Page 38 • The HERALD • 5th January 2023 v THE HERALD - INDEPENDENT AND PROUD OF IT v Maldwin Drummond OBE DL HON Dsc. FSA In this, the last of my regular ‘Tales from the Graveyard of All Saints’ Church, Fawley’, I have chosen to write about a larger-than-life character, who was a literary romantic and intrepid yachtsman, an environmentalist, a conservator, a scientist, a farmer and a loving family man. Maldwin Andrew Cyril Drummond was born in Marylebone, London on 30th May 1932. He was born into a privileged family and from a very young age was made aware that with privilege comes responsibility, which was born out by the various roles he played in later life. His mother was Mildred Joan Humphreys and his father was Major Cyril Augustus Drummond. His younger life followed the normal pattern that any young man of his station would be expected to follow, such as prep school, Eton, but instead of going straight to university he joined the army and went into the ‘green jackets’ for National Service, and a er the obligatory 2 years, signed on voluntarily to join the regiment. He was not a ‘model’ soldier and o en had to scrub the guardroom oor as punishment for being back late from leave. However, he enjoyed his time in the military. He then thought he might follow a career as an industrial chemist and spent time at Yale University in America before returning to England. In 1955 he married Susan Dorothy Gabrielle Cayley and they had two daughters, Frederica and Annabella. Sadly the marriage did not last and a er a divorce, Susan married Sir Henry Lawson-Tancred in 1978. Maldwin also remarried in 1978 to Gillian TurnerLaing (Gilly), and they had a son Aldred. Gilly had been married previously and had three daughters, Sophie, Ariane and Laura, so between them they had 6 children. For more than 200 years Maldwin’s family have lived on and farmed land between Southampton Water and Beaulieu River. When his father died in 1945 he inherited the Cadland Estate. Fortunately Maldwin had already attended Cirencester Agricultural College and had learnt how to farm (he said he spent too much time cutting up cabbages). When he le Cirencester he started to run the estate with the help of a team of very bright people, including a marvellous farm manager called Stephen Wright, and an astute agent called Rob Bacon. e task ahead of him was quite daunting, because he was really interested in bringing the estate back to a size for a sustainable future. So much of the land had been fragmented and requisitioned during WWII for the war e ort, especially for AGWI/ Exxon and then Fawley Power Station, that this was a di cult period. Gradually over time he was able to buy back some of the land and consolidate the Estate into a viable proposition. Later in his life he took a 3 year extra-mural diploma course at Southampton University in environmental science which he passed with distinction. At one time in his life Maldwin was also director of an oyster shery on the Isle of Wight, and a sh farm in Scotland. e family had always sailed and Maldwin had inherited his love of sailing from his father Cyril, and his grandfather. e family had been involved with e Royal Yacht Squadron for over one hundred and y years. It was his grandfather who had instigated the Hythe ferry, and also had St Anne’s Church in Hythe, built. One of the rst things Maldwin did, at a very young age, in conjunction with Malcolm Miller the Provost of Edinburgh, was to initiate a Sail Training Ship programme. Gordonstoun was at that time using a yacht for teaching life-saving, and Maldwin thought it should be extended for young children to learn such skills. anks to him, we now have a Sail Training Association, which he Chaired, which enables both able and disabled children to have the opportunity to learn such skills. Maldwin was a very skilled sailor, and more like travel journals, with details of his day and illustrated by sketches and photographs. For example, from these, we know that on Monday 6th June 1966 while at Stromness in Scotland he ‘watered and fuelled the ship with 86 gallons of fuel and 140 gallons of water. Paid 5 shillings (25p) for the water.’ ey illustrate the amazing travels he, o en with his family, made in his cra , all round Scotland, in and out of the Loch’s, around Ireland, down the west coast of England and Wales and back to Cadland and Ashlett. He o en went over to Europe, and in one log he wrote how wonderful sailing round Finland had been. In celebration of their marriage, Gilly and Maldwin rst went to Paris for a few days and then ew to Chilli in South America for their honeymoon. is was to be spent on a small yacht built by Bendor, a younger brother of Maldwin. It was a very pretty boat, but not comfortable, and Gilly spent her honeymoon nights suspended 3 above her husband, in a ‘pipe cot’ (similar to a hammock)! Unfortunately there was a leak from the deck above and Gilly was saturated - very romantic!!! Colin Mudie, a leading yacht designer was also on board, and