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RICHARDWritten by his brother David Warren-Smith

Richard was enjoying his Christmas holiday break in Grahamstown,South Africa at the end of 2012 on his usual walk into the town, whenhe was attacked by two African boys on his way back to the B & Bwhere he was staying.

Ever since our school days at St Andrews College, Grahamstown,where we were expected to do four significant sports every week, Rich-ard had kept himself fit. Later in life he made a practice of going for anearly morning swim before going to work. He kept this up well into his80,s. The fittest man in the town I heard one man say when I visitedhim in Gweru in October 2005. Eventually the water in the municipalswimming bath turned green through lack of maintenance and the mon-ey to keep the filtration system operating and he had to stop.

Richard and I were born in Bombay (now Mumbai), India where Dad,Reginald Douglas, known to all his friends as R D, had a job as the sec-retary of a steel company. Our mother Doris Helen had completed hermedical training and internship and a post graduate diploma in health,when she and Dad decided to get married and move to India, where Dadintended to make his fortune. If you could earn £1000 a year you wereconsidered well off in those days.

There were no schools for young British children in India in the daysbefore World War II. So we were moved back to England and sent to aschool that accepted young children at Highlands, Peppard Common,Oxfordshire. In the holiday periods we stayed with our grandparents onour Mother’s side of the family. Our Dad’s father, a ships chandler,whose shop was situated on the river Severn, died when our Dad wasstill a boy and he had to go to work at the Post Office to earn the keepfor his Mother and younger brother and sister.

When the war broke out our parents returned to England and Richardand I accompanied by our Mother emigrated to South Africa. Dad wentback to India to continue his job. Our mother followed later after we

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were boarded at St Andrews preparatory school in Grahamstown. Ourship, the SS Mantola, the smallest ship in the convoy sailed right acrossthe Atlantic to near Newfoundland to escape the German U-boats, be-fore we left the convoy and sailed south to Cape Town in South Africa.The family was later reunited after the war when we were at St An-drews College and we had a few years living together in Grahamstown.

At each of the schools we went to, I saw very little of Richard. He wastwo an a half years older than me and it was not done for older boys toassociate with younger boys. However, I can remember Richard look-ing after me when I was a small child. The photos on Page 3 show Ri-chard and I playing on a beach in India and on our Dad’s sailing yacht.

When Richard left school he took a degree in economics at Rhodes Uni-versity, Grahamstown. The photo on Page 5, shows Richard in his grad-uation gown after he received his degree. Richard took a job as anewspaper reporter but subsequently decided to continue with a legaldegree. I am not sure how far that went but he eventually joined thepublic service in Southern Rhodesia as it was called.

When we were still at school we used to hitch hike around South Afri-ca. We made two trips together that I can remember. We hitch hiked toa hilly region with a third boy but the name of the region escapes me atthe moment. We hiked up a mountain until the mist engulfed us and wehad to descend to find out where we were and find our way back towhere we had camped. The other hitch hiking trip was from Graham-stown to Johannesburg and back. We had various adventures along theway. Fortunately we survived to tell the tale. We did these trips withvery little money so quite impossible to do anything like that again.

I can remember that Richard made a number of trips to Europe. He hadmet a German man that invited him to come to Germany. He mademore than one trip there in his holiday breaks. Whilst there he learnedto speak German and eventually he could read German books fluently.He also visited Holland and met a Dutch girl that he might have mar-ried, Helene (Lene) De Bruin. Something went wrong and a marriagenever took place. I suspect they had difficulties with language. Thismay have been the reason Richard studied languages. She is believed to

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Playing at a beach in Bombay in our topees. Richard is on the right.

On our Dad’s sailing ship with Indian crew getting an experience of thecommodore's racing yacht, Royal Bombay Yacht Club.

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have later mar-ried a Germanman and lived inPort Elizabeth.

In his last fewyears he startedto learn to speakFrench but hedid not acquirethe same degreeof fluency withthat language.

In later life Ri-chard regrettednot having mar-ried. It is ourchoices, withopportunities ofrisk and rewardthat determinesour destiny.

So his final tripto Grahamstownended his life.When the Afri-can boys attacked Richard a man, luckily a security man, came to hisrescue on hearing Richard’s cries for help. The man helped Richard upand then chased after his assailants. He caught one of them but the othergot away. He accompanied Richard to the police station to report theincident. Presumable the one that got away was the one that had rippedoff the pocket of Richard’s jacket with the wallet. The doctor in Gra-hamstown concluded that Richard had not been seriously hurt but hecould not have been more wrong. Richard only just had the strength toget back to Gweru on his return flight, where he was immediatelyplaced in the Midlands hospital before he could see his home again.

Richard on the left and myself as young men in thecountryside in South Africa.

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I enquired from the lady that runs the B & B where Richard was holi-daying, Mrs Dorothy Richardson, Tipuana B & B, 3 Hellier St. Gra-hamstown, what had happened to the two African boys. She said thatbecause Richard was not able to attend the prosecution, the case wouldnot be pursued. That seemed a bit casual to me. The fate of the two Af-rican boys will remain a mystery. Dorothy was a good friend.

Richard had various problems after the attack and never fully recov-ered. He made trips to hospitals in Gweru, Bulawayo and Harare. Thedoctors in Gweru eventually gave up trying to help Richard and he wentto the Avenue Clinic in Harare. The doctor there claimed to have dis-covered the cause of all the problems but the operation he performedevidently only provided little relief and Richard continued to worsenuntil he died at the Dandaro Clinic, Harare on Sunday 4 August, 2013.Richard was just five days short of his 85th birthday when he died.

Richard in his graduation gown after receiving the degree of B.Econ.(P.A.) Degree of the University of South Africa (With distinction inEconomics). Part of Grahamstown can be seen in the background.

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Richard on the right and myself at Tipuana B & B in Grahamstown,South Africa, Christmas 2010. Swimming pool in the backgroundwhere Richard got his early morning swim.

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Richard in younger days.

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I was unable to talk to Richard during the last few weeks of his life, hesimply just wanted to sleep and his voice got weaker and weaker.

I would like to thank Mr and Mrs Burger for helping Richard during hisstay in Harare hospitals. Kerry and Leon made great sacrifices to theirbusy lives to ensure that Richard was comfortable and that his medicalexpenses were paid so that he could get the prescribed treatments.

I would also like to thank Mrs Isabel Valdal, who employed Richard asbook keeper and paymaster for her company over many years after hewas required to retire from his public service job. Isabel has made surethat Richard’s house has been kept secure and Richard’s maid was paidand there was money for electricity whilst Richard was going from hos-pital to hospital.

I would also like to thank the driver, Derek, who accompanied Richardon many trips firstly to fetch his Japanese Internet purchased car, a Nis-san March, from Bait Bridge and afterwards to take him to and from theairport and to and from hospitals in the car. Richard and Derek shared ahotel room on more than one occasion when they were away fromGweru. Richard has a lot to thank Derek for.

I would also like to thank Pastor Pieter Albasini for his friendship withRichard after Richard went to his church. I don’t know the full detailsof Richard’s church going but I seem to remember him saying that hehad enjoyed going to another church and speaking to the pastor. I ac-companied Richard to church when I visited him in Gweru in 2005 andwhen we had a holiday in Grahamstown in 2010 and enjoyed meetinghis friends and acquaintance's.

Best regards to all, David

David Noel Warren-Smith, Msc.19 Barton RoadElizabeth DownsSouth Australia, 5113

Phone: 618 8255 2953 4 September, 2013