John Caress Royds:
A tribute by his nephew and an ex-pupil during a service of celebration of his life
held at St Mark's church, Salisbury.
14 April 2011
(JCR died on 31 March 201l)
REV. J.C. ROYDS M.A. By David Andrews
I always knew that my Uncle John had special qualities:amazing, inspiring confidence building, extreme kindness when required, great faith and a strong belief that good would prevail in the end.
However I was not prepared for the deluge of emails, letters and telephone calls which followed his death and nearly all with a moving or amusing anecdote of confirmation.
As the only surviving relative, a difficult job was suddenly turned into an uplifting experience, and I am so grateful to all of you who have come today to continue that memory.
John was born on 23rd September 1920 in Blandford. He was the youngest of three sons and a daughter, Wilfrid was the eldest, then Edward (Ted), then my mother Margaret (Peggy) followed 8 years later by John. All three sons spent time in Japanese POW camps during the Second World War and Ted ended his life there, with Wilfrid returning to work in London and lived in Richmond before retiring early to the family home in Blandford, passing on in 1974. My mother and John were very close but she died in 1987.
John's father, another Edward, was headmaster of Milton Abbas School for many years before becoming ordained and appointed Vicar (ST. Johns) at Ryde lOW and then Blandford, there possibly laying the seed for his youngest son.
At the millennium Jan, my wife, and I moved to Wareham in Dorset, about an hours drive from Salisbury and since then have seen a lot more of John. Also our daughters, Sallyann and Nicola kept in touch with him and latterly Sally's twins Grace and Katie now nearly four kept him up dated with their progress. A maze of strange looking pictures still survive in John's flat, their handiwork!
John completed his Preparatory education at Liverpool College before going to Monkton Coombe School between 1934 and 1939. He was Captain of Cricket in 1939 and also Senior Head Prefect and Head of House as well as representing the school at Rugger and Hockey. He was a member of the school debating society, school orchestra (violin) school Amateur Dramatics club (3 years) and Dramatic Reading Club.
He went to Queen's College, Cambridge 1939-1940 and again 1946-47 for his 2-1 degree in History. He was recommended for a Varsity Cricket Trial in April 1947.
In between he was in the Army, enlisting in the Royal Artillery in September 1940 rising to Major in the Indian Army and de-mobbed in October 1946.
1947 saw him appointed Assistant Master at Bryanston despite a difficult correspondence with Mr. T.S. Coade because he was not prepared to promote the idea ofa Cadet force after what he had recently witnessed. He was appointed House-master in 1951 because of his "general ability his insight into the character and needs of boys, his sympathetic approach to their problems and his powerful natural discipline not requiring any external props" . The Headmaster had to limit the number of boys to whom any one-master could act as tutor because he was in such demand. The History VI form continued to flourish as did the school Cricket.
His cricket enthusiasm saw the formation of the Old Boys team and I was delighted to play against the Butterflies on the occasion of their 50th Anniversary in 2003. Of course, we lost! The archives show that there was a general realisation at Bryanston that John would move on into a Headmastership and a number of posts were considered by him but I think there was some suprise at his choice of the Wingate School, Addis Ababa in 1961. At the time alternatives were King Edward's -Bath, Ardingly, and Whitgift. But Addis it was and anyone who has been to John's flat in Salisbury will know that memorability abounds everywhere. I am grateful to Dr. Abraha Derso who will say a few words shortly about Ethiopia. However, I cannot leave out the wonderful response from those who considered John their adopted father.
My computer is full of Ethiopian tributes from former pupils in Addis Ababa and it has been a delight for me to savour the love and affection shown. Amongst those is the following written by John which appears to me to be a fitting memory:
"Remember me: For gathering a cadre of elite teachers; whose abilities and dedications were unmatched by any in Ethiopia; For standing guard over physical, mental, moral and spiritual well being, For judging the prince and the pauper amongst you by the same moral code, For doing my level best to equip you for the world out there, For not raising my voice at you but lead you by example, For dreaming of a life that is up right, productive and dignified for you, And for visiting you & the school few years before I joined my Maker."
And so to Uppingham in 1965 where be remained Headmaster until 1974. A unique appointment at the time in two respects ;
The first Historian to hold the post and the first bachelor for at least 360 years. I am indebted to a letter from Dr. Morgan which seems to sum up his time there;
His time as Headmaster at Uppingham has been under recognized. It was he who moved the school out of the post war stayed traditional public school attitude into a modem era, with the abolishment of personal fagging and other arcane matters. He began the removal of corporal punishment, and began a modernization of the facilities, refurbishing houses, bringing in new technology such as upgraded science school, language laboratories. It was under his leadership that the first appeal for money to develop buildings was begun. These are now commonplace but then it was a new concept. The initial target was for £250,000 in 1969. Due in no small part to John's personal involvement by speaking at fund raising events around the country, the appeal raised more than £330,000. It seems a small amount today, but it was a fantastic sum in the sixties, which enabled the school to realise all the planned projects.
Tributes from Uppingham staff and old boys have been many, the latter remembering his influence as a part of their lives at an important time. Not least from Stephen Fry in his book "Moab is my Washpot", sent to John "with fond and grateful memories of your patience and kindness". He writes ;-John Royds was physically short but had a powerful presence and possessed all the techniques for inspiring awe that one looks for in a headmaster, the ability to swish a gown in an especially menacing way, for example, and a telegraphic, donnishly tart and lapidary way with words. His noticeboard in the colonnade fluttered with memos, smartly typed by an IBM golfball such as;
Re. The wearing of lapel badges. I think not JCR
I have received a kind email from Richard Harman, current headmaster at Uppingham who is away in Hong Kong on business, saying that he hopes John's contribution to Uppingham will be marked at an event in due course.
In 1974 he resolved to take "Holy Orders" and was Ordained in 1975. He was appointed Director of Education for the Peterborough diocese from 1976 to 1981 where he became the popular Rector in Kettering, Loddington, and Cransley before being appointed Vicar of St. James, Northampton from 1981-1985. Again there have been some wonderful letters of support from grateful friends in all these places but John Thompson, a trusted friend of John's will speak more in due course.
Finally, as most of you probably know John's life very nearly came to a premature end when he went to Peshawar in 1985-86 with the Church Missionary Society and was sent home ill to UCH London where Tropical Diseases were treated. Amongst a range of problems, Hairy Cell Leukemia was diagnosed and I remember visiting him that Christmas with my mother expecting the worst. But it was not to be, Interferon had been discovered, he was treated, and after a short interlude he was brought to my mother's house in Sanderstead in my Triumph Spitfire sports car and recovered completely.
Before he left UK for Pakistan he had purchased his home in Salisbury with his friend Canon Magee and the property was split into two flats so that he was able very quickly to join the Parish of St. Mark's Salisbury for the rest of his life.
An inspiration to me and to many, his soft smile will be remembered by all and my daughter's 3 year old twins are even now going into battle with the full adult version of Scrabble received for Christmas. Nothing ventured nothing gained!
John C Royds Memories of a charismatic and inspirational headmaster
by Dr. Abraha derso
John Royds had spent only a few years in Ethiopia but his inspiration to many of his Ethiopian students lives on more than 46 years after he left the country. John was headmaster of the General Wingate Secondary School (GWSS) in Addis Ababa from 1961 to 1965. The walls at his home in Salisbury are bedecked with pictures and other memorabilia from that time. Among these are a spear and shield, a lion's mane and a head gear presented to him when he left to become headmaster of Uppingham School. These are items traditionally presented to heroes, and John was certainly our hero. We kept him in high regard and had a lot of respect for him. This is best illustrated by an incidence: once there was one of those perennial agitations at the university in Addis Ababa under the famous slogan "Land to the Tiller". Some of the students from the school were preparing to join the demonstration later that day and John was quite worried at the possible consequences. At flag parade John announced that if anybody went on the demonstration then he was going to resign his post and leave Ethiopia. On hearing this everybody returned to their classrooms. Just as well as members of the Imperial bodyguard were waiting outside the school gate, with guns, and who knows what might have happened. The students were in fact aware of the danger but the respect we had for John won the day.
