|
Captain G R Petherick
Late The Life Guards
|
Robin Petherick died on 29th January 2024 aged 82. Robin, or Stuffy as he was universally known to his innumerable friends and colleagues, was born in 1941 and had a peripatetic early life between houses in Hampshire, Fota In Southern Ireland, Cornwall and London. Educated at Harrow and commissioned into The Life Guards in 1960 (converting to a regular commission in 1961) acquiring the nickname Stuffy after two old buffers were overheard to say ‘I hear that Stuffy’s boy is joining The Tins’. Thereafter he was always known as Stuffy.
In spite of only serving 11 years, Stuffy enjoyed the best of times while always giving of his best. These were halcyon times to serve, the Army being almost 400,000 strong (Regulars and Reservists).
Stuffy was initially posted to BAOR, the Regiment being stationed in Herford, Germany equipped with armoured cars. His first Troop Corporal of Horse (Reggie Brooks) had served in the war in a troop commanded by Stuffy’s uncle. Military life was border patrols between East and West Germany, and formation exercises; the threat of war with Warsaw Pact being a real prospect.
Off duty occupations encompassed playing cricket for the Regiment and visits to Hamburg and Berlin, then a divided city.
The Regiment returned to Windsor in late 1962 and Stuffy joined the Household Cavalry Training Squadron as a troop leader under Major Ronnie Ferguson. His duties were not onerous and it was the time of the ‘Swinging Sixties’. Apart from his social life, Stuffy played cricket at Burton Court for the Household Division Cricket Club.
This life was only slightly interrupted by an exercise in Canada: mosquitoes, alcoholic parties with the Royal Canadian 22nd Regiment and R&R in the Rockies. A posting to the Mounted Regiment at Knightsbridge with Roy Redgrave commanding followed.
It was the time of ‘The Big Freeze’ with temperatures of -16C, the assassination of President Kennedy, the Aldermaston marchers, and the State Funeral of Winston Churchill, but Stuffy managed to hunt in Leicestershire and to point-to-point. The Long Riding Course at Melton Mowbray was an opportunity for more hunting although Mark Darley, now the Commanding Officer, did not rate the course very highly and put Stuffy back into Riding School on his return. Knightsbridge was followed by a tour in the Far East. Initially in Borneo during the ‘Confrontation’ with Indonesia and subsequently in Seremban Malaya before being appointed Adjutant to Ian Baillie in Singapore, the Regiment being split between Singapore, Seremban, and Hong Kong. It was not a busy time for Regimental Headquarters, and it allowed Stuffy to win 10 races under rules for various owners, mainly Chinese and Malay. In one race, which he was likely to lose, the horse in front let him through with the jockey saying ‘go on through Robin boy. I’ve had a hell of a bet on you’; the jockey was Eddie Pahang, the Sultan of Pehang. Waterskiing was also a large part of life in Singapore with a boat called Pukka Dink, formerly owned by the Blues Squadron, hence the name.
On return to England Stuffy remained Adjutant of The Life Guards at Windsor, this time with Desmond Langley as Commanding Officer, including a Northern Ireland tour. Military duties allowed time for hunting, cricket and golf. More importantly Stuffy and Christine Clark (known to all as Clarkie) were married in the Guards’ Chapel in 1968 and so began 56 years of wonderfully happy married life.
Although being recommended for command of a squadron and clearly destined for a successful military career, Stuffy decided to retire into civilian life in order to provide better for, and give stability to, his family.
Stuffy’s civilian career was in estate agency principally with Strutt and Parker. He passed his professional examinations with flying colours obtaining with top marks and selecting a pair of racing binoculars as his prize. He ran Strutt and Parker’s Salisbury office expanding it to Exeter and Newbury. His home at Stratford sub-Castle offered generous hospitality to friends old and new. For Stuffy’s last five years with Strutt and Parker, and as a Partner, he was head of their rural offices (from Banchory to Canterbury). He opened additional offices in Sloane Street and Hong Kong. Stuffy retired for the last time a much respected and loved Partner in 2001. He and Clarkie moved to Stockbridge 2021.
In retirement, Stuffy was able to indulge his passion for golf and cricket, attending the first days of every test match, playing for The Guards Cricket Club and being a member of I Zingari. In golf, a former officer described Stuffy as ‘having unbounded enthusiasm for the game which outstripped his skill but he was not alone in that and he was a great character and a wonderful friend and companion’. Stuffy also ran White’s Golfing being enthusiastic in encouraging younger members to play.
Stuffy was active in two charities reflecting his concern for people and for tradition – ICAN, a charity for children with learning difficulties, and The Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum. Two common threads emerge from Stuffy’s life. The most important one was his family with two successful children of whom he was immensely proud. His daughter followed in his footsteps with Strutt and Parker and his son as the Business Development Director of a kitchen and cabinet making business in the West Country. The second thread was friendship. Stuffy had an innate ability to make friends, giving freely of his time and advice when asked, and he enjoyed nothing more than being in the company of friends, whether holidaying in France or weekends in England. An Old Etonian and very good friend of Stuffy’s endlessly ribbed him about being an Old Harrovian. On coming down to breakfast one morning this OE acclaimed loudly to the assembled company, ‘Good Morning Gentlemen’ followed by ‘Good Morning Stuffy!’ A schoolboy joke but everyone enjoyed it, not least Stuffy himself.
Above all, Stuffy had a consuming zest for life and for communicating that zest. He always regarded The Life Guards as his second family and we have all lost a very good friend, a true gentleman and loyal Life Guard.
With thanks to Dick Morrissey-Paine, Richard Head, and James Gaselee.
|
|
