J H 1942 - 1948
We have been notified of the sad death of Robert Brandram-Jones who passed away on 9th October, aged 89. Our thoughts and best wishes go to his family and those who knew him well.
If you would like to have your memories of John posted on this webpage, please feel free to email them to TWS@wycliffe.co.uk
At Wycliffe:
Y.F.C. Committee
Literary Society
Choral Society
Scouts
Swimming Club (R.L.S.S. Bronze Medallion)
The following obituary has been provided by Robert’s son, Philip Brandram-Jones MBE:
ROBERT ALAN BRANDRAM JONES
Robert Alan Brandram Jones was born on 28th July 1932 in Croydon to Humphrey and Jeannie. It was a prosperous family and their house was a gift from Humphrey’s father, Henry Thomas. Henry Thomas, Rob’s grandad, ran Brandram Brothers, a large chemical works in Rotherhithe and his grandmother, Caroline Gray, was the first female councillor on the London County Council and also a suffragette!
Rob had an elder brother, Dick, and the two lads were often at loggerheads (Jeannie would keep a bucket of water by the back door to douse them when they fought). Rob was 7 when the war broke out and he and Dick were due to be evacuated to Canada. However, Humphrey, in charge of the SE England water supply, moved the family to Hove which was supposed to put them out of harm’s way (although ironically their house in Hove was bombed soon after the beginning of the war). The transport ship they were due to be evacuated on was torpedoed and sunk, a lucky escape. The boys witnessed many troop movements (from Dunkirk to D Day) being on the coast and near to wartime activities. They would collect seaweed from the shore to assist with the allotments that Humphrey had alongside various reservoirs. The time that Rob spent assisting his dad and also his grandad at the chemical works demonstrated from an early age that he had an exceptional practical ability.
Rob and Dick were sent to Boarding school in Stonehouse, Gloucestershire and subsequently to Lampeter. Often the schoolboys would stay with their relatives on a farm in Arlingham and undertook farm work. Rob was extremely clever and excelled in science subjects at school. At age 15 he took his matriculation exam 3 years early (equivalent of A’ levels today) and won himself a place at Cambridge University to study Chemistry. His father by this time was working out in Eastern Africa so, because Rob was too young to take up his place at Cambridge, and living with his parents, he took on a job as an admin assistant. However, his abilities were soon recognised and he was offered a job in the colonial service as an agricultural scientist mainly dealing with aromatic oils and the now renowned coffee crops in Kenya.
After a few years Rob returned to the UK to take up his place at university. However, his experience in Eastern Africa had changed his focus and he chose to go to Reading University to study Agricultural Chemistry. His political beliefs also turned him against Cambridge University because of their support for the development of the nuclear bomb. Rob was a keen rower at university. He also had a love of powerful motorbikes and often commented that he would add ethanol to the fuel to make them go faster (and also make the exhaust pipe glow in the dark!). At Reading he met Anne Judith Monro, an artist, who was later to become his first wife. He famously gave up his motorbike and purchased a BSA three-wheeler so that he could take Anne out.
Rob then moved to Herefordshire to the family farm at Poulstone where he had to share the farmhouse with the Farm Manager until the farm partnership was dissolved and he could take over the management of the farm. It was a 250-acre mixed holding which has grown to five times that size over his farming career.
Rob married Anne and they had four children, Philip, the twins (Alan and Charles), and Penny. Sadly, Anne died but Rob then met and married Margaret Gaynor Edwards who was a neighbour of his Aunt in Northwood. Rob and Gaynor went on honeymoon to West Africa (Nigeria/Cameroon) to meet up with his father who was still undertaking major waterwork projects. Gaynor had a child, Richard, who in later years jointly ran the farm business with his father.
Rob was involved in many different aspects of life in Herefordshire and demonstrated a strong social responsibility towards the community. For example, he was a County Councillor; he served on the PCC as a treasurer; he restarted the Parish Council after a 30 year absence; he was a school governor to more than one local school; he was on the West Mercia Police Commission; he was a chair of the NFU; and he gifted the family built primary school to the education authorities to ensure its continued survival…. to name but a few. He was also a very active Rotarian and when he was President of the local Rotary Club his project involved raising a large amount of money to build a new A&E department at Ross Cottage Hospital complete with X Ray machine, a feat that was recognised by Rotary International for its outstanding achievement.
Rob disliked rules and regulations. He recalled the time that he should have changed his car due to having more than 3 children but he chose to throw a large mattress in the back of his Morris Traveller instead of the appropriate children’s seats!
As the children grew, they were often roped into helping their dad out with his latest project. For example, they helped to build the big barn and made concrete using many tons of hardcore pebbles taken from the river bank, cut up fertiliser bags to use as damp proofing and ultimately installed the roof which was very high and without any safety harnesses (definitely wouldn’t be allowed today!). They spent one summer clearing and reclaiming the tump. The children also spent many days/weeks grading spuds with Percy Davies and his son Michael. Percy was Rob’s long term farm employee, 48 years in total. It is a demonstration of Rob’s generosity that when Percy retired Rob gifted him the tied cottage he had lived in for all of those years.
Rob and Gaynor loved to travel and they undertook many motoring trips around various parts of Europe. In later years Rob managed to revisit parts of southern and eastern Africa, a trip down memory lane for him. The recent planned commemorations for the platinum anniversary for Queen Elizabeth caused Rob to recount that he formed part of an honour guard in Nairobi, Kenya for Princess Elizabeth in Feb 1952 prior to her return to the UK and later coronation.
Later on Rob converted a coal shed into a smaller home for him and Gaynor and they moved out of the big drafty farmhouse into their new home next door that Rob called the “coal hole”. Sadly, Gaynor developed dementia in her later years and Rob looked after her at home until she moved to Hazlehurst where Rob visited her every single day until her death. We know that he missed her hugely.
A few of Rob’s last outings were to his great grandson’s christening and then a few months later to his grandson’s wedding, both lovely family occasions. The wedding was an outdoor affair with lots of farming community present and he loved seeing an old restored Fordson Major being used as transport and joyfully recalled that he set a ploughing record in the 1950’s on a Fordson Major tractor.
Rob had a large immediate family – 5 children, 12 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren and a niece, Clare who he also loved dearly. He was immensely proud of all of his family and he liked nothing better than spending an hour or two with his grandchildren discussing their various educational and career pathways, their house buying antics, their politics and generally their adventures in life. Right until the end he was still the lovely, interested Dad/Grandad and left everyone with a lasting impression of his love for them.
Rob passed away very peacefully on October 9th 2021 aged 89. He chose not to join the many generations of his family buried in Kings Caple Churchyard but to have both his and Gaynor’s ashes placed within Poulstone Farm.
