Edward Bostock (1908 - 2006)

Educated at St Andrews, East Grinstead, Sussex, and Charterhouse School, Godalming, Surrey.
MA from Queens College, Oxford in History.
Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

A partner, in Annan Dexter & Co, Chartered Accountants in the City of London, from 1934 until retirement in 1978, being senior partner from 1961.

Member of the City of London Special Constabulary 1935 - 1941, in the Civil Defence from 1940, and a district warden 1943 - 1945.

Councillor for Twickenham, Middx from 1947, and alderman from 1955, deputy mayor 1957-1958, and mayor 1959 - 1960. Chairman of several committees including finance, housing, and education.

An active chairman and then president of Twickenham, and then Richmond upon Thames Arts Council for many years.

President of the Teddington Division of St John's Brigade.

Obituary

Edward Bostock CBE, who has died aged 97, was a well-known and revered resident of the borough for almost 70 years.

His life was characterised by service to others from a fundamental well of generosity and kindness.

Born in Hampstead and educated at Charterhouse and Oxford, where he met his wife Alice, Edward was dissuaded from his first aspiration, to become a commercial artist, and made his career as a chartered accountant with the family firm in the City of London.

During the war he joined the City's special constabulary where he enjoyed holding up the traffic.

Later, on moving to Norfolk Lodge in Teddington, he joined the Civil Defence, and became a familiar figure as the district warden.

Firewatching night after night, he followed advice to always take brandy to an incident, "not for the victims - you'll need it yourself".

The hostilities over, and the task of single-handedly digging out a swimming pool in his garden completed, Edward turned his attention and energies to politics.

His decision not to stand for election to the Corporation of the City of London was a stroke of good fortune for the then Borough of Twickenham.

In 1948 he was elected to the council and began a 20-year career in local politics, culminating in becoming an alderman in 1955 and, finally, mayor of Twickenham 1959/60.

He and his mayoress Alice became a familar sight as he drove his open top sports car to civic functions with the mace-bearer squeezed into the back. During his mayoral year he visited every school in the borough, and also pulled the first pint at the rebuilt Pope's Grotto. Good humour and a sense of fun went everywhere with him, along with the red carnation in his lapel.

The arts beckoned Edward in the next distinguished phase of his life with an invitation in 1970 to chair Richmond upon Thames Arts Council (RuTAC), where over the next 12 years he introduced many new projects and policies to promote the arts everywhere throughout the borough.

He became RuTAC president in 1982 and later president emeritus. He was also president or patron of numerous local societies, including Teddington Theatre Club, Teddington Choral Society and Gemini Opera.

In particular his involvement in the annual Richmond Music Festival from the late 1960s brought out his enduring support for young talent, allowing his home to be used for workshops and attending all the concerts.

He took great delight in sitting on the door, welcoming the young performers and taking money from their parents, which he tended to count noisily during the more boring interludes. And he was as generous with his sponsorship as his time.

Along the way he found time to become a founding trustee of The Temple Trust (which initiated the recent restoration of Garrick's Temple to Shakespeare at Hampton riverside) and, as an accomplished gardener, to propagate hundreds of seedlings every year for sale in aid of RuTAC. He also gave a plot of land from his garden to St John Ambulance, where their local HQ is still to be found in Park Road, Teddington.

In 1997 the borough showed its gratitude for Edward's unstinting service with the presentation of a tree and a bench in his honour.

The tree flourishes in York House gardens and the bench was installed in Richmond's Terrace Gardens, where every summer Edward would hold 'open house' for his many friends.

He was one of those rare people who didn't pretend but really did give you his full attention; he was a good listener. Over the past three years Edward had been relinquishing many of his roles.

Xmas card 2005

When Edward was disabled by strokes, from the end of October 2004, I decided to continue his tradition of sending out a picture montage Xmas card, on his behalf, having a broad collection of photographs from which to choose. These pictures provide a pictorial resume of his life, and are reproduced here. Click the picture for a full screen version.