The GWSS was built by Emperor Haileselassie in 1946 and named in honour of General Orde Wingate. Wingate had ridden on horseback beside the Emperor's Roll Royce when Mussolini's army was defeated in Ethiopia as part of the East Africa
Campaign and Haile Selassie retuned to Addis Ababa from exile in Bath via Sudan to be reinstated to his throne. The school was a prestigious boarding school but after some fifteen years the government could no longer afford the cost of running boarding schools (even though there were very few of them) and it went into decline. The UK government through the British Council came to its rescue with staff(mostly British) and money and John went from Bryanston school as the headmaster on this new venture.He ensured the electricity and water supplies were reconnected after paying the arrears, the cesspit was cleared out and the flush toilets were working. The school re-opened as a fee-paying boys boarding school, but this meant that only the sons of the ruling aristocracy and those of wealthy merchants could afford to go there. So John started a scholarship and exhibition scheme for top performing pupils from all over the country, including Eritrea which was then still part of Ethiopia. There were 30 scholarship and 15 exhibition places. I was one of the first 30 "scholars" to benefit from the scheme. We were called by John "the future leaders of Ethiopia". The school became very prestigious and the scheme continued until the military junta took power in 1974 and changed the school into a technical college.
Wingham Days
Departure from Ethiopia did not dwindle Johnts interest in the country. At Uppingham John used to beguile staff and students with stories about Ethiopia and tell them that he would go back to work there on his retirement, even ifit was just as a librarian. They couldn't understand what he saw in this backward African country.
The headmasters of public schools used to gather in London once a year to select pupils from applicants under what was known as OPOS -Office for Placing Overseas Boys in British Schools. This was confined to pupils from British Common Wealth countries (the ex-colonies). John persuaded OPOS to extend the invitation to Ethiopia and I was once again one of the first beneficiary from this scheme -John gave me a place at Uppingham School and I was there from 1966 -1968. Dr Aklilu Demissie followed the following year, and there were many others that came to Uppingham other UK public schools on the scheme in subsequent years. When I finished at Uppingham school, John made sure that there were funding sources, including an annual bursary from Uppingham school itself, to enable me to study medicine at The University of Birmingham Medical School. John had known from before he left Ethiopia that I wanted to become a doctor.
John's wish to return to Ethiopia in his retirement was dashed by the intrusion of the military junta into politics in 1974. (It was a life-changing situation for the rest ofus as well, and we had to readjust our plans to return to Ethiopia). So John instead became a vicar on retirement serving communities in Loddington, Kettering and then in Northampton. However the desire to serve abroad had not quite left him and he went to Peshawar in Pakistan in 1986 on behalf ofthe (Anglican) Christian Missionary Society only to be stuck down by a mysterious illness shortly after he arrived there. This forced him to return to the UK for prolonged investigation and treatment at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases and then University College Hospital, London. He bore his suffering and treatment with dignity and recovered. This was almost a case of mind over matter despite the sophisticated medication he was on. Several years later a doctor from UCH wrote a piece in the BMJ under the journal's column a memorable patient in which the patient showed more concern for the doctor than about his own serious situation. The article was of course anonymous but it was clear to Aklilu and mysel fwho the memorable patient was, from the description of his character. This was subsequently confirmed by John himself during one of the annual visits my wife, Sharon Ann, and I used to pay him in Salisbury.
John did go to Ethiopia on a visit in the late 1990s -the military junta had long been removed from power by then. One of the institutions John had continued to support is a school for destitute and homeless children in Addis Ababa. It is situated just outside the walls of the General Wingate School and was started by a
remarkable ex-Wingate boy (Asfaw Yimru) while John was still in Ethiopia in the 1960s. So it was good for John to see how the school was functioning. He also managed to meet some old Wingate boys and see parts of the country which he had no
opportunity of seeing while he was working there.
"The scholars -future leaders of Etlliopia!
As already mentioned lots of educated people,inc1uding a considerable number of the initial thirty "scholars", left Ethiopia during the horrors of the military junta in the 1970s and 1980s, and ended up working mostly in North American and European hospitals, universities and other institutes. However one of the initial thirty, Dr Kassu Illala (PhD in Agriculture, Reading University), was a cabinet minster in the new Ethiopian government (the EPRDP) and is currently the Ethiopian ambassador to the European Union (EU). What is more the Ethiopian Prime Minster, Melese Zenawi is an ex-Wingate boy and a scholar (1968-1972). So you can say John's dreams have been fulfilled to a large degree.
John during World War 2
During our visits we did not talk much about John's time during Second World War unless he raised it himself. But during our last, and sadly final, annual visit in May 2010, I asked John how long he was in India for during the Second World War. He said for three yeas, from 1942. Then he added they had to send a rescue team at the end of the Burma campaign and they had to toss a coin to choose the team leader between himself and another one "the popular one" as John put it. The "popular one" was killed by a landmine explosion.
As we have seen John had an enduring passion for Ethiopia. He was a very generous man who delighted in helping people unstintingly wherever he happened to be both before and after retirement. Many lives have been touched by his kindness and by his inspiration and we are all very lucky that the tossed coin in India came down the wrong way. Above all John was a consummate gentleman, even in illness. I am particularly lucky to have known him almost continuously from 1962 until the time of his death.
We will all miss him.
Abraha Derso
Friday, May 13, 2011
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Headmaster Royds from Shimelis Kebede
Dear Mr. King:
J.C. Roydes lives in the hearts, minds and albums of every Wingate student whose life was touched by him.
During his last visit to Ethiopia, I was amazed and touched by the love and respect he received from his "children" when the child in all of us surfaced at the first sight of him and were all trying to get his personal attention the way we did in school. We must have taken so much of his limited time during dinner that his airplane seat had to be upgraded, check in time pushed and his bags checked in, with out him lifting a finger, by none other but the same students he cared for and were then in a position to make sure he flew with dignity and the personal attention he deserved. In retrospect, I think we needed few more minutes with him, yet never knew that it would be our last farewell.
Well put Yilma!
I thank Mr. Roydes for setting up the golden yard stick by which we should measure in the fields of Administration, Agriculture, Business, Engineering, Economics, Law, Medicine, Military Science, Genetic Engineering, Ideation, Pharmacy, Statistics and yes.....Aviation.
Though I feel the big loss we all share, I believe we should celebrate his life and his legacy. I do so by scrolling through many of the Wingate pictures I have on my iPad, murmur few prayers, remember his teachings with serenity and his wits with smile.
God bless his beautiful soul.
Shimelis Kebede (Capt.)
Ethiopian Airlines.
P.O.Box 1755
Addis Abeba.
J.C. Roydes lives in the hearts, minds and albums of every Wingate student whose life was touched by him.
During his last visit to Ethiopia, I was amazed and touched by the love and respect he received from his "children" when the child in all of us surfaced at the first sight of him and were all trying to get his personal attention the way we did in school. We must have taken so much of his limited time during dinner that his airplane seat had to be upgraded, check in time pushed and his bags checked in, with out him lifting a finger, by none other but the same students he cared for and were then in a position to make sure he flew with dignity and the personal attention he deserved. In retrospect, I think we needed few more minutes with him, yet never knew that it would be our last farewell.
Well put Yilma!
I thank Mr. Roydes for setting up the golden yard stick by which we should measure in the fields of Administration, Agriculture, Business, Engineering, Economics, Law, Medicine, Military Science, Genetic Engineering, Ideation, Pharmacy, Statistics and yes.....Aviation.
Though I feel the big loss we all share, I believe we should celebrate his life and his legacy. I do so by scrolling through many of the Wingate pictures I have on my iPad, murmur few prayers, remember his teachings with serenity and his wits with smile.
God bless his beautiful soul.
Shimelis Kebede (Capt.)
Ethiopian Airlines.
P.O.Box 1755
Addis Abeba.
Headmaster Royds from Getachew Kitaw and Yilma Yifru
Dear Kefale,
Talking about anecdotes. Do you remember our complaints to Mr. Roydes about the poor quality of the marmalade we were being served for breakfast. He listened quietly and promised to check. The next morning after the usual flag ceremony he announced " Boys I have tasted the marmalade. This is what the queen of England eats for breakfast." Powerful as the argument was [if good for the queen good for you] I have always wondered how he could possibly know what kind of marmalade the queen had for breakfast.
