We are very sad to report the death of Colonel Martin Romilly OBE (Th 57), who passed away on 6^th December 2024 aged 81, after a battle against Cancer. At Haileybury Martin captained the XXX in 1960 and later played for the OHRFC.

After school Martin joined the Army in 1962 and undertook many roles including with serving the Royal Leicester Regiment, the Anglian Regiment, at Camberley Staff College, Latimer National Defence College, Greenwich IT Defence College and as Senior Military Officer at the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment at Porton Down. He was a founder member of the Scientific Exploration Society in 1969 and served as the information officer on the Blue Nile Expedition, and then appointed to the SES Advisory Board in May 2024. He also served in Aden and received an OBE in 1986 for his service in Northern Ireland.

Martin was a generous donor to the Society and regularly attended our events. He was a loyal member of the Old Haileyburian Rugby Club, writing a poem for them in memory of the 50 OHs club players who lost their lives in WW1. He had a wide circle of OH friends within whom he was photographed in November 2023 at the annual OHRFC ‘seniors’ lunch. Martin will be sorely missed and we send sincere condolences to his OH sons Steve and Nick at this sad time.

The funeral for Martin Romilly will take place on 8 January 2025 at 1330hrs in the Saint Patrick’s Catholic Garrison Church in Tidworth.

The address is 1 St Patricks Ave, Tidworth SP9 7BS

A google link to the church location is https://maps.app.goo.gl/ePSPMqWbA8p5pWU6A.

After the service there will be a private burial.

We would ask that you do not send flowers. As an alternative if you would like to, then please donate to the Motor Neurone Disease Association via Dad’s Tribute Page.

After the service we would like to invite you to join us at the Malet Arms (see http://www.maletarms.co.uk/) in Newton Tony to celebrate Dad’s life.

The address for the Malet Arms is Newton Tony, Salisbury SP4 0HF

A Google link to the pub is https://maps.app.goo.gl/Af8hnn7PNTDmg4AD7 Please RSVP via https://forms.office.com/r/3MQ0dZh3rz by 3 January 2025 if possible.