Obituaries

OBITUARIES PETER JAMES TESTER, F.S.A. Our Vice-President and long-standing Member, Mr Peter Tester, died on 22nd January, 1994. Peter was born at Bexleyheath in 1921 and lived all his life in the Bexley area, except during World War II when he served in the R.A.F. in various parts of this country and in West Africa. A schoolmaster by profession, Peter taught history for over thirty years at Welling School in the London Borough of Bexley and retired as Head of the History Department at the school. Peter was devoted to the study of archaeology and history from his boyhood and spent most of his leisure in research, particularly in Kent. He met his wife, Ruby, in the course of an excavation at Cheriton. He was Vice-President of our Society, of the Dartford Historical and Antiquarian Society and of the Orpington Historical Society. A holder of the University of London's Diploma in European History, Peter was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1958 in recognition of his work and publications; he was a prolific contributor to Archaeologia Cantiana. In 1972, Peter was appointed Honorary Archaeological Consultant to the Diocese of Rochester. Peter's interests were wide-ranging from prehistoric flints through old churches and monumental brasses to medieval architecture in general. W hilst serving as Chairman of the Society's Excavations Committee, he initiated a programme of research excavations on monastic sites, including Boxley Abbey and the priories at Higham, Leeds and Davington; he also directed excavations at a prehistoric site at Cuxton, a Romano-British site in Cobham Park and an Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Orpington. Timber buildings were also among Peter's interests, and he was instrumental in preventing the destruction of a medieval hall-house at North Cray and securing its re-erection at the Open Air Museum in Singleton in Sussex. Greatly ip demand as a lecturer to local history societies, Peter also conducted courses for the Workers' Educational Association. Perhaps above all else, Peter gave unstintingly of his own time for the benefit of others with whom he was ever-willing to share his deep 439 OBITUARIES knowledge of the subjects he was interested in, as I well remember with gratitude the hours spent lecturing to the students of the annual Eccles training courses. Stamped with the quiet disposition of the scholar, Peter was immense fun to work with, whether in the idyllic surroundings of the Boxley Abbey lawns and rose-beds, in the overgrown jungle of Leeds Priory, or elsewhere, and it was an object lesson for me to watch the unflappable way with which he tackled the management of people, without losing sight of the excavation objectives. It was during lunch break, with half a pint aiding and abetting, or travelling around in Kent, that Peter would give second place to his immediate archaeological concerns and, allowing the geniality of his personality to break through, bring about a playful light in his eyes - you knew, then, that he was about to dip into his anecdotal quiver and regale you with one, or more, of his amusing stories. At Council meetings, you seldom knew he was present: he did not contribute to the proceedings as much as some members of Council, but Peter would listen intently and, when he had something to say, it was well worth travelling some distance to hear his contribution. Peter was a gentle giant and, if he lacked anything at all, it was malice. He will be sorely missed, not only by his family, but also by his many friends and colleagues in this Society and beyond it. Requiescas in pace A.P.D. Ever since we first met in Cobham Park in 1958, Peter has been my main source of inspiration and information in all my archaeological work. His death is a great loss to our Society and to archaeology in the County while I have lost one who was truly 'my guide, philosopher and friend'. A.C.H. C.R. COUNCER, F.S.A. By the death of 'Jimmy' Councer, as he was known to his many friends, the Society has lost one of its oldest and most esteemed members. He joined the Society in 1929 and served for many years on the Council, becoming a Vice-President in 1979. He soon made a reputation for himself as an expert on medieval stained glass, publishing articles on glass in Kent churches from time to time in Arch. Cant. It was this mutual interest that brought us together more than forty years ago as the result of a chance meeting in the old church of 440 OBITUARIES West Wickham, on the outskirts of Croydon, where I was a Parish Priest. 