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Capt. Derek d’Esterre Head VRD JP FRIBA RNR DL (E 1938-1942, died 28 November 2010) Derek Head came from one of those Bromsgrove families most of whose members served in the Armed Forces. He was born in Malta, where his father J S Head (S 1910) was a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy, and when he was appointed to a post on the Naval Staff in New Zealand, Derek moved with him, becoming a pupil at Wellesley College. On returning to the UK he joined Elmhurst House in January 1939 and so had experience of pre-war Bromsgrove before the School was evacuated to Llanwrtyd Wells on the outbreak of WWII.
Within a month of being demobilised in December 1946 he joined his younger brother Guy in the Irish Guards. However during training he was invalided out after catching pneumonia and septicaemia. In civilian life he qualified as ARIBA, then FRIBA, and worked in the Brighton Borough Surveyor’s Department, where he met and married Anne. Their felicitous and harmonious union lasted 62 years and produced three children, eight grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
He joined as a partner the Brighton architectural practice Overton Partners, where Anne’s taste and talents were responsible for many local interiors, including Laurence Olivier’s houses. Derek as Principal developed his naval experience to become involved in the original design of the massive Brighton Marina and, after the completion of projects in Malta, Bahamas, London and Den Holder, he was recognised as an international authority, writing two books on marinas. Meanwhile his father on retirement became Bursar of Brighton College and no doubt his influence helped my application to teach Classics there in 1954. So an outpost of Old Bromsgrovians was established on the South Coast, which included Major E O Kay and on his annual visits to Sussex R G Routh used to act as generous host at a reunion lunch. In addition to his professional achievements, Derek continued to serve in the RNVR and RNR, rising through the ranks and in 1972 becoming Captain in command of H.M.S. Sussex. He specialised in intelligence and served for a time as advisor to the Director of Naval Intelligence.
He would also don his uniform to take part in the Annual General Inspection of the Brighton College CCF, which I was commanding after my four years in the KRRC. As an extension of his naval interests he was a skilful model maker and became a Consultant to Christie’s on model ships; he also compiled a unique collection of Basset-Lowke waterline ship models, writing a book on them and being acknowledged as a world expert. Derek’s sense of public duty led him to serve as a magistrate for twenty years, to be Chairman of the Brighton Tax Commission and to be Deputy Lieutenant for East Sussex. In a long and quiet retirement he felt no need to leave his comfortable house and attractive garden in Hove, and in his ninth decade when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, his stoical acceptance was an example to us all. Thanks to Anne’s and his family’s devoted care he was able to be nursed at home and die peacefully in his own bed. Provided by John Page (School 1939-1943)
SENIOR BROMSGROVIAN 2011
It was in the Abernant Hotel there that I met him and continued the generational link between our two families. Our fathers had come under the spell of R G Routh at Bromsgrove before WWI and used to join his skiing parties of young OBs at Adelboden, and one day our daughters would both attend St Mary’s Hall in Brighton. While Jack Head was on active service, his wife Ruth acted as a matron in the Junior School at Llanwrtyd Hall.
Derek joined the Navy as a volunteer in 1942 and as a Sub Lieutenant in an MTB a year later was involved in raids on occupied Channel ports and provided a screen for the D Day landings. Then in the Far East he took part in the assault on an island held by the Japanese and subsequently in their surrender on 2 September 1945, in the process acquiring a Samurai sword. As RN Liaison Officer on board the Dutch cruiser Tromp, he had to deal with the bitter resentment of the liberated locals against their former colonialists. He was pleasantly surprised to be invited by the Captain on board the modern Tromp as a guest during the Royal Navy Review of 1953.