The Haileybury Society is saddened to learn of the death earlier this year of Desmond Charles Dauban (BF 46), who has died aged 87 on 14th January 2020

Desmond was born in 1932 in Aldershot, the son of Colonel R R Dauban who was posted to India in 1933. He and his two sisters spent their early childhood in India during the last few years of the Raj before returning to a nervous England in 1939 just before the outbreak of WW2.

(Above: Desmond aged 15 in Devon)

When war broke out he became one of the ‘evacuated’ children with his early education quickly moving from Darlington to Mowden Hall Prep School in Lake Windermere. Here he greatly enjoyed all his games, winning the Victor Ludorum for two consecutive years. In 1946 he followed his uncle Sir Robert Ricketts into Bartle Frere house at Haileybury. Again, he enjoyed all sports available, including boxing for which won his school colours.

(Above: Desmond – top, centre – as part of the Haileybury boxing team in 1948)

For his National Service, Desmond followed his own father into the Royal Artillery, being commissioned to join the Depot Regiment at Larkhill on Salisbury Plain, representing the Army in Boxing.

Marketing career

Interested in International Marketing, he joined De la Rue in London and then Unilever as a management trainee, quickly joining United Africa Company, working in Nigeria, Ghana and then back in London. In 1958 he married Shirley Hartley, who soon gave him a son and two daughters, followed in due course by no less than seven grandchildren.

(Above: Desmond aged 45 while working for Exxon)

In 1965 there followed a change in his marketing career with a move firstly to Nottingham and then to Southampton, working in the petrochemical division of Esso Petroleum, now part of ExxonMobil, USA.

Retirement

Desmond retired in 1990 and, having discovered cousins in the Seychelles and in France, he followed the Dauban family heritage trail to France, Mauritius and the Seychelles, a process which involved a memorable series of visits which have been followed by successive generations of his family.

As a life member of the National Trust he served as a volunteer for 20 years at Mottisfont Abbey in Hampshire and Belton House in Lincolnshire, finally retiring in 2012. The death of Shirley in 2014 was a grievous blow both to Desmond and the wider family, but the graduations and marriages of his grandchildren, followed by the arrival of four great grandchildren over the last five years, gave him very great pleasure in his final years.

(Above: Desmond as he will be remembered, a man with a love of family, food and fun)

Desmond died peacefully in Grantham on 14 January this year after what his son describes as a very enjoyable Christmas together with everything he loved: four generations of family, lovely food, whisky and laughter!!

The above obituary (which we have adapted slightly) was provided by Desmond’s son, Mark, to whom we are most grateful.