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Obituaries
Dick Everett 1901 - 1996
A Tribute by Henry Teed
I knew Dick Everett from the age of eleven, worked for him on the Prep School staff for the three years of my military service (being unfit on a piffling pretext). Since then, I have kept in touch with the Everetts ever since, seeing Dick for the last time three months before he died on 7th August last year.
My selection interview was a walk in the garden not a duel across a desk. We walked and talked man to man, a contrast from your standard headmaster. To compound my first impression, he helped me into the hall with my trunk on the first day of term. A job had to be done and he happened to be on hand at the time; delegation seemed pointless so he got on with it and scored in my estimation.
I suspect that the days of individuals founding schools are over for a whole lot of political and economic reasons. Committees that design a horse and end up with a camel; individual founders breathe fire into their own projects. Alexander Devine and Dick Everett did just that in their day and way, while being polar opposites in character. Lex a high profile man with diplomatic sidelines and Dick the quiet man with the quiet glow of high purpose much more suited to the boarding of small boys of seven and eight up. A small boy might show Dick some curiosity picked up in the Park and have his undivided attention for as long as it took; no more than forty-five seconds maybe, but time stands still in those moments. The flip-side of his interest in all of us meant he had to measure our potential so when I put up a mindless “black” his rebuke “Oh, Henry, I am disappointed in you!” Had me worried for the rest of the day. A quick six and I’d have been the hero of the hour. Unwisely, I told my children about it. They’re in their thirties. they’ve met Dick and can imitate him and I can get it for burning the toast!
Amid the cares of running the place (and he did better than Lex) he taught and well. Anyone wishing to have the proof of the angles of a triangle being 180 degrees, see me afterwards.
Just before I left Clayesmore, I sprained my ankle pretty comprehensively and was found unfit for military service. A lot of us were “unfit” in those days and “prep-schooling” was much in fashion. Dick approached me and I was back at the Prep School and on the staff teaching French, Biology, lower school English and Carpentry. When kids start shoving shavings down one anothers’ necks it’s time for a change so we moved into the adjacent garage and carried on building the boat. We overdid it a bit and the thing ended up with sails, centreboard and Saturday sailing for five or six boys at a time on Poole Harbour. Dick was ready for sailing Venturer which led him into the yachting habit for the rest of his active life. The infection spread to his children Anne and Anthony with the usual expensive results. As for the rest of us, many are out there on the water suffering bravely.
Time on the staff enabled me to see Dick’s high standards in action undiminished by twenty years in the saddle. Not only that, I had a few exams and hospital interviews to clear up and for these he gave me time, encouragement and references that would move mountains.
We could well have missed Dick the educationalist. His father was an
E.N.T. Surgeon in Norwich and his brother Tom became a G.P. in Templecombe. Dick went to
Jesus, Cambridge with the same intent only to find pre-clinical studies a touch messy as
did Charles Darwin.
A change of horses and we have Clayesmore Prep and “The origin of species” both
holding up well with the passing of time. While at Jesus Dick was awarded a Blue for
hurdling and was made a member of “The Hawks” an exclusive club conferring
lifelong membership. He came down with an M.A. and founded Charlton Marshall House School
in 1929. Clayesmore arrived at Iwerne in 1933 and the change of name followed. Dick ran
the place until his retirement in 1963. To say he ran the place is only half the truth. He
married Gwendoline Thompson in 1940 and “Tommy” took on all the domestic
responsibilities and much else when the going got tough, developing into a durable double
act.
In retirement, he resumed his very able ‘cello playing and was deservedly in demand among the local groups and orchestras. Not only music, Dick was an excellent artist. His land and seascapes in water-colours and oils were to be seen in some of the better exhibitions.
Being the informal man he was, there’s no chance you’d get him to sit for his portrait in academic dress; yet by great good fortune something even better has been devised for posterity. Dick Everett relaxing in a chair was photographed by “Tommy” using a simple hand-held camera. The lighting near perfect, the print sharp enough to enlarge to portrait size and to be canvas-mounted to produce a likeness that is pure Dick Everett and beyond the best brush in the land. We’ve all seen that smile in between putting up blacks. He could smile all over.
Even his last illness must be considered in this tribute for his handling of it. It was an unkind combination of being ninety and a ragbag of pathologies stalking him for the last four years or so of his life. For the latter part he was bedfast and nursed by “Tommy” twenty- eight hours a day ten days a week. No complaint from either, but from him courtesy, humour and charm as ever.
The durable monument to this gentle man is Clayesmore Prep and the
children who sing this service are the living proof of his excellent intent.