Herry's Archives

Herry's Office Retirement Speech - a more personal affair than the many that had been made at the 13 parties around the world - and his last official appearance in Thomas Millers' offices One should never follow a Stephen James’s speech, as he is one of the masters of the art. And having had more than my fair share of speech making over the past two months, starting with a farewell party in Hong Kong in March, I have used up my entire miserable stock of jokes. And I can asssure you I’m not going to repeat the speech that I made at Trinity House in April, which was far too serious for this company. I shall miss so many things about Millers and so I thought I might just take you through a typical day here both to remind you and to fix in my memory what a remarkable place this is and how many remarkable people it contains. Some of you know I always come into the office fairly early and park my car downstairs. It slots into a space that was bequeathed to me more than 20 years ago ...

Retirement is a strange thing. You find yourself voluntarily walking away from friends you've worked with for many years - in my case nearly 40 - and a business and an industry that you love.  It's an industry that's full of interesting and intelligent people – a few of whom are here tonight – and lives on a daily diet of fascinating news and events. Like the proverbial butterfly in the Amazon, much of what happens around the world has its effect in time here in EC3.  People come and go of course, and a number of my friends have already retired, but surprisingly few people ever leave the industry that we're in, and for some reason most of us, despite a peripatetic lifestyle and more entertaining than may be good for us, remain pretty healthy.  That being said, I'm mindful of the example of Dawson Miller who retired as senior partner of Millers in December 1970 and died in January 1971! It's a truism, but our business is built on friendships and hard work....

Herry had his 50th birthday party at Stocks in June 1995. The party was catered by Charlie Skipwith and his family and he also supplied the marquees (actually scout tents!). Radha was over from Australia with her then boyfriend George. About sixty people came and Herry made a short speech. Click the heading for some more photos

With Ayako and Kei at the Trinity House Retirement party. Click the heading for some more retirement photos Retirement is a strange thing. You find yourself voluntarily walking away from friends you've worked with for many years - in my case nearly 40 - and a business and an industry that you love.  It's an industry that's full of interesting and intelligent people – a few of whom are here tonight – and lives on a daily diet of fascinating news and events. Like the proverbial butterfly in the Amazon, much of what happens around the world has its effect in time here in EC3.  People come and go of course, and a number of my friends have already retired, but surprisingly few people ever leave the industry that we're in, and for some reason most of us, despite a peripatetic lifestyle and more entertaining than may be good for us, remain pretty healthy.  That being said, I'm mindful of the example of Dawson Miller who retired as senior partner of Millers in Dece...

I was thinking today about how much things have changed since I was young. A lot has changed in personal hygiene! In the 50s there were only two or three kinds of soap; English Leather, Coal Tar / Lifebuoy or Camay. Deodorants didn't exist. You washed under your arms with Lifebuoy and hoped it would keep you sweet-smelling for a few hours. I remember when an exciting new soap appeared - it was called - I think - Dove. It had a different and interesting smell and was suggestively curved (aimed at the female market – we boys still used Lifebuoy). But there was still very little choice. There were only one or two kinds of shampoo - Vosene was one of them - and neither worked on dandruff so one had to use a strong coal tar preparation instead. It wasn't until the late 60s that a selenium-based cream was available and you could cure dandruff completely. Toothpaste too was limited to Macleans, Colgate or Pepsodent - and a flavoured one for children. Fluroide was introduced in the ...

My first visit to India - and to the Taj - was in 1972, when I accompanied Bill Birch Reynardson (later Miller's senior partner) on a visit. The Club had already established an interest in India in the '60s when Frank Ledwith made several visits in which he set up Rustom Mehta and his assistant Suresh Mankad from New India Assurance as the Club's correspondents. I had been with Millers for about five years and my travelling - often with Bill Birch Reynardson - had until then been confined mostly to former Yugoslavia which, although beautiful, had communist-drab hotels and certainly nothing as richly magnificent as the Taj. Its stunning position overlooking the Arabian Sea towards what would later become Bombay High and its powerful Victorian architecture next to the Gateway of India, made an instant impression. I had always been drawn to India partly because, like many Englishmen, I have family connections going back several generations through bot the Lawfords and th...

Herry celebrated his 60th birthday with a few close friends at Lainston House, near Winchester in June 2005. Once the home of the Craig-Harvey's (whose daughter Juliet used to call him 'Black Magic' for the dark colours he wore even then) the house was perfect venue for a dinner attended by Nick Duke, Charlie Skipwith, Will Martin, Johnny Cooke and Ian Hay - an all-Hampshire gang dating from his early years, and still friends today. We started with champagne on the terrace of the private dining room, and some seriously good wines during the meal. Herry managed to steer the conversation to each man's romantic history and away from his own, a ruse which he is sure won't get away at his 70th.... Click the heading for some more photos