Mark Ransome – PrepB, MaB 47-55

Submitted by Anthony Hurst

Mark Ransome 23rd September 1938 – 5th February 2019

Mark died peacefully after several years of deteriorating health during most of which he had been able to remain at home looked after by his wife Jackie and closely surrounded by their daughter Natasha and her family. One of Mark’s great joys was watching his grandchildren grow up.

Mark was three months older than I so he entered CH a term before me and I was in Prep A. Thus we didn’t really know each other until we entered Ma B in 1950 when we became firm friends.

Neither of us was strong either academically or on the games pitch although Mark was awarded House Colours for rugger and cricket.

Our friendship deepened in 1952 when our mothers met at our Confirmation and they too became lifelong friends. Mark came to stay with me in Dorset during the summer holidays and I often visited his home in Crawley Down near East Grinstead.

We left CH in 1955. Mark had hoped to join the Royal Navy but his eyesight was not good enough so he joined Barclays DCO and went to the West Indies as a “Bush Banker.

During one leave he married Jackie, and Morton and Olive Peto attended their wedding. Following this they went to Vanuatu for more Bush Banking finally returning to the UK where they lived in Clapham before moving to Norfolk. From then on we remained in close touch and often visited each other.

Mark was blessed with an abundance of qualities which used to be valued more than is the case today. He was intensely loyal both to his family and his friends. He was never resentful or envious of those who appeared to be more successful. He was open and engaging with a delightful self-deprecating sense of humour. I do not believe he ever expressed an unkind word about anyone.

He once told me with a chuckle that when he was appointed House Captain of Prep B, it was the only time in his life when he had been important.

Mark was quite wrong about that. He was very important indeed and he will be long remembered and greatly missed.