PD Hancock - Funeral

[alasdairf]

All,

 

My dad is one of the executors for P.D. Hancock's estate. The following is from him, and is the notice that will appear, probably in Saturday's, Scotsman and Daily Telegraph.

 

"Peacefully at Belgrave Lodge Nursing Home on 28 June 2011. Former assistant librarian at the University of Edinburgh and renowned railway modeller. Service on Friday 8 July at 11.30am at the Cloister Chapel, Warriston Crematorium (Edinburgh). No flowers please but a retiral collection for charity will be taken at the end of the service, alternatively donations may be made directly to the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway Preservation Society or the Army Benevolent Fund."

 

There is already a separate thread for those with memories - I will update this thread with any further arrangements, as required.

 

I would, however, like to take this opportunity to thanks those who have already been in touch, over the last few months asking after Philip - it really has given us a sense of the regard in which he was held my the modelling community.

 

Alasdair Ferro.

[alasdairf]

All,

 

The following is the address given by my Dad at Philip's funeral. Apologies for the delay in posting...

 

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ADDRESS ON PHILIP HANCOCK, given by David Ferro, at Philip’s funeral service on Friday 8th July in the Cloister Chapel, Warriston Crematorium, Edinburgh.

 

Like many of his generation, Philip was known to particular groups of people by different names, each reflecting an aspect of his interests. To those reading his articles or book he was P.D. Hancock; to those modellers who knew him personally or modelled with him, he was “PDâ€; to Edinburgh University Library colleagues and friends he was Philip. As I have known him since about 1967 as Philip, I shall refer to him in that way. As his use of different names implies, Philip tended to keep his interests separate. So in preparing today’s address, in which I will try to give a rounded picture of him, I have talked to some of his friends in various of his interests, and have drawn upon the literature. I would like to say thank you to all who have helped me.

 

To start at the beginning: Philip was born in Edinburgh in 1928 his mother having returned from India where she and Philip’s father were stationed with the Army; his father in the Army Education Corps, his mother a nanny to the sons of the Colonels of two Indian Regiments. As an Army child his early life was peripatetic. A particularly happy episode was their time in Malta, despite this coming to an abrupt end in 1940 as the battle for Malta began. In later years he often used to speak of this period of his life, and he retained an interest in Indian history and in military life, the last most notably through his reading and his fine collection of model soldiers.

 

By 1941 Philip was back in Edinburgh, attending George Watson’s College. Around this time, when he was in his early teens, his considerable abilities in observation, drawing, painting and writing were becoming apparent as is clear from some extant items. He illustrated his stories, based on the War, with pencil drawings and painted landscapes in water-colours. From Watson’s, Philip went to Edinburgh University graduating in history with first class honours in 1951.

 

After two years post-graduate work, he joined the staff of Edinburgh University Library. For most of his working life, until 1984, he was a member of the Cataloguing Department, whose task it was to create and maintain the catalogue to the University Library. This was meticulous, committed, scholarly work to which Philip was particularly well suited. Indeed he was one of a team whose catalogue had a deserved reputation for its bibliographic accuracy, authority and scholarship. For a time Philip’s skills as a writer and artist were enjoyed by staff through his editing of the staff news sheet and his cartoon character, Dumpster, enlivened many articles.

 

Throughout this time he would be away on day-long walks at the weekend, always travelling by train or bus. Indeed this was how I first came to know Philip as he introduced me to the hill tracks around Blair Atholl and Dunkeld. Whilst we would spend the day on our own walks, we would meet in the evening for our return train journey, chatting over what we had seen. This pattern to the day suited Philip well because whilst he valued the peace of solitude and was often alone by choice, almost reclusive, he also enjoyed companionship. He had a great ability to chat with the people he met during the course of his walks, and so gained a wide circle of friends and acquaintances in these areas. He felt a strong sense of belonging and of being at one with these places. As the years passed and he became more restricted in the distances he could walk, he frequented Paxton House and particularly the Grounds, where, as a much loved visitor throughout the year, he was given Honorary Membership. All the staff knew him and he had his own salad lunch, specially made for him, duly labelled “Mr Hancock’s salad.â€

 

Philip also had wide ranging cultural interests; in photography, film and cinema particularly the films of the 1930s through the 1970s; in currency - he had a good collection of coins and banknotes; and in adult and childrens’ literature. Very often he was a member of societies for the appreciation of a particular film, such as Gone with the Wind, or stars such as Laurel & Hardy and Deanna Durbin, or authors such as PG Wodehouse, or authors and their area, for example Arthur Ransome and the Lake District. One of his delights was to take a rowing boat on Coniston Water to the islands mentioned by Ransome, if possible landing and picnicking there. He kept reviews and articles about authors, neatly folded inside their books. A conversation with him on these topics was always rewarding.

 

But his interest for which he is most widely known is his railway modelling. It seems to me that it drew upon all his skills, particularly his artistic and technical, and was stimulated by his interests in places, history , people and railways. He had the ability to observe acutely and then to translate this into a model, which captured both the essence, the feel, the atmosphere and the detail of what he had observed. He wrote that through the models he wanted to “paint a picture in three dimensionsâ€.

 

In this approach in 1947 Philip was an innovator. Previously most railway models were concerned solely with the railway. Philip set the railway in a landscape, giving the railway purpose, life and context. He created an imaginary county, Craigshire, peopled it and established the Craig and Mertonford Railway. His articles and book on it, written in his easy, cultured and engaging style, and illustrated with his own excellent photographs, drawings and sketches, brought his innovative and artistic modelling alive for his readers. It is therefore no surprise the he won the annual Railway Modellers Cup for the best article in the magazine for 1954, 1955 and 1960.

 

He also pioneered narrow gauge modelling. It has been said that he was “ without doubt the first person to produce highly successful working models in British narrow gauge modelling.“(1) His achievements were recognised formally by The 009 Society, when it awarded him the distinction of Honorary Life Member.

 

He was also a pioneer in modelling trams. Once again Philip published a series of articles which have been a source of inspiration to other modellers. One of his trams is now preserved for posterity in the Tramway and Light Railway Society Archives.

 

In his garden railway, The Torlum Hill Light Railway, built in the 1980s and 90s he continued to develop his ideas. An innovation was his appreciation of the contribution that could be made by miniaturists’ models, more normally seen in doll’s houses, and he began to work in this area.

 

Over the years Philip also gave much practical help and advice to individual modellers. Today, some sixty years after his first article appeared, Philip continues to inspire modellers through his writing. I know of two articles this year in the Railway Modeller where authors have paid such tribute to him. This week similar sentiments have been expressed on modellers’ websites.

 

So, I conclude this celebration of his life, by saying simply, on behalf of us all, Philip, thank you.

 

David Ferro

 

(1) This quotation is from: Essery, Bob. Classic layouts. In: British Railway Modelling, spring special 2001, p.48

 

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Alasdair

[F-UnitMad]

Sorry for such a late reply to this thread, but just to say thank you for posting that speech; there was clearly far more to P.D. than most of us would ever have guessed at just from reading his articles in RM..!!