I was 5 and Clive 4 when we shared a bedroom together in officers quarters close to Catterick Army camp in North Yorkshire 1944. I was evacuated to his parent’s home with aunty Rosalina who in the language of the day, was blind, deaf, dumb, and bedridden from adolescent meningitis, in a wartime ambulance with voluntary drivers.
I retain only a few memories of our time together, with the most vivid running through a cornfield which was higher than him on our way to church with his mother and two of the other three aunties who travelled separately by train.
I saw Clive again immediately after the war when his father was stationed at Aldershot. His father took both of us for a meal in a hotel, my first experience of having a meal in a restaurant. We had brown Windsor soup and chicken Vol-au-Vent which both of us did not like as we had never experienced before, meriting a reprimand about other people starving and wasting good money.
I went to stay with Clive and his mother when they first went to live in Folkstone and his father was again away serving in Hong Kong. I had left school and was working in the Finance
Department of a County Council. Clive was studying to become a draftsman.
I was an enthusiast of traditional jazz and blues at the time and Clive had acquired the first Elvis Presley long play which was played all day and night until his mother said stop.
The two had returned from Germany where his father had been part of the British Army of Occupation. Clive had attended at least ten different schools, and his mother was greatly affected by the devastation and poverty of the German civilian population and their plight.
Given his experience as a war time baby and then then his nomadic life as a school boy in a foreign land, it is remarkable what he then achieved in his working life. I remember that he put off retiring from the manufacturing company he had come to wholly own in order to ensure the future of the workforce.
Over the past year we communicated more than previously sharing news of how our respective lives were affected by physical health challenges and concern that our children and their children were facing just as much danger, challengers and uncertainty about their future than our parents had faced, and when as children we had not understood and therefore appreciated.
The eldest of our seventeen first cousins, Albert, who had worked for the Dock Police in the family homeland of Gibraltar, was the first to die in a Japanese Prisoner of War in Borneo, buried in a British maintained war grave, the telegram arriving as the war in Europe ended. Now there are only a handful of us left, the eldest approaching 100 years.
Clive’ maternal great grandfather was born in Calne, Wilshire, the fourth of five sons born in succession after seven daughters born in succession, including one set of twins, joined the British Army not declaring in actual age and when stationed in Gibraltar and extraordinarily allowed by the army to marry a Spanish Citizen of Ginos ethnicity, whose father is said to have owned or managed a riding school of show horses.
Our maternal grandfather was born in Gibraltar a full year after the marriage in the Catholic Cathedral. He also married into a Spanish catholic family and first worked as a foreman for the British Navy in maintaining its Ordinance.
He then worked as a civilian accounts clerk for the British army in Gibraltar and struggled to provide for their eleven children, the first born in the 19th century, the youngest Ethel, the first to die, from tuberculosis just days before cousin Albert.
Ethel contracted the disease when training to become a nurse, her fiancée, having disappeared when training to become a doctor in Madrid during the Spanish Civil War, with its echoes of Dr Zhivago.
In our universe of unlimited space and measurable time, with no beginning and no end, it is important to remember that everything we say and do lives for eternity with those we say and do, and is passed from each human generation to the next.
Tribute from: Colin Smart
Taken on a happy occasion about 10 years ago.
RIP dear dear Clive. I will miss your many kindnesses particularly to Nigel when he was dying.
I will miss our many happy lunches and suppers full of laughter and good red wine. And our many chats about life.
An extraordinary man it was my privilege to know. X
Best wishes
Nikki Griffith
Clive was a natural leader, whose personality was leavened by a dry wit with an underlying kindness and empathy.
In recent years, my late Jean and me really looked forward to New Year’s Day lunch with our genial hosts and friends Clive and Trisha.
Clive was a man of substance who will be long remembered.
I am proud to have known him as a friend.
Best wishes
Graham Phillips
Peter and I were so terribly sad and sorry to hear this very sad news that your lovely Clive has died... so, so sorry.
Both Miles and Tony were tremendously sad to hear this news.
I can only say as comfort to you all, that everyone I have spoken to, and we both agree, have said what a lovely and charming man he was.
Much love and sincere condolences.
