The Haileybury Society is saddened to learn of the death of Major Noel Charles Shuttleworth (B 47) who has died aged 88 on 29th October 2021.

At Haileybury, Noel played in the XI (1951) and later studied at Sandhurst, serving with the Scots Guards from 1953-63 as far afield as Canada, Kenya and Germany, as well as in Great Britain. His early love of cricket was never to diminish and he won cricket caps playing for Kenya and East Africa in 1962-3, the year he retired from the British Army.

Helping professional retirees

In his later career, Noel was to become passionate about retirement homes for professional people following his search for a home for his widowed mother. Together with Christopher Thornhill, he bought a site at Manor Farm in Pewsey and the English Courtyard Association (ECA) was born, whose aim specifically was to provide top quality, low-maintenance cottages for retired folk.

*Above: Noel in his role as Life President of Cognatum*

If today, retirement homes have become almost commonplace, bland and over-marketed, Noel’s ambition was – and remained – positive and revolutionary.

Not only was he to break new ground but was to do so in a way which reflected his compassion and genuine interest in older professional folk, earning the ECA many architectural, landscape and housing awards, including seven Housing Design awards from DOE, RIBA & NHBC for excellence in housing design.

The ECA was later to merge with The Beechcroft Trust to become Cognatum, an organisation which was to honour him with the role of Life President.

Supportive of fundraising initiatives

Noel was a regular supporter of Haileybury, contributing to a number of fundraising schemes; at one point he was even to suggest a retirement home for alumni based in the grounds, although this was not to achieve fruition. Nonetheless, it is a fitting testament to the vision of Noel that his early efforts to find a comfortable place for his widowed mother to live in comfort in her retirement over 40 years ago has turned into such a wonderful legacy for so many others.

The Haileybury Society sends its deepest condolences to Noel’s family and many friends at this sad time.

Images in this article courtesy of the ECA and Cognatum websites