Getachew Kitaw
Dear mr Andrews
I am sad to learn about the death of mr Royds.Those of us who had the privilege
to know him do remember him as a wonderful head master of General wingate high
school Addis Abeba,Ethiopia.
Yilma yifru
(1962-1966)
Talking about anecdotes. Do you remember our complaints to Mr. Roydes about the poor quality of the marmalade we were being served for breakfast. He listened quietly and promised to check. The next morning after the usual flag ceremony he announced " Boys I have tasted the marmalade. This is what the queen of England eats for breakfast." Powerful as the argument was [if good for the queen good for you] I have always wondered how he could possibly know what kind of marmalade the queen had for breakfast.
Getachew Kitaw
Dear mr Andrews
I am sad to learn about the death of mr Royds.Those of us who had the privilege
to know him do remember him as a wonderful head master of General wingate high
school Addis Abeba,Ethiopia.
Yilma yifru
(1962-1966)
Headmaster Royds from Patrick Gilkes by John Caress Royds
Dear Ken,
Thank you for passing on the sad news about John’s death. I hadn’t seen him for many years, and only talked to him infrequently on the telephone in the last decade or so, but I owed him a great deal even though my own relationship was brief. I had scarcely arrived at the Wingate when he left for Uppingham, but as far as I was concerned he made an enduring indeed permanent impression on me as a person and as a teacher. I couldn’t have wished for or expected a kinder mentor. He provided a most understanding and notable example for a youngster to follow in his first job and in a new country. As my own father had also taught at Uppingham many years earlier I also went to see him there and I know just what an excellent job he did, at times under conditions of considerable difficulty. He was a truly great and inspiring headmaster and in Ethiopia he left an amazing legacy. The school he headed may no longer exist in the form he left but those he taught and guided (students and staff) will, as Shimelis said so well, always remember him. And those students make up an exceptional group who have demonstrated their quality over nearly half a century. They, and Ethiopia, owe him a great deal.
His death will be a great loss to all who knew him. He lived an impressive, indeed a wonderful life, and his students, his friends indeed all who worked with him will not forget his wisdom, his understanding and his sympathy; nor his achievements here – his unmatched legacy in and for Ethiopia.
Patrick Gilkes
Thank you for passing on the sad news about John’s death. I hadn’t seen him for many years, and only talked to him infrequently on the telephone in the last decade or so, but I owed him a great deal even though my own relationship was brief. I had scarcely arrived at the Wingate when he left for Uppingham, but as far as I was concerned he made an enduring indeed permanent impression on me as a person and as a teacher. I couldn’t have wished for or expected a kinder mentor. He provided a most understanding and notable example for a youngster to follow in his first job and in a new country. As my own father had also taught at Uppingham many years earlier I also went to see him there and I know just what an excellent job he did, at times under conditions of considerable difficulty. He was a truly great and inspiring headmaster and in Ethiopia he left an amazing legacy. The school he headed may no longer exist in the form he left but those he taught and guided (students and staff) will, as Shimelis said so well, always remember him. And those students make up an exceptional group who have demonstrated their quality over nearly half a century. They, and Ethiopia, owe him a great deal.
His death will be a great loss to all who knew him. He lived an impressive, indeed a wonderful life, and his students, his friends indeed all who worked with him will not forget his wisdom, his understanding and his sympathy; nor his achievements here – his unmatched legacy in and for Ethiopia.
Patrick Gilkes
Headmaster Royds from Timothy Kinahan
Kenneth
Thank you so very much for this - very moving, and very true.
I only once had the privelege of meeting with John, but it was for a week,
travelling with him to and around Ethiopia - in the mid 1990's, I think.But
I have spken to him many times since. Looking at him from this side of the
pond, through my Irish eyes, I saw a quintessentially English gentleman,
probably the last and best of his breed, full of warmth, dignity and wry
humour (which was, I gather, apparent to the very last).
Ethiopia (and many tohers) has lost true friend.
Tim
Timothy Kinahan
2 Woodland Avenue
Helen's Bay
Bangor
Thank you so very much for this - very moving, and very true.
I only once had the privelege of meeting with John, but it was for a week,
travelling with him to and around Ethiopia - in the mid 1990's, I think.But
I have spken to him many times since. Looking at him from this side of the
pond, through my Irish eyes, I saw a quintessentially English gentleman,
probably the last and best of his breed, full of warmth, dignity and wry
humour (which was, I gather, apparent to the very last).
Ethiopia (and many tohers) has lost true friend.
Tim
Timothy Kinahan
2 Woodland Avenue
Helen's Bay
Bangor
Headmaster Royds from Georgis Kefale
Dear Mr. King,
It is good to hear from you and thank you for updating us on all those wonderful teachers we had in the early 60s. When Mr. Royds left us, it did not take for Mr. Ian King to fill his shoes and continue to cater for our academic and social needs.What Mr. Royds tried to do was what all of you did for us. It is only appropriate that we use this opportunity to thank you all for the wonderful part that you all played in our lives. Accordingly, I would like to ask your indulgence to let me reminisce about my fond memories from the perspective of a 12 year old who entered Wingate as one of the first "scholars" in 1960. As you know, many of us came from very far places and did not have family near Addis to visit on weekends. Your dedicated staff provided us with our social needs. The weekend trips to Langano that Mr. Gilkes, I still hesitate to say Patrick, took us to and the Geography Janjaro trips by Mr Dawson are unforgettable. Mr. Harvey introduced us to Tennis and some of us took it to college to win many championships. Our photo albums are full of such pictures adored by the farewell picture we had with Mr. Royds, taken by Mr Radermaker.
Our exposure to Cricket by Mr. Dawson and Mr. Gilkes tempted students like Seyoum Gizaw to consider taking it to a professional level. That is how good he was. The soccer tournaments, the daily Basketball and Volleyball games, the Horticulture society activities Scout quarter songs trips and most of all the dancing at the Recreation club where we practiced the latest party moves made our weekends enjoyable. We were introduced to board games like Chess and had our marble games on the side. We loved our study halls, but we could not wait to get done and line up to jam into our small TV room to see the latest episode of Bonanza and a pick at life in the US of A. We never missed Mr. Royds' weekly reading sessions in the assembly hall. We were half asleep most of the time, but he inculcated in our minds the value of reading books. We loved reading books and it was not unusual to find some of us huddled in a corner of one of the buildings deeply immersed in Jane Eyre or Arthur Conan Doyle. Girma Zewdie was known to be reading the dictionary like a fiction when he run out of books to read. When Mr. Royds brought me a stamp album from England, my stamp collecting hobby received a boost that only Tito Abebe's collection would rival! Among my classmates, I will always be remembered as the guy who shouted out the fatal words "that is too much", when Mr. Royds announced our monthly stipend of 1 birr in 9th grade, then 2, 3 and 4 in 10th, 11th and 12th grades, respectively, thus blocking any opportunity for negotiating a higher figure. In my defense, I will hasten to add that I was able to buy a 'gabi' from the savings of that pocket money. After all, everything else, including clothing, was provided for lol.
You see, these were all activities and opportunities that you exposed us to and many of us thrived in them. We came for the academic enlightenment. These activities complimented that and more. When we left for college after 4 years of your program, we were at the top of our game. The best ESLC scores in the entire country, the most admissions to the best departments in college. We were headed to rule the world!
Mother time had a different agenda and most of us were scattered throught the world. I have no regrets, except the memory of what it could have been.
I was fortunate enough to visit with Mr. Royds in 1973. His basement wall was covered by our pictures from Wingate. In the early part of this decade, I re-established a telephone communication with him and was grinning like a baby when I heard his voice for the first time in three decades. He told me that you all were preparing us to rule the world some day. We have done that and more. We have become better human beings because of the attention you gave us in those tender and formative years
Thank you one and all and may Mr. Royds smile on us from above.
