OBITUARIES ISSUE EIGHT J A N U A RY 2 0 1 7
He married Mary Tappo in 1959. In 2004, he married Jean MacEwan who survives him with a son and daughter from his first marriage. John Michael Bevan (BH, 1949)
John Bevan, grandfather of Emma Bevan (A, 2011), Laura Bevan (A, 2012) and Hattie Bevan (A, 2015), died on the 5th July 2016, aged 86. William Martin Dominic Bishop (L, 1956)
William Bishop, son of Lt. W.D. Bishop RNVR (L,1920), died on the 27th January 2016, aged 87. Lt. Com. Brian Graham Brockman (BH, 1941)
Brian Brockman died on the 17th July 2016, aged 92. The son of an Admiral, it was always his intention to join the Navy when he left College. However, he failed to get into Dartmouth Naval College and he joined the Navy as an able seaman. He earned promotion to Sub Lieutenant in 1944 and joined the reserves in 1956. He then joined UDT (Undersea Defence Technology) in Portsmouth where he worked until he retired. Brian is survived by his wife Jane.
Hugh Roland Crooke (JS & NH, 1942)
Hugh Crooke, son of Roland Crooke (BH, 1907), died on the 22nd November 2015, aged 91. When he was 6, Hugh underwent a major change in his life. His father died unexpectedly in January 1931, leaving his widow with three sons and a daughter under ten years old.
Hugh’s father was one of three boys who all attended College. After his death, College very generously offered his widow a free place for one of her boys as a boarder for his entire schooling, from age 7 to 18. Hugh’s mother, faced in those days with the cost of schooling for all her sons and, after struggling with the decision, agreed to this offer for Hugh, who by the summer of 1931 turned 7. In later life Hugh often said how grateful he felt to College for this opportunity. But in fact he was plucked out of everyday family life, leaving his three brothers at home to be schooled locally: a fairly traumatic situation for any small child. At College, he won the General Knowledge Quiz in 1942, was a member of the Morley Society and played full-back for the House XV that got to the final of the 1942 House Pots competition. On leaving College he won a place at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, which he took up in 1946, after having served in the RAF during World War II. He joined the British Council in 1949 and during his career he was posted to Brazil, Ghana (twice), Peru, Sarawak, Zambia, London, Italy, and the United States where he was Cultural Attaché at the British Embassy in Washington from 1979-84, just before his retirement in 1984. In 1983 he attended a symposium to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Definitive Treaty of Peace between America and Great Britain and the formal beginning of diplomatic relations between them. A report on the symposium in the New York Times said: “In all, five British scholars and an Australian joined American colleagues to present papers at the symposium. Largely paid for by the British Government, the meeting of scholars was designed, said Hugh R. Crooke, cultural attaché at the British Embassy in Washington,
to provide ‘’an academic input’’ into the festival ‘’Britain Salutes New York 1983.’’ Towards the end of his career, his work was recognised by the award of an OBE. He retired in 1984 in London where he was posted for a short while after his time in Washington. Hugh led a very active life in retirement. He was always busy doing something, or trying out something new: he had a low boredom threshold, and was never one to hide it! Politically, he went on a journey from being quite left wing (CND/Aldermaston marches etc.), to being Margaret Thatcher’s greatest fan. He ended up canvassing for the Party! He delivered meals on wheels with his wife Elizabeth and took up pottery and sculpture. He studied and was awarded an Open University degree, followed by a starred first class degree in Philosophy from the University of East Anglia at the age of 75! He was predeceased by his wife Elizabeth, to whom he had a long and very happy marriage, and is survived by his sons Oliver, Patrick and Matthew and his brother Pat.
Richard Andrew Dibben (Xt, 1952)
Richard Dibben, brother of William Dibben (Xt 1955) and uncle of David Dibben (Xt, 1978), died on the 2nd of April 2016, aged 80. Before coming to College, Richard attended Oakmount Preparatory School in the New Forest, where he was Head Boy in his final year. At College, his academic strengths led him along the engineering and architectural route. His enthusiasm for shooting, which he had been introduced to at Oakmount, flourished and he earned a place in the Shooting VIII team competing at Bisley in the Ashburton Shield competition of 1951 and again in 1952. On this second occasion, Richard was awarded the Donegal Badge for the highest score. That same year, back at College, he was in the winning pair that won the inter-house competition for Christowe for the fourth year in a row. In his final year he was in the Rowing VIII and Commodore of the newly formed Sailing Club. On leaving College, Richard studied Architecture at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and in 1959 joined his father’s business, Chilworth Estates Co Ltd, whose Head Office was in Southampton. So began what became a forty year career in the house building industry. Immediately after the war, Chilworth Estates had been designing and building single large properties on individual plots. In the 1960s, demand for housing moved the business focus towards larger estates of houses. Richard, and his brother William, were now working together as design lead and build lead respectively. Richard focused on enhancing his distinctive designs so that they could be readily replicated and thus more commercial when building the new residential housing estates being sought. The business flourished. When their father retired in 1969, the two brothers became joint managing directors of the re-named Chilworth Construction Ltd until 1977 when they went in different directions. Richard continued through to 1999 as sole Managing Director of Dibben Construction Ltd that also traded as Dibben Homes. Richard’s extensive architectural legacy is visible for all to see at numerous residential housing estates across Hampshire, including around Southampton, Romsey and Winchester. On top of his design and build work, Richard was a founding partner of Morris Dibben, the Estate Agency business. He had a 25 year association with the House Builders’ Federation Council, including becoming National President for 1982. In 1976, he also started an eighteen year association with the National House Building Council, becoming trustee of the New Homes Marketing Board in the mid 1980s. By the late 1980s, Richard took on three high profile industry roles, serving for six years as Chairman of the 2.