Hugh Raymond Spilsbury Pocock (18 September 1904–1988) was a British writer. Pocock was born in

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, England, the son of Olive née Raymond (1882–1965) and accountant Bernard George Pocock (1875–1954). He won a scholarship to St Paul's School before accepting a scholarship in Greats (the classics in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

and

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

) at

Pembroke College, Oxford Pembroke College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford, is located at Pembroke Square, Oxford. The college was founded in 1624 by King James I of England, using in part the endowment of merchant Thomas Tesdale, and was named after ...

. From there he went on to join

Royal Dutch Shell Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New Yo ...

where he worked until his retirement. After moving to

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

as general manager, where he met his wife, Agnes Sydney Margaret Pocock (known as Peggy) he moved on to head the office at

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

, before returning to London as secretary to the board of directors. He retired to

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label=Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west F ...

in 1959. Ray and Peggy had three children: Ann, Jenny and Mark. Ann married

Hugh Hedley Scurfield Hugh Scurfield was an English actuary of considerable note. He was born on 9 December 1935 in the County of Durham, England; the third of four children to William Russell Scurfield and Elizabeth Morton Scurfield (née Hedley). He graduated from He ...

on 11 Jul 1959 in Reigate, Surrey.

Writing

Pocock published a book of poetry, ''Farmyard Comedian and other Poems'', as well as ''The Conquest of Chile'' and ''The Memoirs of Lord Coutanche'' about the wartime Bailiff of Jersey. He also left to the island detailed research on its

Martello towers Martello towers, sometimes known simply as Martellos, are small defensive forts that were built across the British Empire during the 19th century, from the time of the French Revolutionary Wars onwards. Most were coastal forts. They stand up ...

. A keen amateur

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, g ...

, his interests brought him the acquaintance of

Sir Patrick Moore Sir Patrick Alfred Caldwell-Moore (; 4 March 1923 – 9 December 2012) was an English amateur astronomer who attained prominence in that field as a writer, researcher, radio commentator and television presenter. Moore was president of the Brit ...

. He was also a talented composer, and left behind the full piano score to a musical of one of Oscar Wilde's plays, ''

Lady Windermere's Fan ''Lady Windermere's Fan, A Play About a Good Woman'' is a four-act comedy by Oscar Wilde, first performed on Saturday, 20 February 1892, at the St James's Theatre in London. The story concerns Lady Windermere, who suspects that her husband i ...

'', much in the style of

Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan was a Victorian era, Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900), who jointly created fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which ...

Ancestors

H. R. S. Pocock was a great-grandson of

William Willmer Pocock William Willmer Pocock (8 May 1813 – 18 September 1899) was a British architect. He was born in Knightsbridge in Middlesex, the son of the architect William Fuller Pocock (1779–1849) and his wife Fanny née Willmer. In 1865 he stood unsucce ...

, Master of the

Worshipful Company of Carpenters The Worshipful Company of Carpenters is a livery company of the City of London. The Carpenters were traditionally different from a fellow wood-crafting company, the Worshipful Company of Joiners and Ceilers, in that carpenters utilised nails wh ...

, who was responsible for the design of Carpenters' Hall.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pocock, H. R. S. 1904 births 1988 deaths Alumni of Pembroke College, Oxford People educated at St Paul's School, London British writers Shell plc people