Georgis G. Kefale, MD
Associate Neonatologist
Fairfax Neonatal Associates, PC
INOVA Fairfax Hospital
Sentara Potomac Hospital
It is good to hear from you and thank you for updating us on all those wonderful teachers we had in the early 60s. When Mr. Royds left us, it did not take for Mr. Ian King to fill his shoes and continue to cater for our academic and social needs.What Mr. Royds tried to do was what all of you did for us. It is only appropriate that we use this opportunity to thank you all for the wonderful part that you all played in our lives. Accordingly, I would like to ask your indulgence to let me reminisce about my fond memories from the perspective of a 12 year old who entered Wingate as one of the first "scholars" in 1960. As you know, many of us came from very far places and did not have family near Addis to visit on weekends. Your dedicated staff provided us with our social needs. The weekend trips to Langano that Mr. Gilkes, I still hesitate to say Patrick, took us to and the Geography Janjaro trips by Mr Dawson are unforgettable. Mr. Harvey introduced us to Tennis and some of us took it to college to win many championships. Our photo albums are full of such pictures adored by the farewell picture we had with Mr. Royds, taken by Mr Radermaker.
Our exposure to Cricket by Mr. Dawson and Mr. Gilkes tempted students like Seyoum Gizaw to consider taking it to a professional level. That is how good he was. The soccer tournaments, the daily Basketball and Volleyball games, the Horticulture society activities Scout quarter songs trips and most of all the dancing at the Recreation club where we practiced the latest party moves made our weekends enjoyable. We were introduced to board games like Chess and had our marble games on the side. We loved our study halls, but we could not wait to get done and line up to jam into our small TV room to see the latest episode of Bonanza and a pick at life in the US of A. We never missed Mr. Royds' weekly reading sessions in the assembly hall. We were half asleep most of the time, but he inculcated in our minds the value of reading books. We loved reading books and it was not unusual to find some of us huddled in a corner of one of the buildings deeply immersed in Jane Eyre or Arthur Conan Doyle. Girma Zewdie was known to be reading the dictionary like a fiction when he run out of books to read. When Mr. Royds brought me a stamp album from England, my stamp collecting hobby received a boost that only Tito Abebe's collection would rival! Among my classmates, I will always be remembered as the guy who shouted out the fatal words "that is too much", when Mr. Royds announced our monthly stipend of 1 birr in 9th grade, then 2, 3 and 4 in 10th, 11th and 12th grades, respectively, thus blocking any opportunity for negotiating a higher figure. In my defense, I will hasten to add that I was able to buy a 'gabi' from the savings of that pocket money. After all, everything else, including clothing, was provided for lol.
You see, these were all activities and opportunities that you exposed us to and many of us thrived in them. We came for the academic enlightenment. These activities complimented that and more. When we left for college after 4 years of your program, we were at the top of our game. The best ESLC scores in the entire country, the most admissions to the best departments in college. We were headed to rule the world!
Mother time had a different agenda and most of us were scattered throught the world. I have no regrets, except the memory of what it could have been.
I was fortunate enough to visit with Mr. Royds in 1973. His basement wall was covered by our pictures from Wingate. In the early part of this decade, I re-established a telephone communication with him and was grinning like a baby when I heard his voice for the first time in three decades. He told me that you all were preparing us to rule the world some day. We have done that and more. We have become better human beings because of the attention you gave us in those tender and formative years
Thank you one and all and may Mr. Royds smile on us from above.
Georgis G. Kefale, MD
Associate Neonatologist
Fairfax Neonatal Associates, PC
INOVA Fairfax Hospital
Sentara Potomac Hospital
Headmaster Royds from Kenneth King (Nigusse)
Dear Shimelis, and all of the former scholars who have spoken of John
with such appreciation, and Patrick, for your very thoughtful
appreciation
You have spoken powerfully about John. I guess for those of us
teachers for whom this was a first job, he provided a quiet, if
slightly aloof, role model of single-minded dedication and commitment
to high standards for the school.The school and its students were his
life. I am not sure he had time for anything else!
Those Wingate years gave me a number of life-long friends, such as the
late Alan Radermacher who was the best man at my own wedding, Patrick
Gilkes, still with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Addis, Fev and
Frank Dawson (sadly Frank died last year); Ian and Jill Duffield who
were the reason I returned to do a PhD in African Studies in
Edinburgh. They are both still in Edinburgh
and none more important than Asfaw Yemiru a former Wingate 12th
grader, who John encouraged in Asfaw's determination to start a free
school for the poorest kids just over the wall in Wingate, and to take
leftover food from Wingate to help out initially. John maintained
contact with Asfaw and supported his work,in so many ways over so many
years, and not least by sending young men and women out to work with
Asfaw. I dont know if timothy Kinahan initially went out to Addis via
John, but I am copying him in here, as he has been crucially important
to Asfaw's two school sites over the years, and Asfaw's hundreds and
hundreds of young students, and dedicated teachers.(Asere Hawariat
school)
During one of my two research visits to Addis in the last two years, I
had the privilege to stay with Asfaw and his family just over the
Wingate wall. When I returned to UK, I made a point in going down to
Salisbury rightaway to report to John on the latest from Gefarsa.
He knew in detail about so many of his former pupils, and regaled me
with information about what they were doing and where.
He then, after lunch, at 88 years old, said right it's time you were
off to the station. Took his car and drove me there as he might have
done in Addis in 1962 when I stayed with him in the headmaster's house
on my arrival.
It would be super to hear from Asfaw, and indeed from Fev who with
Frank also kept support for Asfaw going over so many years.
Kenneth (Ato Negussie!)
Remember me:
> For gathering a cadre of elite teachers, whose abilities and
> dedications were unmatched by any in Ethiopia,
> For standing guard over your physical, mental, moral and spiritual well
> being,
> For judging the prince and the pauper amongst you by the same moral code,
> For doing my level best to equip you for the world out there,
> For not raising my voice at you but lead you by example,
> For dreaming of a life that is up right, productive and dignified for you,
> And for visiting you & the school few years before I joined my Maker.
with such appreciation, and Patrick, for your very thoughtful
appreciation
You have spoken powerfully about John. I guess for those of us
teachers for whom this was a first job, he provided a quiet, if
slightly aloof, role model of single-minded dedication and commitment
to high standards for the school.The school and its students were his
life. I am not sure he had time for anything else!
Those Wingate years gave me a number of life-long friends, such as the
late Alan Radermacher who was the best man at my own wedding, Patrick
Gilkes, still with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Addis, Fev and
Frank Dawson (sadly Frank died last year); Ian and Jill Duffield who
were the reason I returned to do a PhD in African Studies in
Edinburgh. They are both still in Edinburgh
and none more important than Asfaw Yemiru a former Wingate 12th
grader, who John encouraged in Asfaw's determination to start a free
school for the poorest kids just over the wall in Wingate, and to take
leftover food from Wingate to help out initially. John maintained
contact with Asfaw and supported his work,in so many ways over so many
years, and not least by sending young men and women out to work with
Asfaw. I dont know if timothy Kinahan initially went out to Addis via
John, but I am copying him in here, as he has been crucially important
to Asfaw's two school sites over the years, and Asfaw's hundreds and
hundreds of young students, and dedicated teachers.(Asere Hawariat
school)
During one of my two research visits to Addis in the last two years, I
had the privilege to stay with Asfaw and his family just over the
Wingate wall. When I returned to UK, I made a point in going down to
Salisbury rightaway to report to John on the latest from Gefarsa.
He knew in detail about so many of his former pupils, and regaled me
with information about what they were doing and where.
He then, after lunch, at 88 years old, said right it's time you were
off to the station. Took his car and drove me there as he might have
done in Addis in 1962 when I stayed with him in the headmaster's house
on my arrival.
It would be super to hear from Asfaw, and indeed from Fev who with
Frank also kept support for Asfaw going over so many years.
Kenneth (Ato Negussie!)
Remember me:
> For gathering a cadre of elite teachers, whose abilities and
> dedications were unmatched by any in Ethiopia,
> For standing guard over your physical, mental, moral and spiritual well
> being,
> For judging the prince and the pauper amongst you by the same moral code,
> For doing my level best to equip you for the world out there,
> For not raising my voice at you but lead you by example,
> For dreaming of a life that is up right, productive and dignified for you,
> And for visiting you & the school few years before I joined my Maker.