Best wishes
Lois and Peter
Such a pleasure to see the photos. Clive was my cherished friend for over 70 years. He actually lived with us in the 50s and 60s and my Mum, Dad and my sister grew very fond of him. I shall miss him so much.
Best wishes
Tony Hall
Clive was such a nice person to be with.
He made conversation easily and made one feel relaxed in his company.
He was a true gentleman.
Best wishes
Janet Writer
Peter Hopkins and I ( Barb) have known Clive for a lifetime! Peter went to school with him at 11 and stayed close friends over the years!
I remember him as a kind man with a great sense of humour and a man of music!! Music of all kinds!!
Eddie came to know Clive later and considered him a friend with great stories to tell. Clive You will
Peter Hopkins and I ( Barb) have known Clive for a lifetime! Peter went to school with him at 11 and stayed close friends over the years!
I remember him as a kind man with a great sense of humour and a man of music!! Music of all kinds!!
Eddie came to know Clive later and considered him a friend with great stories to tell. Clive You will be so missed ! There will be an empty place without you !
Our love follows you.
Barb and Eddie
We will always remember Clive's smile and laughter wherever he went. And always a good story to tell as well.
The photo shows Clive in the background with my dad (Geoffrey) on the right and Robin on the left. On the sofa, my mum (Pam) with her nieces Joan and Trisha.
I believe certain quantities of gin & tonic and brandy helped with the g
We will always remember Clive's smile and laughter wherever he went. And always a good story to tell as well.
The photo shows Clive in the background with my dad (Geoffrey) on the right and Robin on the left. On the sofa, my mum (Pam) with her nieces Joan and Trisha.
I believe certain quantities of gin & tonic and brandy helped with the giggles and laughter to flow along ...
In our thoughts,
Nicholas & Jane
Most people are lucky enough to have grounded and caring parents in their lives. I’ve been beyond lucky - I’ve had two sets: Mum and Dad, and Clive and Trish.
I can honestly say I wouldn’t be the man or father I am today without all of them. My Dad taught me unshakeable resilience. My Mum, unwavering compassion. Trisha, pure care. And Clive - he showed me immense strength and the true value of friendship.
Growing up, the sound of laughter, great banter, and the clinking of glasses at dinner parties hosted by Mum and Dad, Clive and Trisha, Roger and Gill, Nikki and Nigel, and others filled our homes. Those joyful memories - of togetherness, warmth, and love - will stay with me forever.
Family is family, and friends become family too. Each one shapes us and helps build the stories of our lives. Clive has been a central part of mine. A foundation. A constant.
I’ll love him for the rest of my life and feel truly blessed to have shared such a special time with him, Trisha, and Jonathan in his final days.
Safe passage to the next plane, Pops 2.0. You will always be loved and missed in equal measure.
Until we meet again. With love, Nick xxxxxxx
What very sad news and I am very sorry indeed for not being able to join you on Saturday for a most appropriate. celebration of a life well led by such a good man.
He was actually my father's (George Bacon elder) cousin albeit some years apart but, my memory of Clive and his family was initially seeded by the friendship shown to me, as a very young boy, by Clive's father Bert. He rescued me every Christmas from the total confusion I endured by the many relatives who I didn't really know or understand, reuniting and speaking loudly and vividly in Spanish, whilst I played alone behind the sofa!
Bert's wife Emily and my own father and mother (who being Irish didn't know any Spanish either) loved all those occasions and Emily's flambuoyant nature remained equally deeply in my memory!
So Clive was very important and kind to me in helping keep the links back to my own family roots in Gibraltar...something it was lovely to share again with Melanie and Molly-Anne just last weekend with my own wife Melanie.
I wish, as many of us may also be considering, to have seen much more of him but, I have to say in my own defence that many of my passing calls, as we swept past on our way back to Germany or France, were often met with a modest sigh that he was still negotiating the 9th hole!
The latter years were sadly more focussed on our latest personal bladder performance than any sport but, was in an equally amusing manner.
So, may he rest in peace, still very much a feature in all our lives, whilst he tees off on whole new course.
George Bacon - Grandson of Adelina Smart (sister of Emily)