Hugh Bennet Homer (QM 1935-39 and 1943-45)
July 1927 - October 2019
Hugh Homer died in October 2018, just a few weeks after being the oldest Old Marian present at the Annual Dinner. Hugh had survived his wife, Jean, by a few months. Their three daughters, Sarah, Jane and Caro have provided the following obituary:
“As the last surviving member of his generation in the family, he embraced the role of surrogate father to all his nephews (including Honorary Nephew Tim Swain!) and nieces and grandfather to their children and knew exactly what they were all doing with their lives. He kept alert and active doing crosswords every day – latterly sometimes with the help of “the google” for those last few tricky clues and playing golf on his 90th and 91st birthdays and at all stages in between.
Hugh was born in Walsall on 9 July 1927, the second son to Irene and Thomas Bennett Homer. He grew up in Walsall with brother Tony and the twins Peter and Ruth. His nickname was “Gick” as a result of sister Ruth’s inability to pronounce Dick which for some reason was what his mother called him having, he thought, wanted a Richard rather than a Hugh!
Hugh started at Queen Mary’s Grammar School in Walsall in September 1935 and then, when the family was evacuated to Prees in Shropshire to live with his maternal grandfather, he moved to Whitchurch Grammar School from July 1939 to 1943, returning to QM in September 1943 for sixth form until 1945, when he was (joint) Captain of School and Captain of the 1st XV. He embraced both institutions fully and was extremely proud of his links with QM where, for the last few years he was invited as the oldest “old boy” present to propose the toast to the founder at the annual Old Boys’ Dinner. He last fulfilled this role on 28th September this year and enjoyed an evening surrounded by Old Boy members of the family. After school he went up to Cambridge where he followed brother Tony to Emmanuel College. He loved Cambridge where he studied hard, but also played a lot of rugby and made great friendships. On a trip back for his 80th birthday he showed us the window through which he would climb back in after a night out! His studies were disrupted by a call up to National Service – he was desperate to fly planes and applied for the Fleet Air Arm but he ended up in the Navy as a Petty Officer and Leading Telegrapher. Hugh was wont to say that this probably saved his life, as the lifespan of a pilot was pretty short even at that end stage of the war. After discharge from the Navy Hugh resumed his studies at Cambridge, changing course to read French and Spanish, and his love of languages stayed with him all his life. He came back to Walsall to start work in the family firm which had morphed from making leather harnesses to carriage fittings and hence to wallets, purses etc (fancy leather goods in the trade) and engineering parts. He was subsequently joined in the business by his younger brother Peter and they weathered some stormy times through the three-day week, working together until 1987 when they sold out.
Hugh and Jean Wait met at school (she went to QMHS) after she had actually been Tony’s girlfriend for a while, but it was a partnership made in heaven and destined to last over 65 years. They weathered many sadnesses – their own loss of their first two babies in childbirth and the tragic loss of his mother in a car accident just before they were married.
Hugh was responsible for instilling a love of rugby in his family as he was a keen member at Walsall Rugby Club. During his last stay in hospital Hugh responded to the question about previous injuries and operations by saying he had broken most things playing rugby – not, I think, what the consultant was expecting to hear from a nonagenarian! Rugby was also responsible in part for our foreign language education as Walsall played host to Mulhouse rugby club and we had house guests who all seemed to be called Michel and who taught us to shout “Allez la France”.
Hugh retired when the business was sold in 1987, just after his 60th birthday. Hugh had always been a giver of his time – he was a commissioner of the Inland Revenue for many years, a member of both Round Table and 41 Club in Walsall, as well as the rugby club committee, and he became involved with the Church where he was a regular attendee and a sidesman until relatively recently. He became a member of Evesham Golf Club and Pershore Choral Society where he pursued his love of singing and was deeply honoured to be invited to be president from 2014 until 2017. He was on the Fladbury Walkabout Committee for many years and he and Jean threw open the house for many and varied fund-raisers over the years. Latterly Hugh became a volunteer at No 8, the local community Arts Theatre in Pershore and he honed his computer skills in the box office, spending many happy Thursday afternoons there with his last shift as recently as October 4th. He was, I think, the oldest volunteer and he was very honoured to receive, along with his fellow volunteers, the Queens Award for Voluntary Service just a year ago: he always wore his badge with great pride.
Hugh was the first to say he had had a “good innings”. He and Mum were always pleased to host family visits and parties with the famous Boxing Day party open to some 130 family members. Only very recently did he become ill and was admitted to hospital for tests, where the three girls made sure he was never alone. He died on 24th October 2018.