No. 140 The Trusty Servant
Obituary
We write obituaries for all Old Wykehamists and it would be invaluable to us if OWs were to send us some notes about their life, covering a little bit more than appears in the Winchester College Register. These should be addressed to: The Obituarist, Winchester College Society, 73 Kingsgate Street, Winchester, SO23 9PE, or wincollsoc @ wincoll. ac. uk
William Michael Muir Baron( CoRo, 56-88); died 6.10.2025. Father of WAB. Harrow. 2 Lt, RA 1951- 53. New College, Oxford 1953, 2 Botany 1956, BSc, MA 1958. Head of Biology Department 1963 and Science Department 1969, he shaped the way science was taught and wrote a successful biology textbook. FLS 1967. Author of Organisation in Plants 1963, Water and Plant Life 1967, Nature Conservation 1971. In school holidays and the occasional sabbatical, he travelled to feed his love of alpine plants, which took him across much of Europe, Turkey, Nepal and China. He was also an avid collector, specialising in snowdrops and daphnes. He helped form the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, serving as trustee and chairman, finally retiring in 1993. He was a keen and prolific painter; a fly fisherman who made his own flies; and a photographer. In retirement, he shared his most amazing creation that was the garden at Brandy Mount House by opening it to the public several times a year. He married Caryl Shankland in 1956, who died in 2013, and is survived by their son and daughter.
A full appreciation will appear in the next issue.
Very Revd Hon Hugh Geoffrey Dickinson( CoRo, 63-69); died 30.7.2025. Westminster( KS). Trinity College Oxford, Lit Hum, MA, DipTh. Cuddesdon Theological College.
Deacon 1956; Priest 1957; Curate Melksham 1956-8; Chaplain Trinity College Cambridge 1958-63. He was Chaplain at Win Coll 1963-9, where he put into practice the radically reformed vision of Christian education for which he had argued. Bishop’ s Adviser for Adult Education, Coventry, 1969-77. Vicar St Michael’ s, St Albans 1977-86; Dean of Salisbury 1986-96: his many achievements included educational and cultural involvement of the cathedral in secular life and increasing the inclusion of women and girls in diocesan affairs and structures. It was during his tenure, in 1991, that Salisbury Cathedral Girls’ Choir was founded and he was involved in the foundation of Sarum College in 1995. He later served as an assistant priest at St John the Baptist, Cirencester. He was a principal contributor to a Bloxham Project report, Heirs and Rebels: Principles and practicalities in Christian education. He married Jean Storey in 1963 and is survived by their daughter and son. Obituary in the Church Times.
David John Smith( CoRo, 65-01); died 1.6.2025. RGS Colchester. Corpus Christi College, Cambridge 1959-62, Boyd Scholar( in Nat Sci) 1960, 1 Nat Sci Pt 1 1961, 2( 2) Pt 2 1962. Imperial College, London 1962-5, PhD. Housemaster( G) 1973-88. Founder member of Michla Choir in 1966, he played double bass in School Orchestra and was Don i / c Golf.
A Memorial Service for David will be held on 14 th March next year at Win Coll and a full appreciation will appear in the next issue.
Edgar Joseph Feuchtwanger( A, 39-43); died 22.8.2025. Father of AJLF. He grew up in Munich where he was a neighbour of Hitler, moving to England in 1939. V Herbert Smith Prize.
Ministry of Supply 1943. Scholar, Magdalene College Cambridge 1944, 2 Hist 1947, MA 1951. PhD, University of Southampton 1958. Lecturer, Southampton University 1947; deputy director of Extra-Mural Studies and senior lecturer 1966; Reader in History 1973. Visiting lecturer in Frankfurt and Order of Merit, Federal Republic of Germany 2003, OBE 2021. Author of Disraeli, Democracy and the Tory Party 1968; Prussia: Myth and Reality 1970; Gladstone 1975, 2nd edition 1989, Democracy and Empire: Britain 1865-1914( vol 9 of The New History of England) 1985; From Weimar to Hitler 1993; and I Was Hitler’ s Neighbour 2015. He married Primrose Essame in 1962, who died in 2012, and is survived by their 2 daughters and a son. Obituaries in The Times and Telegraph.
Richard Michael( Mick) John Hely- Hutchinson, Earl of Donoughmore( A, 40-45); died 25.4.2025. Groton Scholar, USA 1940-3. New College Oxford 1945, Med, 3 Physiology 1949, BM, BCh, MA 1952. He became Viscount Suirdale in 1948. National Service 1954-6, Capt, RAMC. Registrar in obstetrics and gynaecology at Westminster Hospital. To supplement his doctor’ s salary, he became increasingly involved in business. Starting in property investment, he switched to full-time involvement in Perdio Radio which adopted transistor technology rather than the bulkier valves of earlier radios to develop a series of stylish models. Perdio was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1962 but went into voluntary liquidation in 1965. He succeeded as 8th Earl of Donoughmore 1981. Chairman of Hodder Headline plc( formerly Headline Book Publishing) 1986-97. He married( 1) Sheila Parsons in 1951, who died in 1998, and( 2) Margaret
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