Sir George Cartland

Alan Forward writes: Your obituary of Sir George Cartland (Sept 19) rightly emphasised the value of his role in 1948 as secretary of the African Conference in London, and his contribution to Uganda as Minister of Education, Chief Secretary and Deputy Governor. Hansard of November 1948 records the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Mr Creech Jones’s conclusion that the conference “had done much to promote better understanding and to increase the goodwill between this country and the African territories”.

Sir George had later been guided by an equally wise Secretary of State, Oliver Lyttelton, later Lord Chandos, who correctly predicted in 1955 that “there is no quicker way of putting the clock back than by putting it forward too quickly”.

Sadly, the 1961 Uganda conference, also in London, was convened by a less than wise Secretary of State. Mr Ian Macleod, without consulting Sir Walter Coutts, the last Governor of Uganda, to whom I was private secretary, rushed Uganda into independence in 1962, after a mere seven months of self-government. The predictable results were described in The Times (October 6, 1982) as “Twenty years of tears.” Seven months was an absurdly short period given the complexity of writing a constitution for Uganda’s four kingdoms, ten districts and varied peoples.

Last year I asked the Rev Canon Patrick Tugume, of the Church of Uganda, how his people had survived those 20 years of misrule by Amin and Obote. He replied: “You gave us Christianity and education, and the Good Lord gave us fertile soils.”

So, Sir George is well remembered, if not by name, for his contribution to education in Uganda.

Professor Ian Jack

Nicolas Mellersh writes: The tale is told in Pembroke College, Cambridge, of the time a visiting graduate member of the college was seated next to Ian Jack (obituary, Sept 22) at high table. Turning to his neighbour he introduced himself by saying: “I’m Jack.” “Hi,” said the graduate, “I’m Tony.” “Professor Jack,” came the withering reply, after which no more was said.

Flight Lieutenant Alex McKie

Michael Lewis writes: The obituary of Flight Lieutenant McKie (Sept 23) contained the statement that the battleship Tirpitz was “the largest ever built”. It is a matter of record that Tirpitz was some way smaller than either of its Italian or French contemporaries Vittorio Veneto and Jean Bart, smaller than the near-contemporary Iowa class in the US and Vanguard in the UK, and that all were dwarfed by the two Japanese Yamato class battleships, which clocked in at 72,000 tons loaded compared with the 42,000 tons of the Tirpitz and Bismarck.