N o .123
Obiter Dicta
On Thursday 30 th June 2016, HM the
Queen and HRH the Duke of Edinburgh
attended a service at Westminster Abbey
to mark the centenary of the Battle of
the Somme. Her Majesty laid a wreath to
mark the first of a number of vigils held
throughout the night. At 2315, vigil was
held for Reggie Tompson (F, 1897-1901)
and at its start CWR Pitt (I, 94-99)
read a letter written by Tompson to his
mother on the first day of the battle.
The recording can be found here: www.
centenarybattlefieldtours.org/somme100
T he T rusty S ervant
As reported in many newspapers,
Camelot Castle Hotel, Tintagel, co-
owned by DJ Mappin (D, 78-83), has
won £110,000, after betting that Donald
Trump would become President of the
United States of America.
Between June and November last
year, he continued to back Trump and
estimates he placed a total of around
£5000 on 30 bets.
KT Brisbane (C, 94-99) and NCE Walter
(Coll, 94-99) completed the Marathon
des Sables in Morocco in April 2017.
Obituary
If you would like a copy of any press obituary referred to, please contact the Winchester College Society office. You can request either by email
to [email protected], telephone +44 (0)1962 621217 or by sending a stamped addressed envelope to the Director, 73 Kingsgate
Street, Winchester SO23 9PE.
We have noticed an increase in the number of deaths which are not reported in The Times or The Daily Telegraph, including nine of those
covered in this issue. We hope that we have not missed the death of any OW and would ask that, if it is not proposed to put a notice in The
Times or The Daily Telegraph, we are informed by a family member or a friend, giving the date of death and the details of the next of kin.
Peter Gonville Stein (Fellow, 76-91):
died 7.8.2016 aged 90. Educated at
Liverpool College which was bombed
and he thus had to cycle five miles
each day to school. He served in the
Royal Navy in the Far East 1944-47.
Exhibition to Caius College, Cambridge,
LLB 1950. Rather than practise as
a solicitor he studied Roman Law at
University of Pavia 1951-52. He first
began as a Lecturer in Jurisprudence at
Nottingham University before becoming
Professor of Jurisprudence at Aberdeen
1956-68. He then became Regius
Professor of Civil Law at Cambridge
1968-93. He was a Fellow of Queens’
College 1968-74 and Vice President
1974-81. He was Chairman, the Law
Faculty Board, 1973-77. He was on the
Council of the British Academy 1988-
90. Academy of European Lawyers from
1992 (President from 2008). He was a
practising JP, Honorary QC 1993 and
Hon LLD Aberdeen University. Visiting
professorships at Virginia, Chicago, New
Orleans, Salerno and the Lateran, Rome.
His most famous work was Roman Law
in European History published first in
German in 1999 and then in English,
Spanish, Italian, Japanese, French and
Hungarian and finally translated into
Basque. He represented Cambridge
University on the Governing Body
and was particularly interested in the
historical acquisition of the lands in the
endowment but also in the personality
of the tenants. He was impressed by
the range of expertise and enthusiasm
which the staff brought to the boys.
He made a major contribution to the
history of jurisprudence and the Roman
foundations of Western European
legal systems. Married (1) 1953 Janet
Chamberlain (marriage dissolved) and
21
(2) 1978 Anne Sayer, who survives
him with his three daughters of his first
marriage and a stepson. Obituary in The
Daily Telegraph.
Donald Britton (Co Ro, 49-53): died
7.6.2016 aged 96. Educated at Wilson
Grammar School, London of which
he was Head Boy. Organ Scholarship,
Emmanuel College, Cambridge. Double
Firsts, Modern Languages and Music.
A precocious talent as a schoolboy, he
gave a recital at the Albert Hall as a
teenager. Commissioned in the Duke of
Wellington’s Regiment, with whom he
served in Burma. He took part in the
Second Chindit Expedition behind the
Japanese lines. Mentioned in Despatches.
He stayed in India for an extra 6 months
in command of a hill station, where his
playing of Italian arias made the Italian