'Jimmy' was busily describing to a group of members of the Society the series of figures of saints in the early Tudor glass for which this church is noteworthy. I had just completed a paper on the heraldic glass of the same period in the redbrick Tudor mansion - The Court - a few yards away from the church. When he discovered this, 'Jimmy' was immediately interested; as a result of this meeting we became firm friends, and a few years later he managed to persuade the Society of Master Glass Painters to publish in their journals our respective papers on the glass in the Church and the Court. Regular social meetings between ourselves followed, the last of which was a lunch party at Canterbury in the summer of 1980, a few weeks before Evelyn Councer died. Theirs was a happy partnership at home and at work, for they were both officers in the Careers Structure of the County Education Committee. It was about this time that his book, Lost Glass from Kent Churches, was published by this Society in its Kent Records series, this being a sideline of his attempt to make and publish a comprehensive record of all the ancient glass in the County. At his death the completed manuscript still awaits publication; his efforts over many years to get it into print were frustrated again and again. Is it now too much to hope that, as a tribute to his memory, the Kent Archaeological Society may now put in hand out of its funds the publication of a work of major importance to the recorded history of the County's antiquities? D. INGRAM HILL MAURICE ANTHONY CRANE, B.A. Universal sadness was apparent everywhere following Maurice's death on 9 June, 1993. He had contributed much to the teaching profession; to the welfare, heritage and history of Adisham; to the Canterbury Archaeological Society as a Past Chairman, and to the Kent Archaeological Society, as a valued member of its Council and as the Society's Honorary Excursions Secretary since 198 3, where he displayed meticulous planning and organisational skills, such that his Continental excursions and strawberry teas at Dane Court in Adisham became legendary. During those dark days of World War II, Maurice was a pupil at Dartford Grammar School. His education was furthered at Goldsmiths College, London (1950-52) and Portsmouth Technical College (1952-53). Already by then he had developed interests in excavations and local history, respectively in Portsmouth and editing the Bexley Antiquarian Society's newsletter. 441 OBITUARIES In 1981, he graduated from the University of Kent at Canterbury with a Bachelor of Arts with Honours degree in Economic and Social History, having completed a third-year dissertation, which may be consulted in the University's Templeman Library, on 'The Introduction of the Swedish Turnip in Recent English Agricultural History'. It emphasized the vital role of John Reynolds of Adisham, as seen through the archives of the Royal Society of Arts and Sciences. Eleven years previously Cantium: A magazine of Kent local history, Vol. II, No. 1 (January 1970) had published 'John Reynolds of Adisham', where Maurice pointed out in h i s opening sentence 'NOT EV ERYONE is fortunate enough or chooses to live in a medieval hallhouse'. Many people have happy memories of visits there and of the kind hospitality bestowed by Maurice and his widow Jean, who herself is on the point of graduating from the University of Kent at Canterbury. We wish her well. Maurice's professional career ended in 1985, when he retired from having been Head of Department at St. Anselm's Canterbury Roman Catholic Comprehensive School, where he had assumed total responsibility for careers and organising thematic exhibitions, apart from running very successful 'A' Level courses in Economic and Social History. He is remembered, too, for having co-ordinated the Wingham 700 Exhibition, for having written a short book on Wingham Mediaeval College and for having tutored over two years a Dover W.E.A. class, on 'Architecture in the Context of Local History'. Retirement for Maurice meant no easing of a lively mind, mastering the complexities of a computer and word processor, lecturing to local history and civic societies, constructing a V ictorian walled garden in the grounds of Dane Court, undertaking ongoing research into the history of Canterbury's police, Wingham and Adisham churches, Adisham since the sixth century, and eighteenth-century Sandwich. At the beginning of 1989 he registered again at the University of Kent at Canterbury to undertake an M.Phil. degree by research on 'Sandwich 1750-1852', good progress on which was thwarted by illness and his untimely death during 1993. Kent has lost someone with an active interest in its history and sad it is that he was not able to see through to complete publication by Alan Sutton Publishing of Wingham, Adisham and Littlebourne in Old Photographs (1993), in collaboration with two other members of the Wingham Local History Society, of which he was a keen member, Mrs. G. Sumner and Mrs. A. Powell. Apart from his historical interests, Maurice will long be remembered as a kind and thoughtful friend, who was always willing to extend a helping hand to others. JOHN WHYMAN 442