellington to go “over the hill” to Sandhurst in 1959 as part of the September ’59 Intake XXVII. He was one of fifteen OWs in that Intake and became JUO. In 1961 he was commissioned into the Middlesex Regiment, being promoted Lieutenant in 1963 and Captain in 1967 by which time the Regiment had become the Queen’s. He retired as a Major in 1992. 

He joined to Lodge in 2006, being proposed by his great friend Chris Collins, and was installed as Master in 2012.

He shall be much missed.

Requiescite in pace

Wellington College Athletics 1956
(Courtesy of Wellington College Archive)