Lt-Col Eric Wilson, VC

Sir John Margetson writes: Eric Wilson entered the Colonial Administrative Service at the advanced age of 37. The basis of his success as a district officer was his understanding and sympathy for Africans, which he acquired as a result of his army service with Somali and East African troops. After only one tour of duty in Tanganyika (now Tanzania) he was appointed District Commissioner North Mara and found himself administering the Kuria, a tribe famous then for its warlike character and devoted service in the King’s African Rifles. He quickly put an end to the cattle raiding between the Masai and Kuria at that end of the Kenya / Tanganyika border by taking swift, firm and fair action. Indeed, his absolutely straight and sincere character was something the Kuria understood and was the basis of his leadership in spheres as diverse as education, agriculture and local government. It was typical of him that he learnt Gikuria (he was an excellent linguist), which presented a problem for the examining authorities who could not find any other European in the country who spoke the language.

In the more politically sophisticated district of Mbeya, to which he was subsequently appointed District Commissioner, he inspired leadership of the district team of many departmental officers who were laying the foundation in that for Tanganyikan independence.

Christopher Hibbert

Nick Tarling writes: Christopher Hibbert was indeed one of the most prolific historians of our time. Records of his childhood, however, indicate that this was quite a turnaround. Thus to his parents from school on his 11th birthday in March 1935, he wrote:

“Swinnerton has got a birthday cake with a rugger match on top. I am pleased you will be coming to the theatricals, I shall be singing on the stage. I have nearly finished ‘Red Lynx’. I have read 27 books this term and the one you sent me for my birthday is very nice indeed. I have no more stamps this week, so I am afraid I shall not be able to write to you.”

Belinda Norman-Butler

John Bridcut writes: Belinda Norman-Butler remained both enchanting and formidable to the end of her long life. When I first met her for the television documentary The Passions of Vaughan Williams, she was busy (at the age of 98) whipping up local opposition to some development plan of her local authority. In a flash the irritation vanished from her extraordinarily beautiful face as she recounted her adult memories of Ralph Vaughan Williams in middle age in 1927 — a unique (and for me almost magical) link across eight decades. Such long threads are invaluable to the skein of history.