Headmaster Royds from Fev Dawson
Dear Kenneth,
We will miss John Royds. For 50 odd years he has always been there for
us. From our arrival at the Wingate School as young marrieds in our
early twenties, he guided and encouraged us in a new environment. He was
not fazed in the least when Frank Dawson and John Hamblin appeared on
Flag Parade still in evening dress! Frank considered John Royds one of
his most influential mentors. When we started a private field centre in
Cumbria from scratch, he helped and supported us, came to visit often
and offered sound educational ideas and advice.
John always dealt magnificently with our daughters. Karen landed on his
doorstep bleeding from a fall off her motorbike; Sam had him digging his
lawn for worms in his cassock - to feed cockerels en route as a wedding
present, and last September after his 90th birthday lunch,he helped
Penny find some oyster mushrooms. We shall remember him with great
affection and much love,
Fev Dawson.
We will miss John Royds. For 50 odd years he has always been there for
us. From our arrival at the Wingate School as young marrieds in our
early twenties, he guided and encouraged us in a new environment. He was
not fazed in the least when Frank Dawson and John Hamblin appeared on
Flag Parade still in evening dress! Frank considered John Royds one of
his most influential mentors. When we started a private field centre in
Cumbria from scratch, he helped and supported us, came to visit often
and offered sound educational ideas and advice.
John always dealt magnificently with our daughters. Karen landed on his
doorstep bleeding from a fall off her motorbike; Sam had him digging his
lawn for worms in his cassock - to feed cockerels en route as a wedding
present, and last September after his 90th birthday lunch,he helped
Penny find some oyster mushrooms. We shall remember him with great
affection and much love,
Fev Dawson.
Headmaster Royds from Seyoum Gizaw
Dear Kefale, Dears all:
It is a sad moment to hear about Mr. Royds' passing, but we have
reason to celebrate his life - a life well lived. He was one of a kind
- a rare occurrence in life. He was able to touch so many lives - so
many of us - in so many different ways.
I have had personal encounters with Mr. Royds on several occasions at
the Wingate School, as all of you had, I am sure. He has left his
marks in my life as he has done in yours.
We have very many anecdotes to remember this great gentleman by. One
thing he taught me was to be myself when the going got tough. I want
to say thank you, Mr. Royds...
Finally, I want to take this opportunity to say hello, fellows - as
they used to say in those days!
God Bless
Seyoum Gizaw
It is a sad moment to hear about Mr. Royds' passing, but we have
reason to celebrate his life - a life well lived. He was one of a kind
- a rare occurrence in life. He was able to touch so many lives - so
many of us - in so many different ways.
I have had personal encounters with Mr. Royds on several occasions at
the Wingate School, as all of you had, I am sure. He has left his
marks in my life as he has done in yours.
We have very many anecdotes to remember this great gentleman by. One
thing he taught me was to be myself when the going got tough. I want
to say thank you, Mr. Royds...
Finally, I want to take this opportunity to say hello, fellows - as
they used to say in those days!
God Bless
Seyoum Gizaw
Headmaster Royds from Fisseha Zewdie
Dear Mr. Andrews:
It is with the deepest sadness and a great sense of personal loss that I learnt of the passing away of JC Royds. The news came to us here in the USA through an e-mail that Girma Zewdie had written to his contacts towards the end of last week. Girma does not have my e-mail, but the news was passed on to me by a mutual friend who was one of the recipients.
This sad news has been cause for a week of fond memories, and of the saddest and most pleasant reflections for me throughout. For Ethiopians who had the honour and privilege of sitting at JCR feet at the General Wingate school in Addis Ababa between 1961 and 1965, he represented the best of British traditions: strict, reserved, friendly without in any way being loose and, deep down - as in the best traditions of headmastership - having their best interests at heart.
I had the honour of being the earliest recipient of these favours. I followed him to Uppingham when he was appointed Headmaster of the school and left his Wingate tenure way back in 1965 Two more students followed me in each of the following two years. The first lot were Abraha Derso and Kidan Negatu and the second, Aklilu Demissie and Indale Dinku. Of these, Abraha and I attended Uppinghan whereas the rest went to various schools in different parts of the country. Abraha and Aklilu are now medical doctors in England, with Aklilu having gained the status of FRCS - as I learnt through a letter that JCR had written to me over the past year.
Indale was an agricultural engineer who worked for a British company that had launched a farming business in the Awash valley in Ethiopia, but which was cut short by the revolution of 1974. Since then, we only know that Indale went back to somewhere in Europe. It was a matter of regretful exchange between JCR and me that we never found out where he was.
Kidan, on the other hand, went back to Ethiopia with me in 1971, and we both started teaching at what then used to be called Haile Selassie I University. Kidan's is a rather a sad case. For he tragically committed suicide just in his second year of teaching at the university. This caused a great deal of sadness to all who knew him both in Ethiopia and in England.
Drs. Abraha and Aklilu, who remained in England, kept close contact with JCR all through the coming years. Not only them, but anyone who had attended the Wingate school either sought or got in touch with him as soon as they set foot in Europe or the USA.
After a few years of correspondence, my contact with JCR petered out - specially after things started moving from bad to worse under the Mengistu regime. The first time that I got to see him was when he chose to come over to Ethiopia after the downfall of Mengistu in 1991. For old-Wingateers in Ethiopia at the time, this was a climactic occurrence. Of course, JCR had principally chosen to come to Ethiopia to visit Asfaw's school which he had continuously supported all through the difficult years under Mengistu.
Asfaw Yemiru, as I am sure you must know, was a senior student at the time JCR introduced the scholarship programme at the Wingate. He left at the end of JCR's first year and set up a small school in the church compound adjoining the Wingate. Over the past forty years, this small beginning has blossomed into a great educational enterprise - winning its initiator wide international prestige and recognition. All through, Asfaw had the unflagging encouragement and support of JCR who not only raised and sent him financial support but who also followed and encouraged every minute detail that Asfaw carried out in pursuit of his enterprise.
What JCR attempted at the end of his service as a priest in Peterborough is a true testimonial to his commitment to work on behalf of mankind, regardless of nationality or religious attachment. Although he had been ordained a priest, he chose to go and work, as always with an educational undertaking, to Peshawar in Pakistan. This was soon cut short by an illness that would trouble him, on and off, to the very end of his days. In any case, his commitment would never have been understood by Al-Qaeda and associated forces that have been set loose in that part of the world, and have negatively affected the chances for peaceful existence all around the globe.
I may not have corresponded with JCR over a long period of time while the country underwent the travails of a misguided revolution under Mengistu. Those were demanding times when one did not know where anything was headed. After that visit of his in 1993, however, we kept in regular contact over the past almost twenty years and have touched upon things past, present and future.
Also, we corresponded quite intensively over the last six to seven years - when I have mostly been caught up with current preoccupations and worries. This is about something totally new for our times, which it took me almost two years of close and intensive pursuit before drawing the conclusions that I drew. It has to do with the Ethiopia that he came to know and love so much.
At first, he was quite skeptical. But when I sent him a somewhat-closely-argued paper exposing my worries, he saw what I see. Despite the difficulty of reading closely-argued and seemingly complicated ideas in old age, JCR took time but did not miss a point.
Incidentally, this was a paper I had written to someone who was an old student of JCR at Bryanston, and who came to study and publish a seminal book on "Haile Selassie's Government". As I am sure you must know by now, this was Professor Christopher Clapham - who had taught me in my first year at Cambridge, and with whom I have always been in touch.
Anyway, I am so grateful for JCR's support. Ever the critical master, he went through what was occupying me with a fine-toothed comb before granting his mark of approval, for which I am so thankful.
Finally, let me admit that this has been a highly uprooting week for me. JCR lived to be ninety, and that is a priviledge which is not granted to everybody. And we do know we all must die. But I have been highly 'boulverse' by JCR's departure. Perhaps, this has to do with my having seen him for only two weeks in the last forty years.
There is also a large ex-Wingate community here in the Washington area and we are all full of JCR in correspondence and as we meet. A classmate from Canada has even called me on his receiving the news from England. But I had to go further.
