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an archive of known monuments
and thereby made the archaeological
professions and governments aware of
the problem and the potential loss to
knowledge. He was appointed OBE for
his work 1999. D Litt, Dublin 2000 and
was awarded a Lifetime Achievement
Award by the Society for American
Archaeology 2004. The Guatemala
government gave him the Order of
Quetzal, their highest honour, 2007. An
archaeologist with a penchant for Rolls-
Royces whose expeditions to Central
America saved many Maya artefacts.
He returned to visit a Cambridge don
and when the door was opened he said
simply: ‘I have had a terrible time in
Guatemala. My guide was shot dead
in front of me.’ He wrote an engaging
autobiography The Road to Ruins 2010.
He was unmarried but enjoyed the
company of attractive and intelligent
women.
John Fane Vernon (H, 37-42): died
17.6.2017 aged 93. Son of JEV (H, 01-
06) and father of JEV (H, 65-70). Co
Prae. He trained with the RAF and his
first instructor was Laurence Olivier. He
served with the Fleet Air Arm 1942-46,
taking part in the sinking of the Tirpitz in
Norway and destruction of Japanese-held
oil refineries in Palembang, Indonesia.
On returning from the latter action
his plane was so badly damaged it was
deemed irreparable and was thrown
over the side of the ship. Employed as
assistant manager on tea plantations
in Assam for Jorehaut Tea Co 1947-
51. He returned to the UK and joined
Ash and Lacy Ltd as junior executive,
rising to Managing Director in 1960.
He introduced many new ideas ahead of
his time. He involved all his employees
in AGMs and defended the company
successfully against a hostile take-over
bid by the much larger Expanded Metal.
In 1980, he stayed on as chairman but
sought new roles, firstly as chairman of
British Dredging, where he strengthened
the financial position of the company,
and later as chairman and other
non-executive roles in Brooke Tool,
Hargreaves and Davenports. Well into
T he T rusty S ervant
his 80s he helped set up the Patrons
Club raising funds for the Conservative
Party in Birmingham. In retirement,
when not enjoying holidays in Normandy
where the Vernons had originated, he
continued to pursue an active life at
Edgbaston Golf and Bridge Clubs. He
was most honoured to be invited to make
the welcome speech at the dinner in
Arras In the footsteps of Monty Rendall trip
to the Somme in 2008. He is survived
by Pamela, his wife of 69 years, and their
son and daughter.
Henry Anthony (Bob) Lillingston
(K, 39-43): died 8.3.2017 aged 91. Son
of EGGL (K, 06-11). Steeplechase 1942,
Captain of Running 1943. He joined the
RNVR 1944 and served in the Atlantic
and the North Sea with HMS Mendip.
Pembroke College, Cambridge 1947, 3
Rural Estate Management 1950, MA
1955. Cambridge University Cross-
Country Running. He first tried Estate
Agency with Sanctury & Son and Iveagh
Trustees but in 1953 he applied for a job
with Royal Dutch Shell and remained
for 17 years. During this time he served
in Iran, Southern Sudan and Thailand,
helping to deal with the locust problem.
He finally moved away from Shell in
1970 to live out his dream of running
a fruit farm. After much searching he
bought a 40-acre plot that had the
right soil and after a massive planting
programme the orchard produced an
outstanding crop of coxes and bramleys.
He loved his sailing at Aldeburgh. His
sense of adventure was infectious; he
was always interesting and interested
and a smile and laughter were never
far away. He is survived by Pamela, his
wife of 60 years, and their son and two
daughters.
Alan Gilbert Paull (A, 39-43): died
17.11.2016, aged 90. Member of the
Institute of Civil Engineers. He worked
for Sir Alexander Gibb and Partners
and was involved in the reconstruction
of dockyards, including Rosyth, Malta
and Swansea, and also road schemes in
Kenya, the Menai Bridge and in Neath.
He was a keen bird-spotter. He travelled
26
to remote places in Europe, Iceland and
North America, always with binoculars
and a bird book. He also loved Llanelli
and Swansea pottery and porcelain. He is
survived by Rosalie, his wife of 60 years,
and their five daughters.
Kenneth David Gibson (K, 39-43):
died 6.4.2017, aged 90. Exhibitioner.
He served with the Fleet Air Arm
1944-46. Scholarship, Trinity College,
Cambridge, 1 Natural Sciences 1948,
MA 1950, PhD Biochemistry, University
of London 1956. He began his long
research career at the Department
of Chemical Pathology at St Mary’s
Hospital, London, as a Leverhulme
Research Fellow 1950. Following a
sabbatical at the Department of Clinical
Biochemistry, at Bethesda, Maryland,
USA, he returned to St Mary’s Hospital
as a Lecturer in Chemical Pathology.
In 1965 he became a visiting professor
at the Ivy League’s Cornell University,
predicting the structure of proteins based
on mathematical calculations of energy
states. In 1968 he moved to the Roche
Institute of Molecular Biology, New
Jersey, where he worked on glycoprotein
formation and collagen structure. He
returned to Cornell in 1984 where, with
vast improvements in computing, he
developed far more complex algorithms
to predict protein structure. He retired
in 1994 and returned to England but
kept up consultancy work at Cornell
almost to the end of his life. A passionate
sailor, in 2002 he became the third oldest
person, aged 76, to sail the Atlantic
single-handedly. He died peacefully in
the Cornish village he and his wife made
home for nearly 20 years. Married 1952
Moira Ford, who died in 2016 after 64
years of marriage. He is survived by their
three sons.
Thomas Hugh Winfield Swan
(H, 39-44): died 27.4.2017, aged
90. Brother of GFWS (H, 43-48).
Exhibitioner, Co Prae and Latin Verse
Gold Medal. He served with the
Grenadier Guards 1945-46 in Germany,
during which he was stationed in the
Black Forest, where lumber was shipped