Obituaries
Doug gave great service to the Alleyn Club, was involved in setting up the East Anglian branch and, as Secretary, organised the annual reunion in Diss for many years. Dorothy died in 2003, but Doug is survived by their three daughters, the youngest of whom, Deb, is also an OA, having attended the College in 1982 when studying for the Oxbridge entrance examinations. Another OA, Robert Edwards, has contributed significantly to this obituary. David Michael Langstone Bolt (1939-45) 30.11.1927 – 16.11.2012 David Bolt came to Dulwich from Sunnyhill Road School in Streatham and was in Sidney day house and latterly boarded in Blew House after his parents moved to Sussex. Leaving school just as World War 2 ended, he did two years of National Service as a lieutenant in the 10th Gurkha Rifles in India and Malaya between 1946 and 1948. He remained abroad as an Assistant Superintendent in the Malayan Police for another two years and then spent three years in South Africa, mainly as the manager of the book department in Stuttafords, a department store in Durban. David finally returned to the UK in 1954 as the manager of a bookshop in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, and moved to become a literary agent at David Higham Associates in 1958. He left with co-director Sheila Watson to set up the agency Bolt & Watson Ltd in 1970, and 10 years later he branched out on his own, starting David Bolt Associates (DBA). He was responsible for launching the writing careers of Sheila Burnford, Joy Adamson and Colin Wilson, with DBA still handling Wilson’s work. He was also an author as well, with his best-known work being Adam, a retelling of the story of the creation of mankind, which was published by Dent. David was married three times; first to Jane in South Africa, then to Louise and finally to Sally. He is survived by Sally and six children. An obituary was published on the Bookseller magazine website on which this is based.
Douglas Caswill Farquharson Bartlett (1937-40) 13.05.1924 – 10.08.2011 Doug Bartlett came to Dulwich from the Prep School but stayed at the College for only three years before completing his education at Hertford Grammar School. He was destined for a career in banking, but when he left school the Second World War was in full flow. He volunteered for the RAF but poor eyesight prevented him from training as a pilot and so he became a wireless mechanic with 492 squadron, which was where his love of all things mechanical and electrical was born. The RAF was also where he met his future wife, Dorothy. After he was released from military service in June 1947, he and Dorothy married and Doug started a degree in Electronic Engineering. After graduation and a short time learning the electronics industry with large companies in this field, Doug joined another OA, James Price, and others in setting up Alma Components, a small company in the fledgling electronics industry in North London. The business prospered and in 1959 moved to Diss in Norfolk where it steadily expanded to a work force of some 300 people, making firstly wirewound resistors and then reed switches. In 1976, the company was sold to an American Doug was very involved in all aspects of life in Diss, being an active member of the local Rotary and Probus Clubs as well as being Chairman of the Governors of the local grammar school. He was President of the Diss Rotary Club in 1971. He was a trustee of various local charities, including Waveney Words Talking Newspaper for the Blind and the Bressingham Steam Museum, and also established the first mobile physiotherapy unit in the town. He was always interested in mechanical things and restored classic motor vehicles, from a bread van to a Rolls Royce, and he was a keen member of the East Anglian Rolls Royce Enthusiasts Club. He was a modest man who would help anyone and in later years was still a familiar figure around Diss on an electric buggy. corporation but continued under Doug’s management until well into the 1990s.
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