There is an old Uppinghamian here in Washington with whom we went together to Trinity, Cambridge in 1967. This is somone by the name of Peter Hancock who happens to be a close friend of his old Uppingham master, Robby Raven-Roberts. I broke the news to Peter, and Peter broke the news to Robby way out on the west coast. Robby also happens to be great friend of JCR's, from their time as headmasters of schools in Haile Selassie's Ethiopia.
The network expands, but I still feel 'lonely' in my loss.
My love to all in the family.
RIP to JCR
Fisseha Zewdie
It is with the deepest sadness and a great sense of personal loss that I learnt of the passing away of JC Royds. The news came to us here in the USA through an e-mail that Girma Zewdie had written to his contacts towards the end of last week. Girma does not have my e-mail, but the news was passed on to me by a mutual friend who was one of the recipients.
This sad news has been cause for a week of fond memories, and of the saddest and most pleasant reflections for me throughout. For Ethiopians who had the honour and privilege of sitting at JCR feet at the General Wingate school in Addis Ababa between 1961 and 1965, he represented the best of British traditions: strict, reserved, friendly without in any way being loose and, deep down - as in the best traditions of headmastership - having their best interests at heart.
I had the honour of being the earliest recipient of these favours. I followed him to Uppingham when he was appointed Headmaster of the school and left his Wingate tenure way back in 1965 Two more students followed me in each of the following two years. The first lot were Abraha Derso and Kidan Negatu and the second, Aklilu Demissie and Indale Dinku. Of these, Abraha and I attended Uppinghan whereas the rest went to various schools in different parts of the country. Abraha and Aklilu are now medical doctors in England, with Aklilu having gained the status of FRCS - as I learnt through a letter that JCR had written to me over the past year.
Indale was an agricultural engineer who worked for a British company that had launched a farming business in the Awash valley in Ethiopia, but which was cut short by the revolution of 1974. Since then, we only know that Indale went back to somewhere in Europe. It was a matter of regretful exchange between JCR and me that we never found out where he was.
Kidan, on the other hand, went back to Ethiopia with me in 1971, and we both started teaching at what then used to be called Haile Selassie I University. Kidan's is a rather a sad case. For he tragically committed suicide just in his second year of teaching at the university. This caused a great deal of sadness to all who knew him both in Ethiopia and in England.
Drs. Abraha and Aklilu, who remained in England, kept close contact with JCR all through the coming years. Not only them, but anyone who had attended the Wingate school either sought or got in touch with him as soon as they set foot in Europe or the USA.
After a few years of correspondence, my contact with JCR petered out - specially after things started moving from bad to worse under the Mengistu regime. The first time that I got to see him was when he chose to come over to Ethiopia after the downfall of Mengistu in 1991. For old-Wingateers in Ethiopia at the time, this was a climactic occurrence. Of course, JCR had principally chosen to come to Ethiopia to visit Asfaw's school which he had continuously supported all through the difficult years under Mengistu.
Asfaw Yemiru, as I am sure you must know, was a senior student at the time JCR introduced the scholarship programme at the Wingate. He left at the end of JCR's first year and set up a small school in the church compound adjoining the Wingate. Over the past forty years, this small beginning has blossomed into a great educational enterprise - winning its initiator wide international prestige and recognition. All through, Asfaw had the unflagging encouragement and support of JCR who not only raised and sent him financial support but who also followed and encouraged every minute detail that Asfaw carried out in pursuit of his enterprise.
What JCR attempted at the end of his service as a priest in Peterborough is a true testimonial to his commitment to work on behalf of mankind, regardless of nationality or religious attachment. Although he had been ordained a priest, he chose to go and work, as always with an educational undertaking, to Peshawar in Pakistan. This was soon cut short by an illness that would trouble him, on and off, to the very end of his days. In any case, his commitment would never have been understood by Al-Qaeda and associated forces that have been set loose in that part of the world, and have negatively affected the chances for peaceful existence all around the globe.
I may not have corresponded with JCR over a long period of time while the country underwent the travails of a misguided revolution under Mengistu. Those were demanding times when one did not know where anything was headed. After that visit of his in 1993, however, we kept in regular contact over the past almost twenty years and have touched upon things past, present and future.
Also, we corresponded quite intensively over the last six to seven years - when I have mostly been caught up with current preoccupations and worries. This is about something totally new for our times, which it took me almost two years of close and intensive pursuit before drawing the conclusions that I drew. It has to do with the Ethiopia that he came to know and love so much.
At first, he was quite skeptical. But when I sent him a somewhat-closely-argued paper exposing my worries, he saw what I see. Despite the difficulty of reading closely-argued and seemingly complicated ideas in old age, JCR took time but did not miss a point.
Incidentally, this was a paper I had written to someone who was an old student of JCR at Bryanston, and who came to study and publish a seminal book on "Haile Selassie's Government". As I am sure you must know by now, this was Professor Christopher Clapham - who had taught me in my first year at Cambridge, and with whom I have always been in touch.
Anyway, I am so grateful for JCR's support. Ever the critical master, he went through what was occupying me with a fine-toothed comb before granting his mark of approval, for which I am so thankful.
Finally, let me admit that this has been a highly uprooting week for me. JCR lived to be ninety, and that is a priviledge which is not granted to everybody. And we do know we all must die. But I have been highly 'boulverse' by JCR's departure. Perhaps, this has to do with my having seen him for only two weeks in the last forty years.
There is also a large ex-Wingate community here in the Washington area and we are all full of JCR in correspondence and as we meet. A classmate from Canada has even called me on his receiving the news from England. But I had to go further.
There is an old Uppinghamian here in Washington with whom we went together to Trinity, Cambridge in 1967. This is somone by the name of Peter Hancock who happens to be a close friend of his old Uppingham master, Robby Raven-Roberts. I broke the news to Peter, and Peter broke the news to Robby way out on the west coast. Robby also happens to be great friend of JCR's, from their time as headmasters of schools in Haile Selassie's Ethiopia.
The network expands, but I still feel 'lonely' in my loss.
My love to all in the family.
RIP to JCR
Fisseha Zewdie
Headmaster Royds From Ian and Jill Duffiled
Dear Ken,
We are sorry to hear about the death of John Royds, a fine
schoolmaster and completely dedicated to his work as a headmaster.
In commemoration of him, we would like to share a particular memory
with you—and anyone else who studied or worked at the General Wingate
School, to whom you might care to forward this message. As you will> recall, while you, Jill and I were all young members of staff at the
Wingate School, John Royds inaugurated a new competitive scholarship
scheme. Applicants had to be recommended by primary schools anywhere
in Ethiopia and Eritrea and to sit the examination at the Wingate
School. The scholarships were to be awarded annually to the best
performing applicants (I can't remember now how many a year).
In the first ever round of examinations, two young small boys turned
up who were not expected. No primary school had nominated them but
somehow they had heard about the exams and scholarships. As their
family was very poor, they had walked hundreds of kilometres—in the
rainy season too—from a remate place far to the west of Addis Ababa
though still on the Ethiopian Plateau. John Royds was all for
established order and rules, when it came to the smooth running of
everyday school matters. His heart was touched by the very Ethiopian
enterprise, courage and sheer endurance of these two little boys, so
they were allowed to stay and sit the examination. A narrowly
rule-bound man would have sent them away. Even better, when one of the
boys earned a place by his exam performance but his brother failed to
make the grade, Mr Royds had the wisdom and humanity to admit both
brothers. I always strongly suspected that he personally paid the fees
of the brother who did not pass the entrance examination. A good
school must aim at academic excellence but also, as Royds certainly
understood, should give even higher priority to the practice and
fostering of the best human values.
We can, therefore, well understand how it is that so many former
Wingate students remember him with affection and respect and now feel
sorrow at his passing, to which we add our own requiescat in pace.
With warmest best wishes,
Ian & Jill Duffield
We are sorry to hear about the death of John Royds, a fine
schoolmaster and completely dedicated to his work as a headmaster.
