Abbot Patrick Barry
David Smith writes: I once had the job of saying farewell to Patrick Barry (obituary, March 1) from his fellow headmasters in Yorkshire on the occasion of his retirement from Ampleforth after 15 years at the school.
A quotation from Shakespeare’s Henry VIII, referring to Cardinal Wolsey, seemed to go down well, not least with Patrick himself. Perhaps it may do so again for those who knew him:
He was a scholar, and a ripe and good one;
Exceeding wise, fair-spoken and persuading:
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Lofty and sour to those who knew him not;
But to those men that sought him sweet as summer.
Guy Neely writes: After he had returned in old age to Ampleforth, I went to see Abbot Patrick, whom I had not encountered for a considerable time. “Oh hello,Guy,” he called out when I was ten feet away. “I thought you had impaired vision,” was my immediate reply. He ignored this uncivil comment and recalled our first meeting 60 years earlier.
Dr Charles Roberts writes: Father Patrick’s punishments were many and varied. Mine, for sending the geography teacher’s globe into a spectacular orbit of the classroom, was to replace the broken base with a wooden one. This was to be made by me in the carpentry workshop. Forty-five years later, I am still spending many a happy hour wood-turning in my shed — thanks to “Black Mole”.
Sir William O’Brien
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Captain William Gueterbock writes: Admiral William O’Brien (obituary, Feb 29) was always ready to stand up for those under his command and was highly approachable wherever he came in contact with those serving under him.
I was serving in HMS Ark Royal when he was commander-in-chief Western Fleet. A letter was received from the Admiralty instructing that the ship’s Royal Marine Band was to be withdrawn and disbanded. This drew the response from the admiral that, while he was C-in-C and the band’s march past was A Life on the Ocean Wave, there was no way that the Western Fleet was going to lose the last Royal Marine Band serving in a ship at sea. To the surprise of the ship, their lordships demurred.
However, the day after Admiral O’Brien handed over the Western Fleet to his successor and retired from the navy, a signal was received from the Admiralty withdrawing the musicians. The dead hand of bureaucracy bides its time, especially when dealing with a great man.