OBITUARIES
John was a keen sportsman. He loved playing golf
and was a member of Eskdale Cricket Club for
many years. He served as Honorary Treasurer for
over 30 years for Egremont Rugby Union Club and
also managed the Cumbria Rugby Union Patrons’
Scheme. John enjoyed supporting Durham County
Cricket too. Iain was an active member of the Leeds Junior
Chamber of Commerce and the Rotary Club of
Leeds which he joined in 1995, becoming President
in 2003/4. He became a Magistrate in 2007 yet still
found time to help as Treasurer to the Scouts and a
similar role in Adel Church and also to continue to
follow his varied sporting interests.
He was a wonderful father to the couple’s two
sons, Adam and Alistair, and their wives, Gilla and
Elizabeth. He was a proud and loving grandfather
of Osla, Sandy and most recently, twins Theodore
and India. Iain had a daughter Helen, and a son Duncan from his
first marriage to Katy. Then in June 1999 he married
Carol and they spent many enjoyable moments with
their family and friends until May 2017, when he was
suddenly diagnosed with cancer.
He was admired for his intelligence, politeness
and dry wit and was regarded by many as a true
gentleman. Also in attendance at the funeral were OPs Gordon
Garside (59-62), Chris Rump (54-60) and
Malcolm Milne (55-62).
Hilary and the family have been overwhelmed by
the impact John’s death has had on so many people. (John Miller and Malcolm Milne, 55-62 and former
staff 71-03)
of course MS. James often did collections for the
Bedford MS centre.
In 2013, James married Alison. He described the
past 5 years as being the best years of his life. It
was amazing to see that he kept a positive attitude
during his illness. MS is a hateful disease but James
was determined to live a full life. He has been a
remarkable example of ‘positive attitude’. Even when
he was wheelchair-bound, he managed to go to
concerts in London with the help of Alison, who has
been a simply superb carer for James.
James’s funeral was on 28 March in Kempston,
Bedford and was attended by many of his old friends
from Pocklington.
(David Cottrell, 55-65)
(Hilary Booth)
Iain Hamish Butler (52-62) died on 4 March 2019
aged 74, brother of Richard (45-54), brother-in
-law of Martin Davison (54-61) and uncle of
Ian (72-82).
A “Weighton” man, he had a distinguished academic
career at school and was no mean sportsman
representing both rugby and cricket teams
throughout the years. He was inspired by Mr James
Eggleshaw (39-76) to read classics at the London
School of African and Oriental Languages with a
view, I seem to remember, to a career in the Foreign
Office. This didn’t live up to expectations and he
embarked on a career in accountancy instead. In
spite of the time spent on studying and also doing an
Open University degree in Mathematics, he still had
time to represent Londesbrough Park Cricket Club
and Pocklington RUFC.
When he moved to Leeds, he became a partner of
Hope Agar Chartered Accountants in Meanwood
before joining Weatherall, Green & Smith and was
later involved with the merger with Sandersons to
form Sanderson Weatherall, where he worked until
retirement in 2007.
James Cottrell (84-91) died in Bedford on 8
March 2019, aged 45, after a long battle with
multiple sclerosis.
From Pocklington, James went to St Andrews
University, where he read Divinity and then to
Hughes Hall, Cambridge for his PGCE. James was
a secondary school teacher (public and private
sectors) in the Cambridge and Bedford areas.
James always loved music, an interest he shared with
many of his friends. James played bass guitar. While at
school and university, he was in a few bands, including
the Alehouse Shufflebutts. He liked to keep up with
current affairs, especially politics and watched the
news avidly. He loved reading books (particularly sci-
fi), watching films and going to concerts. He was well
known for being an enthusiastic and accomplished
conversationalist!
James was a committed Christian. Throughout his
adult life, he made a point of reading his Bible each
day, until reading became too difficult for him. In the
past couple of years, his wife Alison read the Bible
to him. He was very interested in and supported
charities like Oxfam, Red Cross, WaterAid and
Dr John Witham Casson (61-70) died of a
brain tumour on 1 February 2019. He came to
Pocklington at the age of nine from Yokohama where
his father was chaplain to the Mission to Seamen. At
school, John directed and acted in several arresting
performances, accompanied by music and special
effects of his own devising. Those were the days of
the Vietnam War and the Prague Spring and John’s
productions expressed his concern about current
events. John continued to direct and act at Warwick
University where he read English and later in the
United States and in India.
Richard Casson, a nineteenth-century ancestor
of John’s, had opened a private hospital in Hull
for the humane treatment of mental patients.
John himself worked in the Manchester area as a
psychotherapist and specialised in treating clients
through psychodrama.
He also worked as an independent Shakespearean
scholar and valiantly and ingeniously argued in
several books and articles that Sir Henry Neville,
and not Sir Francis Bacon, the Earl of Oxford, or
William Shakespeare of Stratford, was the author of
the Shakespearean corpus.
John made his own way in life. He leaves a daughter,
Anna, a sister, Lesley, a brother, Eric and Allen, John’s
husband who saw John through his final illness with
devotion.
(Stephen Deas, 63-70)
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