In commemoration of him, we would like to share a particular memory
with you—and anyone else who studied or worked at the General Wingate
School, to whom you might care to forward this message. As you will> recall, while you, Jill and I were all young members of staff at the
Wingate School, John Royds inaugurated a new competitive scholarship
scheme. Applicants had to be recommended by primary schools anywhere
in Ethiopia and Eritrea and to sit the examination at the Wingate
School. The scholarships were to be awarded annually to the best
performing applicants (I can't remember now how many a year).
In the first ever round of examinations, two young small boys turned
up who were not expected. No primary school had nominated them but
somehow they had heard about the exams and scholarships. As their
family was very poor, they had walked hundreds of kilometres—in the
rainy season too—from a remate place far to the west of Addis Ababa
though still on the Ethiopian Plateau. John Royds was all for
established order and rules, when it came to the smooth running of
everyday school matters. His heart was touched by the very Ethiopian
enterprise, courage and sheer endurance of these two little boys, so
they were allowed to stay and sit the examination. A narrowly
rule-bound man would have sent them away. Even better, when one of the
boys earned a place by his exam performance but his brother failed to
make the grade, Mr Royds had the wisdom and humanity to admit both
brothers. I always strongly suspected that he personally paid the fees
of the brother who did not pass the entrance examination. A good
school must aim at academic excellence but also, as Royds certainly
understood, should give even higher priority to the practice and
fostering of the best human values.
We can, therefore, well understand how it is that so many former
Wingate students remember him with affection and respect and now feel
sorrow at his passing, to which we add our own requiescat in pace.
With warmest best wishes,
Ian & Jill Duffield
Headmaster Royds from Girma Zewdie and Abraha Derso
I have not had contact with any of you for some six years, and I have a different e-mail address, but I hope this message reaches you. However I am sorry that this contact is to break to you the sad news of the death of Mr John Caress Royds, our beloved ex-headmaster from the General Wingate School days. He had not really been that well for the last five years with arthritis in his knee, poor hearing like most elderly people, and most cruel of all for such a raconteur, loosing his voice in the past eighteen months. That meant he could not receive visitors any more as it was too exhausting for him to try and talk to them. Nevertheless Sharon and I were privileged to visit him last May. We had hoped to visit him again in September on his 90th birthday but he did not want any celebrations.
John Royds passed away peacefully in hospital on the 31st of March some two weeks after he was admitted after an accident at home which left him weak. He has a nephew who wrote to me with the sad news as he indeed did to others from a careful list left with him by John. John was very independent and did not like to be a burden on anybody. That was why he refused an offer from his nephew to move in with them. John was 90 years when he died, but despite his physical problems his brain remained very incisive to the last minute.
Sharon and I will attend the service of celebration of John's life in Salisbury on Thursday afternoon as will Aklilu Demissie. We don't know which of the ex- Wingate teachers will be present, but I may not recognise any of them except for Patrick Gilkes - I expect he will attend?
Please pass the sad news to all he knew John Royds.
Abraha Derso, UK
Dear Wingaters,
Rev J.C.Royds. Please see below a brief obituary which was published in The Times of London yesterday. Maybe you could pass the word to those around you who happen to know John – I am sure there are many. John Royds will, of course, always be remembered It is with a heartfelt sorrow that I bring to you guys the sad news about the death of the among Wingaters of our generation as a great mentor who stood tall to impact. May he rest in peace.
If you wish to contact David Andrews, John’s nephew and closest kin, who asked me to let you know about John’s passing away, his e-mail is: dh.andrews@virgin.net, and his telephone number: 01929 550999.
Best,
Girma
Rev. John Caress, M.A., died peacefully on 31st March 2011, aged 90. Much loved and respected by all who knew him through his teaching career at Bryanston, as Headmaster of the Royal Wingate School in Addis Ababa and of Uppingham School, and then from 1974 as a Priest in Peterborough, Northampton; Peshawar in Pakistan; and Salisbury, Wilts. A Thanksgiving Service will be held at St. Mark's Church, Salisbury , on Thursday 14th April at 3.00pm. No flowers please; donations to St. Mark's PCC if desired. Enquiries to nephew, David Andrews on 01929 550999.
Dear Kef,
Thank you so much for relaying the message re John Royds to all friends at your end. It is good for John’s kith and kin who will congregate at St Marks for the thanksgiving service on Thursday to know that there are so many around the world who hold J.C.R. in high esteem and reverence. As you noted, we were indeed very lucky to have had him as a headmaster who treated us all like a good father. For that we all respected him and loved him. No doubt, he was an excellent role model for boys of our generation, and there are many of us today who will dearly miss him.
I will not unfortunately be attending the thanksgiving service as I have workshop to run here this week. David Andrews, John’s nephew, told me that Drs Aklilu Demissie and Abraha Derso will be there and that Abraha Derso will speak in remembrance of John Royds. John, as you know, lived to good age. Once when I called to speak to him, he told me that he was so grateful to his maker for the grace period he was given beyond the three score and ten.
By the way, where is Fisseha Zewdie these days? When I asked David Andrews last week if he had passed on the sad news to him in the US, he said the only contact he had in America was someone in Canada, whose name he wouldn’t remember. So am I right to think that Fisseha is now living in Canada? Surely, it would be good to hear from him on this occasion.
Thank you so much for inviting me to join your Book Club – you may count me in, but I am not sure if I would live up to expectation as a member, since I’m afraid I wouldn’t really have much time for active participation. Incidentally, whatever happened to the Wingate website that you guys there once launched to build a global network of old Wingate students? That was a good start, but then before too long I lost track of it. In fact, I remember sending print-outs of some of the pages and photographs to John Royds when the website was launched, and he was happy about it, even though he didn’t at the time appear keen with the use of the technology to visit the website himself. He said the late Frank Dawson had encouraged him to do so, but he wouldn’t budge. His focus in life, I came to realize, was not so much on the medium as on the content of things that would make a difference to who we are as individuals and as social beings. The basic values of virtue wouldn’t change, he would argue. Good is good, no matter. All the rest around this is froth and bubble. To that end, John Royds was spot on with his thoughts and attitude to life. He was not a Christian for nothing, after all.
Anyway, let me give you a break here. My best regards to you and your family.
I have not had contact with any of you for some six years, and I have a different e-mail address, but I hope this message reaches you. However I am sorry that this contact is to break to you the sad news of the death of Mr John Caress Royds, our beloved ex-headmaster from the General Wingate School days. He had not really been that well for the last five years with arthritis in his knee, poor hearing like most elderly people, and most cruel of all for such a raconteur, loosing his voice in the past eighteen months. That meant he could not receive visitors any more as it was too exhausting for him to try and talk to them. Nevertheless Sharon and I were privileged to visit him last May. We had hoped to visit him again in September on his 90th birthday but he did not want any celebration.
John Royds passed away peacefully in hospital on the 31st of March some two weeks after he was admitted after an accident at home which left him weak. He has a nephew who wrote to me with the sad news as he indeed did to others from a careful list left with him by John. John was very independent and did not like to be a burden on anybody. That was why he refused an offer from his nephew to move in with them. John was 90 years when he died, but despite his physical problems his brain remained very incisive to the last minute.
Sharon and I will attend the service of celebration of John's life in Salisbury on Thursday afternoon as will Aklilu Demissie. We don't know which of the ex- Wingate teachers will be present, but I may not recognise any of them except for Patrick Gilkes - I expect he will attend?
Please pass the sad news to all he knew John Royds.
Abraha Derso, UK
John Royds passed away peacefully in hospital on the 31st of March some two weeks after he was admitted after an accident at home which left him weak. He has a nephew who wrote to me with the sad news as he indeed did to others from a careful list left with him by John. John was very independent and did not like to be a burden on anybody. That was why he refused an offer from his nephew to move in with them. John was 90 years when he died, but despite his physical problems his brain remained very incisive to the last minute.
Sharon and I will attend the service of celebration of John's life in Salisbury on Thursday afternoon as will Aklilu Demissie. We don't know which of the ex- Wingate teachers will be present, but I may not recognise any of them except for Patrick Gilkes - I expect he will attend?
Please pass the sad news to all he knew John Royds.
