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Arthur Villeneuve Nicolle F/Mc Married: 1928 Alice Marguerite Cobbold F/Mc | ||||||||||||||
| Robert (Bobby) Arthur Bethune Nicolle [CFT #1803] Born: 1934 Died: 2021 |
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| b Kensington, London d At home in Gloucestershire Educated at Eton, where he was Captain of Boats, and Trinity College, Cambridge, Bobby was commissioned into the Grenadier Guards seeing active service in Cyprus in 1957/58. He joined Kleinwort Sons & Co, merchant bankers in 1958; was a director of Kleinwort Benson Ltd 1973-1989; a director of Matheson Investments Ltd 1989-2000; treasurer IRIS Fund 1973-97; a director of Colonial Mutual Life Insurance of Australia 1987-96; special trustee of St Thomas' Hospital 1981-99 and Guy's Hospital 1996-99; advisor Worldwide Fund for Nature in Switzerland (formerly World Wildlife Fund) 1988-92; treasurer of HOST (Hosting for Overseas Students) 1992-98; Nightongale Fund 1993-; Countryside Alliance 2000-; and Master, Worshipful Co of Tallow Chandlers 1998-99. Eulogy given by his brother: Robert Arthur Bethune Nicolle DOB 24 September 1934 Fredrick Nicolle, 17th February 2021 Carolyn has asked me to tell you something of the origin of the Nicolle family and Jersey, so let me start with this part of my story. The island of Jersey, obviously, had French origins and these can be traced back to when William, Duke of Normandy, in 1065, sent his promiscuous uncle as Governor to the relatively isolated island of Jersey and away from his much more comfortable position of Bishop of Rouen. Here in Jersey, he married into the Mauger family and, consequently, the de Villeneuve and Nicolle family. Most of the early history of Jersey is unimportant, but it is interesting to remind you that Jersey first became famous for the paler patterned blue woollen pullover knitted for the fishermen by their wives. A similar but dark blue pullover was made and worn by the neighbouring islanders of Guernsey. And so we have the origin of the Jersey and the less well known Guernsey. At that time, Jersey’s main industry was the production of wool, so much so that by the 18th Century farming and fishing were becoming neglected, and a special law had to be passed permitting only the female population to knit; and men, therefore, gravitated back into farming and fishing. This in due course, led to the emergence of the famous Jersey cow and a new source of prosperity for the farmers. 2 The Nicolle fortunes were built on banking and ships. The latter were relatively small and of wooden construction but very seaworthy and a by-product of the fishing industry. These ships helped to found the famous so-called “triangle” which transported finished English industrial goods to North America. These ships traded and refilled with Atlantic Cod which was dried on board on the voyage to South America. This dried cod, known as Bacalao, was sold in exchange for mahogany, for the British furniture manufacturing market instead of walnut which was becoming increasingly scarce and expensive. Enough of Jersey history and let us return now to Bobby. I know that most of you know him so well, that it would be inappropriate to try to cover every facet. My dear brother was three and a half years younger than me, and by rights, should be here in my place today but he paid a penalty for his skill as an oarsman. By this, I mean, he rose to become Captain of Boats at Eton but, subsequently, had to retire from rowing competitively at Cambridge. Fortunately, for many years this heart valve injury was asymptomatic. About six years ago his heart began to show progressive weakness and, despite skillful reconstruction of two of his valves, the repair was not completely successful. At school, Bobby had a distinguished academic record and rose to the top Sixth Form. After leaving Eton, he did his National Service in the Grenadier Guards, was awarded the Belt of Honour in his Officer training intake, and then served in Cyprus. After this, he went into the City of London as a banker. He joined Kleinwort Benson and subsequently became a Director where he showed particular skills in the field of investment management. 3 Personally, I always felt that Bobby should have chosen then to expand in more demanding and idealistic directions where his high political and idealistic ambitions would have flourished. But we have to balance this with the need to make a living which was much harder in the 1950’s than subsequently. I feel very proud to have had a brother who was much loved by all who knew him well and to whom he gave so much of his time and skills. For more than ten years I was then working in Canada at McGill University Teaching Hospitals, which separated our lives, and we did not return to England until 1970. It was a difficult decision for me as I had to abandon so much achieved in Canada,but I wanted our children to grow up in England and France. Imagine what it meant to us as a family when Bobby and Carolyn offered us the top floor of their London house for three months while we made our all important decisions over whether to settle in England or become resident in Europe. We remain eternally grateful for their generosity. Subsequently, we had many happy times on holiday at our home in France, but as Bobby’s health deteriorated, he found increasing enjoyment in reading poetry which offered a lighter form of stimulus, and also painting. Among a few books I keep beside my bed, is a collection of Rupert Brooke’s poems familiar, I am sure, to many of you. There is an autobiographical quality in his last poem which, I presume, must have been his last, written prior to his departure for Gallipoli in 1914. 4 Let me quote from his famous poem which offers a message to each of us :- If I should die, think only this of me : That there’s some corner of a foreign field That is for ever England. There shall be In that rich earth a richer dust concealed ; A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware, Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam, A body of England’s, breathing English air, Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home. And think, this heart, all evil shed away, A pulse in the eternal mind, no less Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given ; Her sights and sounds ; dreams happy as her day ; And laughter, learnt of friends ; and gentleness, In hearts at peace, under an English heaven. 5 Carolyn made a wonderful wife for Bobby and taught him so much of the enjoyments described in this poem. From this life created by both of them together grew a family of expanding numbers of happy children and grandchildren, numerous horses and dogs, a family success with whom we all shared many happy moments. Thank you, Carolyn for all this. |
1: 1965 Darcy R A Nicollec 2: 1967 Anne Fiona Nicollec 3: 1967 Cecelia Mary Nicollec 4: 1971 Harry Anthony B Nicollec | |||||||||||||
| 4 Children | ||||||||||||||
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