by Chris Wilson (1951-57)
Chris Wilson (1951-57) writes:
“I am particularly pleased to read the list of School Officers 1958-59 on page 11 of N1 featuring my younger brother, Peter Gradwell Wilson, as School Captain and House Captain of Lawrence House.
Peter and I were born in India and set sail with our parents from Bombay for the UK in March 1943. After zigzagging south through the Pacific Ocean as far as the Roaring Forties and a stop-over at Cape Town, our troopship was escorted through the Atlantic Ocean by the battleship HMS Warspite (and its four destroyers) for most of the journey, apart from a couple of hours when she veered off to depth charge a U-boat we saw on the distant horizon. Our ship shook with the explosions and they must have shattered the German vessel.
After docking at Liverpool, we lived for several years at Lytham St. Annes where our youngest brother, Robin Gradwell Wilson, was born.
When the family moved to Oxford in June 1951, because I had passed the ’11 Plus’ Mr. Lay was generous enough to allocate me a place in the second year of pupils at CO(H)S. In due time my two brothers followed. During the Old Boys vs. School 1st XI Cricket match on 5 July 1958, Mr. Lay sat with our parents and took particular pleasure as elder brother, Chris, failed to bowl out younger brother and dogged last man, Peter.
Peter went up to St. Peter’s College to read Mathematics (as indeed did Robin) before pursuing an actuarial career. In January 1965, Peter married Jackie Herbert who had read Maths at Somerville where she was friendly with Helen Krebs, whose brother, Paul, I recall at CO(H)S. In 1980 Peter was diagnosed with a brain tumour. A succession of operations destroyed his lifestyle and Jackie was extremely grateful to Peter’s employer, Commercial Union Assurance, at the prompting of John Carter for their support in a difficult period. Peter eventually gave up the impossible fight in March 1982.
Your article on page 10 of N9 about Mr. Cave reminds me that I was awarded The Cave Memorial Prize for Mathematics in July 1954: a book chosen by Mr. Lay ‘The Works of Shakespeare’ and inscribed in gold leaf with the School badge.”