Abraha Derso, UK
Dear Wingaters,
Rev J.C.Royds. Please see below a brief obituary which was published in The Times of London yesterday. Maybe you could pass the word to those around you who happen to know John – I am sure there are many. John Royds will, of course, always be remembered It is with a heartfelt sorrow that I bring to you guys the sad news about the death of the among Wingaters of our generation as a great mentor who stood tall to impact. May he rest in peace.
If you wish to contact David Andrews, John’s nephew and closest kin, who asked me to let you know about John’s passing away, his e-mail is: dh.andrews@virgin.net, and his telephone number: 01929 550999.
Best,
Girma
Rev. John Caress, M.A., died peacefully on 31st March 2011, aged 90. Much loved and respected by all who knew him through his teaching career at Bryanston, as Headmaster of the Royal Wingate School in Addis Ababa and of Uppingham School, and then from 1974 as a Priest in Peterborough, Northampton; Peshawar in Pakistan; and Salisbury, Wilts. A Thanksgiving Service will be held at St. Mark's Church, Salisbury , on Thursday 14th April at 3.00pm. No flowers please; donations to St. Mark's PCC if desired. Enquiries to nephew, David Andrews on 01929 550999.
Dear Kef,
Thank you so much for relaying the message re John Royds to all friends at your end. It is good for John’s kith and kin who will congregate at St Marks for the thanksgiving service on Thursday to know that there are so many around the world who hold J.C.R. in high esteem and reverence. As you noted, we were indeed very lucky to have had him as a headmaster who treated us all like a good father. For that we all respected him and loved him. No doubt, he was an excellent role model for boys of our generation, and there are many of us today who will dearly miss him.
I will not unfortunately be attending the thanksgiving service as I have workshop to run here this week. David Andrews, John’s nephew, told me that Drs Aklilu Demissie and Abraha Derso will be there and that Abraha Derso will speak in remembrance of John Royds. John, as you know, lived to good age. Once when I called to speak to him, he told me that he was so grateful to his maker for the grace period he was given beyond the three score and ten.
By the way, where is Fisseha Zewdie these days? When I asked David Andrews last week if he had passed on the sad news to him in the US, he said the only contact he had in America was someone in Canada, whose name he wouldn’t remember. So am I right to think that Fisseha is now living in Canada? Surely, it would be good to hear from him on this occasion.
Thank you so much for inviting me to join your Book Club – you may count me in, but I am not sure if I would live up to expectation as a member, since I’m afraid I wouldn’t really have much time for active participation. Incidentally, whatever happened to the Wingate website that you guys there once launched to build a global network of old Wingate students? That was a good start, but then before too long I lost track of it. In fact, I remember sending print-outs of some of the pages and photographs to John Royds when the website was launched, and he was happy about it, even though he didn’t at the time appear keen with the use of the technology to visit the website himself. He said the late Frank Dawson had encouraged him to do so, but he wouldn’t budge. His focus in life, I came to realize, was not so much on the medium as on the content of things that would make a difference to who we are as individuals and as social beings. The basic values of virtue wouldn’t change, he would argue. Good is good, no matter. All the rest around this is froth and bubble. To that end, John Royds was spot on with his thoughts and attitude to life. He was not a Christian for nothing, after all.
Anyway, let me give you a break here. My best regards to you and your family.
I have not had contact with any of you for some six years, and I have a different e-mail address, but I hope this message reaches you. However I am sorry that this contact is to break to you the sad news of the death of Mr John Caress Royds, our beloved ex-headmaster from the General Wingate School days. He had not really been that well for the last five years with arthritis in his knee, poor hearing like most elderly people, and most cruel of all for such a raconteur, loosing his voice in the past eighteen months. That meant he could not receive visitors any more as it was too exhausting for him to try and talk to them. Nevertheless Sharon and I were privileged to visit him last May. We had hoped to visit him again in September on his 90th birthday but he did not want any celebration.
John Royds passed away peacefully in hospital on the 31st of March some two weeks after he was admitted after an accident at home which left him weak. He has a nephew who wrote to me with the sad news as he indeed did to others from a careful list left with him by John. John was very independent and did not like to be a burden on anybody. That was why he refused an offer from his nephew to move in with them. John was 90 years when he died, but despite his physical problems his brain remained very incisive to the last minute.
Sharon and I will attend the service of celebration of John's life in Salisbury on Thursday afternoon as will Aklilu Demissie. We don't know which of the ex- Wingate teachers will be present, but I may not recognise any of them except for Patrick Gilkes - I expect he will attend?
Please pass the sad news to all he knew John Royds.
Abraha Derso, UK
Headmaster Royds from Yilma Adamu
Dear Mr. Andrews:
It is with deep sorrow that we learned the passing away of our beloved principal, "Mr. Royds", as everybody called him at the time. He was, indeed, a man of extraordinary character, always revered but never feared. He created a learning environment that had no precedence in Ethiopia and that reeked excellence from the north gate to the southern expanse of the school compound. Much as there were tempting circumstances, he had no favorites and considered each and every one of us his children.
His legacy is inscribed in the success story of General Wingate, which became the #1 high school in Ethiopia and produced the most successful professionals that continue to play important roles in the economic and social life of our country. Wingate Chindits are also widely dispersed on all continents playing commendable role in whatever profession they might be. I have no doubt this knowledge warmed Mr. Royds' heart many, many times.
I remember, like it was yesterday, his meticulous attires, the unmistakable noise of his Murphy shoe steps, the aroma of his tobacco and the uniquely Roydish smile that grimaced his face shine or rain. Maybe I am speaking for myself on this one; I remember his weekly "Current Affairs" class which gave respite from the often suffocating classes of physics, math and chemistry and exposed us to things that are not the Wingate world.
So many of us are indebted to him and blessed for having been nurtured by a true gentleman, a soldier and man of God.
May his soul rest in peace!
Yilma Adamu
POC, TC2600
Knox 8D60
(571) 272-2693
Thank you Yilmiye,
None of us could have said it any better and we all share your sentiments. This may well bring another opportunity to hear from our Wingate colleagues that we have lost contact with. I just heard from Girma Zewdie from Glasgow.
I challenge those of you who are creative, resourceful and with ample time on your hands to come up with some way we can celebrate the greatness of this man. Even some anecdotes that some of you word smiths can share with us will be deeply appreciated. We found him in our formative years and his influence in our lives has been permanently etched in our hearts and minds.
May his soul rest in peace indeed!
Kefale
It is with deep sorrow that we learned the passing away of our beloved principal, "Mr. Royds", as everybody called him at the time. He was, indeed, a man of extraordinary character, always revered but never feared. He created a learning environment that had no precedence in Ethiopia and that reeked excellence from the north gate to the southern expanse of the school compound. Much as there were tempting circumstances, he had no favorites and considered each and every one of us his children.
His legacy is inscribed in the success story of General Wingate, which became the #1 high school in Ethiopia and produced the most successful professionals that continue to play important roles in the economic and social life of our country. Wingate Chindits are also widely dispersed on all continents playing commendable role in whatever profession they might be. I have no doubt this knowledge warmed Mr. Royds' heart many, many times.
I remember, like it was yesterday, his meticulous attires, the unmistakable noise of his Murphy shoe steps, the aroma of his tobacco and the uniquely Roydish smile that grimaced his face shine or rain. Maybe I am speaking for myself on this one; I remember his weekly "Current Affairs" class which gave respite from the often suffocating classes of physics, math and chemistry and exposed us to things that are not the Wingate world.
So many of us are indebted to him and blessed for having been nurtured by a true gentleman, a soldier and man of God.
May his soul rest in peace!
Yilma Adamu
POC, TC2600
Knox 8D60
(571) 272-2693
Thank you Yilmiye,
None of us could have said it any better and we all share your sentiments. This may well bring another opportunity to hear from our Wingate colleagues that we have lost contact with. I just heard from Girma Zewdie from Glasgow.
I challenge those of you who are creative, resourceful and with ample time on your hands to come up with some way we can celebrate the greatness of this man. Even some anecdotes that some of you word smiths can share with us will be deeply appreciated. We found him in our formative years and his influence in our lives has been permanently etched in our hearts and minds.
May his soul rest in peace indeed!
Kefale
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