Herry's Archives

Bill Birch Reynardson This post is about Bill Birch Reynardson (1923 - 2017), who was the 'original cause' of my joining Thomas Miller, and in my subsequent 39 year career in the City and was both a mentor and friend. Bill and my father Patrick were close friends of  Colin Balfour  and were shooting with him one day in the autumn of 1966.  They got talking and my father mentioned that I was reading law and intended to practice at the bar. 'I wouldn't do that', said Bill. 'I was at the bar for a while; very dull. I'm now with a firm in the City called Thomas Miller. Tell Herry to come and see me.' Needless to say, we made some enquiries (from the likes of John Colgrave) as Thomas Miller was a firm that no one appeared to have heard of, but they revealed the intriguing information that the Millers (Dawson and Cyril) ran something called a shipowners' liability mutual or 'P&I Club' and were highly successful, and the firm was k...

Colin and Prue Balfour Cmdr Colin Balfour, RN, DL, who died on 19th July 2009 after suffering an eight-year illness brought on by a fall, was a most charming and amusing man and, with his wife Prue, one of my parents' closest friends. He was brought up in Oxfordshire and was an early friend of  Bill Birch Reynardson's and was with him at Eton. Both of them went to war in 1942, Colin joining the navy and Bill the army, and saw a great deal of action (and Bill was wounded). Colin retired from the navy in 1952 and took up farming on his family's estate at Wintershill and in Scotland, which he loved. He was for many years chairman of the governors of the local school, chairman and treasurer of the Parish Council and a church warden at Durley Church for 24 years. An excellent shot and mathematician, a superb mimic and story-teller and a kind and generous man, he and Prue maintained a wonderful social life in Hampshire and in Scotland. Among my parents' fondest memorie...

General Sir Sydney Turing Barlow Lawford KCB The General’s Sword Dear Mr. Lawford, Firstly, please allow me to introduce myself; My name is Troy Zwicker. I am a Deputy Sheriff who resides in Nova Scotia, Canada. One of my hobbies is collecting British military swords, which is the reason I am writing to you. I discovered your blog while conducting research into a Wilkinson sword in my collection. I read your articles on the Lawford connection to the Draper's Guild with fascination, not least because your articles helped confirm in my mind my working theory on the original owner of said sword. I have enclosed a link to an on-line article that was put together by a very good friend of mine on his blog regarding the sword in question and its connection to a member of the Lawford family. Might I prevail upon you to peruse the article and share your thoughts with me regarding my deductive reasoning on the purchaser and owner of this fascinating histo...

Mao's Mausoleum I first visited China in January 1978, when Beijing was cold and shrouded in smog. The Chinese Government had chartered three Greek bulk carriers* to load grain in Vancouver the previous summer, but the port was closed by a three-month strike and the ships sat idle.  Under the terms of the charterparties, the charters were responsible for demurrage (the loss caused by delay) unless the delay was caused by 'force majeur'. I had visited Edmonton and Calgary in the early winter with Stuart Walker, a representative of the owners, when the temperature was -15C to establish that there was no event at the point of origin that could be regarded as 'force majeur'. but despite many requests, the Chinese wouldn't pay. The amount at stake was about $1.5m. So I was asked to travel to Beijing and try and obtain payment. Prue with our guides at the Great Wall 'You'd better go and hire the 'Orson Wells', said my senior partner, Sidney Fowler ...

Mario de Pace Mark Holford has sent in a piece on the influential former IT partner of Thomas Miller who died after Christmas at the age of 72 in St Agnes, Cornwall:- Mario de Pace was born and grew up in South Africa, coming to the UK as a young man. He joined Thomas Miller in 1975 in their Cockfosters office and throughout his 25 year career was Head of IT. As the importance of IT grew, so did his role and eventually to such an extent he became a partner in 1988. 
I knew nothing of Mario when I was appointed by the then Thomas Miller Senior Partner, David Martin-Clark, to work with him in 1990 on an IT strategy. In fact most of the things I had heard were negative. How wrong they were. He was the best colleague to work with. Always wise and supportive. It was a "marriage" made in heaven: we each complemented our strengths and weaknesses. Mario was a past master at ensuring that everyone was on side before a meeting took place, while I was good at ...