In 1962, HM Queen Elizabeth II visited Haileybury on the occasion of its centenary; alongside Prince Philip, she toured the College and also took an inspection of its Navy and Army sections on Terrace, captured in a photograph recently sent to us by Tony Harper (K 60).

Can you name those in the photo?

Now nearly sixty years on from that visit, the memories have faded and, while Tony can remember all the faces in the photograph, he has more difficulty recalling some of the names. Were you at Haileybury in the early Sixties and can help fill the gaps?

Tony identifies those he can as follows: From the left – 1. Naval section (unsure of name) ; 2. Army section David (later Air Commodore) Adams ( A 59) ; 3. Army section Guy Walker ( K 58) ; 4. (unsure) ; 5. (unsure) ; 6. Tony Harper ( K 60) ; remainder (unsure) . The senior Haileybury Corps boy walking alongside the Queen on her left is Christopher Skinner ( BF 58)

Updates

Since this article appeared, we have received a more information about those in the picture. Michael Pinfold (E 60), has been in contact to identify two more of the Army section. The 9th and 10th soldiers in the row (just by the Queen’s shoulder) are (thought to be) Kingsley Basil Warburton Gray (H60) and Michael himself. As Michael says “I have no recollection of how we were picked for the event!”

Malcolm Ring (Tr 57) has also been in touch speaking up for the RAF section. As he says, “I can’t help with the names of those in the photo but there should have been reference to the RAF Section as it was on parade as well – I was in charge of it!!”

What a shame that on the day, the RAF section wasn’t photographed; this was clearly a very special moment for everyone involved.

Michael Aitkens (E 61) has been in touch with some amusing memories of the day which are well worth reading! As he writes,

I had always thought I was in that line up but on the other side away from the building.

I distinctly remember being in my CCF uniform and the Queen’s car pulling up right next to me and me seeing Her Majesty flicking the blanket off her knees at Prince Philip as if they had been having words. Then she got out of the car, smiling, and met with the lieutenant of the county or whoever the local brass was but the Prince was grumpy all day and asking the prefects complex questions about his D of E awards.

My next location was in the woodwork shop. I was artfully poised putting a screw into a sailing boat that had actually been built 20 years before. Prince Phillip and entourage came in and the Prince asked me what class it was. I replied, thinking it was pretty obvious, that it was ‘woodwork class, sir’. I didn’t know he was referring to the damn boat. Mr Devereux (?) stepped in smartly and explained it was a class XYZ or whatever.

Mainly us junior common room lot were fascinated by the fact that all the potted plants that had arrived the day before the visit and were planted along the terrace were dug up and taken away again the next day. We wondered if the same plants went before Her all round the country.

The costs of the centenary celebrations were such that they dug into the catering budget to such a degree that the food became more awful and sparse than usual and lead to some miscreants putting complaining leaflets on the cars of the OH visitors getting their free dinners while we chewed on lettuce leaves.

In the dining hall, for the big lunch, there was a table for each year but when my grandfather turned up he was alarmed to find that the tables didn’t go back as far as 1901 so they hastily put a sign on a table and he sat there in solitary splendour until some other equally ancient chap came in and asked him where he’d got to when ‘we needed a good left arm over at the Lords match.’ (My grandfather had had to leave suddenly owing to his father going spectacularly broke when one of his cargo ships caught fire and sank after docking at Tilbury and ten minutes after the insurance ran out.) My grandfather was thrilled that he had been ‘needed for the team’ 60 years earlier and was still going on about it when he died at 94.

No wonder I’ve been in therapy for so long!

Latest update

The story continues as the weeks go by! We’ve noticed that OHs are attaching different criteria when ascribing a name to the boys on parade so we have numbered the members of the parade to help with the identification of pupils on the day. The red line around the queen points to the top of of beret of an OH in the picture but otherwise unseen! Who was it?

Queen inspects Haileybury boys on parade

From left to right the OHs on parade are identified as:

RN – D J Heigham (BF 58)

D N Adams (A 59)
P G Walker (K 58)
H M Ferguson (L 59)
D N C Bedford (A 60) or D Miles (M 60)
A G C Harper (K 60)
A W Orr (Th 60)
Uncertain
K B W Gray (Ha 60)
W M C Pinfold (E 60)
Uncertain
Uncertain
C T Skinner (BF 58)
Uncertain

The Queen, fourth from the right, was identified by Mike Halsey (BF 60) as wearing a yellow coat on the day!

Contact us

If you are able to help in naming some of the others featured in this photograph, it would enable us not only to refresh Tony’s memory but also help us at the Society as we are hoping to use this photograph (among many others) in a future publication.

If you can place names to faces (indeed, if you actually feature in the photograph and we have not named you), please email us at the Society so we can amend the record accordingly. Perhaps you have other photographs of that momentous day to share too? We’d love to hear from you!