My father, Maurice Bound, who has died aged 103, decided on a career in teaching because he was inspired by a great teacher from his own schooldays.
Maurice was evidently a good teacher himself, because in 1958 he was asked to become head of a new secondary modern school in Baughurst, Hampshire. The Hurst had many pupils from families who worked at the newly opened Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston. It was the time of the cold war, and Maurice became involved in the Civil Defence Corps – a civilian volunteer force established to assist in the event of a national emergency – in the nearby village of Tadley.
Born in Southampton, Maurice was the son of Julia (nee Masters) and Percy Bound. His father worked for the grocery wholesalers Misselbrook & Weston and later set up his own grocery business. Maurice studied chemistry at Southampton University and in 1937 took up a teaching post at Ermysted’s grammar school in Skipton, North Yorkshire. At Skipton Amateur Operatic Society he met Joan Williamson. They married in 1939, just before the outbreak of the second world war. They went on to have a daughter and three sons, and to foster two boys, Gordon and Trevor, for a number of years.
Although Maurice was in a reserved occupation during the war, he and Joan operated an air raid information centre in Skipton – mainly because they had a telephone in their house. During the early part of the war, Maurice worked for Rolls-Royce as a quality control manager, overseeing production of some of the new Merlin engines. By 1943 he was in the RAF Volunteer Reserve (administrative and special ops) and was posted to Egypt. On the way there, his ship was torpedoed. Maurice survived and became a member of a bomb disposal group in the northern desert.
Demobbed in 1946, he returned to teaching, first in Skipton, later in Skegness, and then in Braunton, Devon.
After 14 years at the Hurst, Maurice retired in 1972. He then spent three years as vice-principal of a secondary school in Maiduguri, northern Nigeria. For 50 years, he was a lay preacher for United Reformed and Methodist churches, and stepped down from that only last year. His faith gave him great strength throughout his life.
On their return from Nigeria in 1975, Maurice and Joan settled a few miles from Baughurst in the village of Silchester, where Maurice became treasurer of the local Roman museum. Later they returned to Tadley, and spent time with their extended family. After Joan’s death in 2003, Maurice continued his work with the church and museum, and remained fiercely independent. He celebrated his 100th birthday in style with a party at the local golf club, which he organised himself.
Maurice is survived by his daughter, Angela, his three sons, Michael, Jonathan and me, six grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
