The Salopian no. 160 - Summer 2017

94
OLD SALOPIAN NEWS
Oak, the GP practice where her early love of medicine was
sparked by work experience whilst at school. She was school
doctor at Shrewsbury with her partners for ten years and
undertook the same role at the High, until that engine for
the education of independent and professional womanhood
made her resign because Shrewsbury School had decided to
admit girls.
Martin became Housemaster of Ridgemount in 1998 and
Francesca gave her all to the House, probably to the
cost of her career. After she died, the Men of the Mount
put pen to paper with an eloquence and insight which
they rarely managed whilst at The Schools. Their words
and recollections brought laughter and tears in equal
measure. There were thrills and (being Ridgemount)
spills. Francesca kept the notional boss sane. After a day
in a busy GP surgery, she could put the latest disaster
involving sex, drugs and rock’n roll (sometimes all three)
into perspective. And despite her Sisterhood upbringing,
she had a rare empathy for the adolescent male. As one
wrote, “Francesca was integral to the feeling that the
house was home, a much-needed female presence, and a
hugely positive influence on all the maniacs, nerds, misfits,
introverts and aristos milling around the Ridgemount
corridors”.
If following Martin back to the sticks wasn’t enough, in
2010 he asked her to follow him to the island of Queenies,
the TT, splendid tax and incomplete cats. Francesca
was a superb Principal’s wife at King William’s College.
Teacher, entertainer, flower rota arranger and friend. More
wonderful letters from students whose lives she briefly
touched. She was determined to attend Founder’s Day last
year and even danced (twice) to Radar Love.
Francesca was slow to anger but she did rile at the
timing of her dying. Imogen facing Finals at Leeds, Saskia
completing her IB and then starting at Edinburgh, Jack
facing GCSEs and starting the Sixth Form (in Ridgemount).
She was very proud of their calm courage. They all spoke
at her funeral and Thanksgiving.
Francesca Humphreys, mother, muse and medic died
on 21st October 2016, aged 53. She was diagnosed with
breast cancer in 2007 and was deeply grateful for the care
and treatment she received over the years at The Christie
in Manchester and, at the end, at the Severn Hospice in
Shrewsbury.
Tony Lee (Rt 1937-42)
Tony shone brightly from an early age. At Shrewsbury he
was Captain of Rugby, Vice-Captain of Soccer, in the Cricket
1st XI, Praepostor and Head of House, and won a Bursary
to read Classics at Cambridge. This was cut short when he
enlisted in the Royal Navy in 1942 at the age of 19.
His naval war service consisted mainly of patrolling the East
Anglian coast and the Thames Estuary in very fast motor
torpedo boats. Based at Felixstowe, he was fortunate to meet
Thelma Richardson from Norfolk. Thelma was the WREN
skipper of the Admiral’s barge. Their romance blossomed and
they married at the end of the war.
After being demobbed from the Navy, with the rank of
lieutenant, Tony returned to Cambridge to train for the Colonial
Service and in January 1948 he, Thelma and their baby Jane
sailed on the Langibby Castle to Dar Es Salaam in what was
then the British colony of Tanganyika. Two more daughters,
Annie and Caroline, were subsequently born there too.
Tony spent 14 years working in the Colonial Service in
Tanganyika, with his last posting being District Commissioner
in Morogoro. He loved his time in East Africa and spoke
fluent Swahili. He was an energetic young man and his work
took him across vast territories occupied by many different
tribes, often in his own imported Citroën DS.
During his time in East Africa he helped to establish the
Maasai Mara National Wildlife Reserve; he worked with a
team of veterinary specialists and agriculturalists to help
people improve their land management and farming
techniques, from building terraces out of waste, to visiting
the local witch doctor to persuade him to arrange a culling of
cattle, necessary because of a drought. With his ever-practical
approach, he set up a brick factory to ensure that a needed
hospital was built.
At the age of 38, Tony left the Colonial Service when
Tanzania became independent under Julius Nyerere in 1962.
For a short period the family lived in Leamington Spa and
Tonyh worked for Joseph Lucas Engineering as an industrial
relations manager. He did not enjoy working in industry and
when he was asked to join a government team to manage the
political turmoil in Aden, he jumped at the chance. The rise
of Arab nationalism had produced violent politics and Aden
was a dangerous place. There had been some 280 guerrilla
attacks in the 12-month period before Tony arrived.
Tony had the very difficult responsibility of security, liaising
between the British Army, the Administration, and the
warring local factions of a newly-formed government. Dick
Eberly, who worked with Tony in both East Africa and
Aden, describes him in his book about that time: “...He was
a big fellow, a giant of a man, with a cheerful laid-back
outlook and a wry grin; and I had always admired his wife
Thelma, given to extravagant gestures, always laughing and a
generous and a cheery hostess”
The British withdrew from Aden in 1967 and Tony was sent
off to another hotspot in the decline of the British Empire: the
tiny Caribbean island of Anguilla.
The island had been administratively linked to St Kitts, and
when the British Government sought to divest itself of its
Caribbean responsibilities the Anguillans did not want to
be run by St Kitts. There was unrest. Tony was appointed
Commissioner of the island. The situation calmed a little, but
nevertheless Harold Wilson’s Government felt the need to
do some quelling and sent a large invasion force: two navy
frigates, 300 paratroopers and 50 London policemen. The tiny
Anguillan population offered no resistance. The press had a
field day, Tony Lee was front page news and the event was
dubbed the Bay of Piglets.
The New York Times remarked: “...Perhaps the most
nonchalant man in Anguilla these days is the man most under
attack....through it all he has remained calm, matter of fact
and good-humoured...”
In his book Caribbean Life and Culture, the West Indian
politician Sir Fred Philips wrote of Tony that he had:
“.....been much impressed by his calm demeanour and
obvious sincerity of purpose... He came to this most difficult
assignment full of hope that he would be able to help guide
a community which was devoid of any orderly government...
It is fair to point out that conditions would have been
infinitely more disastrous if Lee had never been sent to
Anguilla”.
He is still regarded with great affection in Anguilla. One
important legacy of his time there was to safeguard, in
perpetuity, the right of beach access for all Anguillans in the
face of luxury tourist developments. When he visited eight
years ago he was received by the islanders as an old friend.