Obituaries
ashes were scattered in the Memorial Garden there. His older brother Bruce (51-59), contributed this obituary.
Highly successful in his business career and in his public life, he was also a devoted family man and a friend to many. He married Sylvia in 1957 and for over 50 years they were very much a team, and with son Simon and daughter Claire, together with grandchildren Sarah, James, Jessica and George, they were a close- knit family unit. Towards the end of his life, he battled cancer with his customary good humour and courage. He is sorely missed by his widow Sylvia, their children and grandchildren, and by all his many friends. His son Simon (68-75), and the Worshipful Company of Insurers, contributed significantly to this obituary.
Peter Henry Purchon (1946-49) 25.11.1932 – 18.08.2013
Peter Purchon was born in Leicester as the son of another OA, George Purchon. He and his older brother, Richard, both came to Dulwich from Ashby Grammar School in Ashby-de- la-Zouch, Leicestershire, after the Second World War had
Christopher Geoffrey Scoular (1956-64) 09.03.1945 – 29.10.2013
ended. Both were in Sidney and were boarders in Blew House. Peter excelled at Dulwich and played rugby, water polo and swam for the College. Peter left Dulwich at the age of 16 and joined Royal Insurance, following in the footsteps of both his father and grandfather, and signalling the start of a long and successful career in insurance. At the age of 19, he joined the army for his National Service, being commissioned into the Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) and serving with the Amphibious Warfare Division, where he learned to sail. After working in Leeds, Harrogate and Manchester with Royal Insurance, he joined insurance broker Matthews Wrightson, and in 1972 he moved to Kingston upon Thames as the Managing Director of Stewart Wrightson UK. Subsequently he became Chairman of Stewart Wrightson’s UK Division based in the City of London, but also had responsibility for Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. For the next 20 years, he was regarded as one of the leading insurance brokers in the City of London. In 1987 Peter became President of the Insurance Institute of London and, in 1990, President of Chartered Insurance Institute. He was a distinguished and valued member of the Worshipful Company of Insurers (WCI) for 33 years (one of the newer livery companies, after its creation in 1979), and was an extremely active and popular Master of the Company in 1998, who did much to ensure that WCI played its full part in the civic life of the livery companies of the City of London. An able and effective communicator, he combined these personal skills with clarity of thought and a determination to get things done. Throughout his life, Peter’s links with Dulwich remained strong and he enjoyed returning to the College on many occasions. After retirement from work, he was able to devote more time to sailing, having joined the Alleynian Sailing Society (ASS) in the late 1980s. His yacht Gimbal participated in every Rally whether on the Solent or crossing the Channel, frequently with both Peter and his brother Richard taking part for several years in a row. Peter served as Commodore of the ASS from 1999 to 2002, and was a valued committee member working tirelessly for the good of the society, using his influence to benefit younger members particularly.
Chris Scoular was born in Scotland, but moved to Cheam when young and came to Dulwich from Homefield Prep in Sutton. At the College, he was in Drake, in the RAF section of the CCF and was a school prefect. He was witty, popular and an
outstanding mimic, and friends still recall his rendering of Gene Pitney’s ‘24 hours from Tulse Hill’ during their daily walk from the station to school! His talent for assuming voices made it only natural that he should choose acting as his career, which began with joining The Rafter Players – an amateur group formed by Nick Young, a contemporary at Dulwich. For them, Chris played Friar Lawrence and Malvolio, both productions touring Denmark and Finland under the auspices of the British Council, and then he played Prospero in a film of The Tempest made entirely on location in Cornwall. As a professional, he developed further into a versatile and charming actor. He played the lead in West Side Story at Coventry’s Belgrade theatre and was in the original cast of Godspell, understudying Jeremy Irons (whom he replaced) and David Essex. At the Bristol Old Vic he played W S Gilbert in Tarantara! Tarantara!, which transferred to the West End. His repertory experience included work in Cardiff, The Mill at Sonning and Worthing. He worked abroad in Scandinavia, Canada and in the Middle and Far East. On television, he appeared with Sir John Gielgud in The Seven Dials Mystery, played Reggie in the John Buchan adaptation Hannay and had major parts in the serials The Dark Side of the Sun and Maelstrom. He was also seen playing character parts in East Enders, Casualty and The Bill. Moving to Norfolk from London in 1992, Chris continued to act, but when triplet girls were born in 1994, he became a house-husband, allowing his wife Gillie to continue in her legal practice. This also gave him more time to concentrate on his photography, the profession he might have followed, if acting had proved unsuccessful. With the girls all at university, Chris was acting again, in The Golden Dragon in London in January 2013, but only three months later, inoperable cancer was diagnosed.
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