told Gilly he could easily x the problem by suspending a piece of string from the leak to a bottle placed between Gilly’s feet. is worked, but every time Gilly moved her feet the bottled toppled over and soaked her feet. In 1985 Maldwin and Gilly sailed the canals of France from north to south in his wooden hulled yacht ‘Gang Warily’, stopping o wherever they saw interesting or beautiful places such as in the Perigord region of South West France. He was very fond of ‘Gang Warily’ and kept it for 10 years, because it was what he described as being ‘sea-kindly’. Maldwin was chairman of the Technical Committee formed to build the sail training schooner ‘Winston Churchill’. He was instrumental in the conservation of historic ships including the Cutty Sark, HMS Warrior and the SS Great Britain, and Chairman of the Boat Committee of the RNLI, and a Governor of the Foudroyant Trust. He once said: “I have a genuine love but also a great respect for the sea. I believe that sailing washes the soul more than any other activity.” Living on the western edge of the New Forest he became ‘a stalwart friend and champion’ of the Forest for many years. He was an elected Verderer in the early 1960’s and served for 30 years, followed by a second term of service from 1999 to 2002. Maldwin was concerned about the natural forest being overwhelmed by visitors and was instrumental in instigating controlled areas for caravan parking and car parks. In the late 1980’s he chaired the newly formed New Forest Committee, which brought together the di erent fragmented organisations for the New Forest and turned them into a co-ordinated forum. is was a great success and enabled the long-term protection of the Forest, examining the environmental issues to be addressed, and also winning funding bids which enabled the conservation projects to be put into place. He served as President for the New Forest Association from 1973 to 1983 and again from 2003 to 2009. In 1997 to recognise the 900th anniversary of the establishment of the New Forest he suggested that a tapestry would be a tting idea to mark the occasion, and Belinda, Lady Montagu, designed the 25 long work, which became an embroidery, not a tapestry, which is now on permanent loan to the New Forest Heritage Centre in Lyndhurst. Maldwin loved life and had a larger-than-life personality. Whatever he did, he did with enthusiasm, professionalism and care. He wrote books, one being ‘ e Riddle’ which was the background to e Riddle of the Sands. He wrote children’s books; probably his most popular one is called ‘ e Seagull’. His log books are full of beautiful descriptions of what he was witnessing. For example, he wrote, on Sunday 29th January 1978 on arriving into Rio de Janeiro by aeroplane “After 9 hours we landed at Rio after watching the horizon go indigo and then edge red as the day arrived. Below, in the darker blue, pin pricks of orange light appeared, appearing eventually as little streets. Rio, with its crown of mountains and mirror of water looked dramatic, an ethereal town planners model, illuminated by a sudden summer’s light.” Above all he was a modest and quiet man, highly approachable, and very hands on when involved in a project. His study in his home has walls covered with books on a huge variety of subjects which re ect his curiosity in all aspects of life. He was deputy Lieutenant for the County of Hampshire (a position now held by his wife Gilly), and a magistrate, very involved in local a airs. Maldwin died peacefully on 17th February 2017 in Southampton Hospital and is buried in the ‘Drummond’ area on the north east side of the churchyard. As I was finishing this ‘Tale’, Gilly contacted me to say that at long last Maldwin’s post humous award from the America’s Cup Hall of Fame, the Sir Richard Francis Sutton Medal was to be presented to her. Gilly received the award in London on Saturday 12th November 2022. My very grateful thanks to Gilly for sharing her memories with me, and permitting me to access Maldwins library of ‘Logs’. I have only scratched the surface of the contribution he made to this area and the many people he worked with. To write a comprehensive ‘Tale’ of all the roles that Maldwin fulfilled would become a book in itself. Maybe, someday, someone will write a book on his incredible life and achievements. A truly special gentleman. Maldwin Drummond OBE DL HON Dsc. FSA ‘Tales from the Graveyard’ of All Saints’ Church, Fawley by Patricia Hedley-Goddard, Churchyard Archivist for the ancient parish of All Saints’ Fawley a great friend of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. He did crew racing yachts, s o m e t i m e s with his step father Air Commodore P a d d y Quinnell, but it was not his favourite form of sailing. He kept very detailed logs, starting in 1960 of his sailing trips. His logs are Gilly Drummond, with Maldwin’s post humous award from the America’s Cup Hall of Fame, the Sir Richard Francis Sutton Medal
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