MCR President’s Report

19 September 2020

Mansfield College Porters’ Lodge was a whole new world to me when I started work there in 1989, and, though everybody was friendly and helpful, none were more so than Pearl Aldridge. Pearl, through her practical experience and knowledge of the workings of the college, had many roles and titles during her long career, but early on it was as the Bursar’s secretary that she came to my aid as a rookie Porter.

I had so much to learn, both in dealing with the students and conference delegates - not to mention the other members of staff, in remembering names, where the millions of keys were, sorting and franking the mail, etc. Pearl was always available when I was despairing over a broken down photocopier, by my side as I panicked during my first fire drill, or patiently helping me sort a mix up with guest rooms.

To say that Pearl was my guiding light during those first few months of my life as college Porter would be an understatement. She also became my friend. She could sometimes become stressed - as we all did, especially during freshers’ week, or a particularly busy conference, but she always found time to smile and hang in the Lodge with me for a few minutes gossip.

I have so many fond memories of my time at Mansfield and that lovely lady, Pearl, is high up there among them. I thank you Pearl, and, with love, bid you farewell.

Hugh Flint, Retired Mansfield Porter

9 September 1988 –7 May 2020

Our daughter Alice, who died suddenly but peacefully in the spring, spent 2010/11 at Mansfield, studying for an MSt in English & American Studies. She had graduated in English Literature in 2010 from the University of Edinburgh, and went on to a PhD at Cambridge.

As she put it in her own words, her Cambridge thesis, ‘Chalk and the Architrave: Mathematics and Modern Literature’, ‘analysed literature’s engagement with mathematics and the cultural history of quantification. I traced the story of our world becoming numerical: uncovering the cultural histories of the graphs, statistics, models and algorithms that are woven into modern life and modernist literature.’

After Cambridge, an editorial internship at Verso Books led to her appointment in 2017 as Assistant Editor of New Left Review. In addition to commissioning, editing, translating and typesetting work by others, she herself wrote for NLR, our favourite piece being 2018’s ‘Intaglio as Philosophy’, an elegant reflection on Hans-Jörg Rheinberger’s, Le graveur et le philosophe: Albert Flocon rencontre Gaston Bachelard.

Alice’s time in Oxford remained hugely important to her. It gave her, among many other things, some of her closest friendships – friendships that lasted for the remainder of her all too short life.

Caroline Bamford and Donald MacKenzie

7 November 1966 – 15 September 2020

Stephen was an undergraduate at Mansfield in the mid-1980s. From the very start it was clear that he was exceptional. He was one of the first Mansfield mathematicians to get a first-class degree and I think the first to get a doctorate. He obtained his PhD from Bath University in 1993 and started as a lecturer at the University of Surrey that same year. He was promoted to Professor in 2012.

A prolific researcher, Stephen had almost 100 papers to his name. He was a mathematical biologist and his main area of expertise was in the theory and applications of delay differential equations. Much of his recent work was on the mathematical modelling of diseases that are carried by insects, such as malaria and bluetongue disease. However, he also worked in other areas; his most recent publication was on a problem arising in machine-tool vibration. Some of his research was in an area close to mine, so we would meet now and then at conferences. I very much looked forward to seeing him and to his presentations, which were models of clarity. Stephen travelled widely and had many friends, as well as more than 50 collaborators all over the world. Following conversations at a conference about ten years ago, we published a couple of papers together. As a friend and colleague he was kind, and generous with both his time and his ideas, with a lovely sense of humour. Professor Glenn Webb from Nashville, another collaborator, writes: ‘I knew him to be a very fine person, friend, and collaborator. He was very valued at his university and in the general science community.’

By coincidence my nephew, David Peeling, was an undergraduate at Surrey and was taught by Stephen. He writes: ‘I have very positive memories of Professor Gourley’s lectures. He was absolutely fantastic and by far the best lecturer I had at Surrey. Not only was he extremely knowledgeable and able to explain things in a way others couldn’t, he could also do so with great humour and could always put a smile on our faces. He would occasionally have the lecture theatre in stitches as he told one of his stories. I know others at Surrey feel the same way; he was very popular and we always looked forward to his lectures. I would go so far as to say he had legendary status amongst the students. I knew of others at Surrey who would select modules purely based on the fact that Professor Gourley taught the module, which shows the regard in which he was held by the students (even though he taught some of the hardest modules).’

Stephen was lovely man who contributed much and will be sorely missed.

Dr Janet Dyson

20 December 1938 – December 2019

Nick arrived at Mansfield to read English in 1958 as one of the first non-theologian undergraduates. He contributed to many areas of College life such as cricket and hockey, but also to the cultural side by helping to set up a discussion group with his English tutors Steven Wall and Malcolm Parkes. Outside of College he pursued his love of film and journalism by writing for Cherwell and on the Oxford Times in the long vac.

After graduating he started both married life and his career as a journalist on the Evening Chronicle with Thompson newspapers in Newcastle upon Tyne. In 1965 he used a press scholarship to spend three months in Malaysia on the Straits Times. Moving to London he worked as a sub-editor on the Sunday Times Magazine, a period he regarded as the happiest days of his professional life. Next came a spell on the Sunday Times Sports desk where he helped set up the hugely successful Sunday Times Fun Run held in Hyde Park each autumn. He got the running bug and in 1981, ran in the first London Marathon where he clocked a creditable 3 hours 30 minutes.

In the late eighties he left the ST to become Sports Editor on Robert Maxwell’s ill-fated London Daily News before making his final move to the Guardian as Deputy Sports Editor.

In retirement Nick used his encyclopaedic knowledge of sport, Shakespeare, art and music by setting up groups on art appreciation, architecture, classic cinema and etymology, as well as lecturing on place names. He was described by all who knew him as great fun, an all-rounder with an equable nature that made him many real lifelong friends.

Oh, did I mention he also wrote a history of football, penned excellent parodies and was a lifelong member of Surrey County Cricket Club? I could go on…

Jane Mason and Victor O’Connell (Geography, 1959)

13 April 1929 – December 2019

All his life, Stanley faced the challenges of reconciling faith and intellect without prejudicing the integrity of either. Born in the Black Country with an evangelical