Major P.A.V. Biddulph (FN 45-49) died on the 21st July 2008. The following appreciation was written by a close friend:

“Patrick was a few months older than I. We met at 17. My father who was a Governor of St. Bees School had befriended Patrick, who came to our house for conversation, tea and sympathy, or was it to smoke fairly often? When our different school terms permitted, this very tall young man in his school regulation shorts and I would meet. About that time we must both have decided that the Regular Army was a better bet than National Service. I have no memory about our Regular Commissions Board, but if we were at the same one, we were successful. Patrick then spent some months with an expedition in Canada with the British Schools Exploring Society. In order to have some idea of army life, we had to join army units for 6 months, where among other things they filled one up with a cocktail of immunisation. When Patrick saw the needle he passed out. The MO seizing his opportunity gave him his shots while out for the count. At Sandhurst we were in the same College but not the same Company. Perhaps our paths crossed, but clearly he had a mathematical bent, could use a slide rule, and therefore was destined to follow earlier generations of Biddulphs into the Gunners. Our claim to fame arises out of the death of King George VI. Because our passing out parade was cancelled in 1952, at a special parade we returned to Sandhurst to march up the Old College steps in 2002, some 50 years later. This is an honour accorded to those passing out of Sandhurst.

After Sandhurst we parted but re-met at the Royal Military College of Science, where we achieved London University External degrees at about the same time. Most of this time we led separate lives, being housed in different Officers’ Messes and following different courses. I did straight civil engineering while Patrick chose a mixture of heat, power, electricity, and electronics within the Engineering discipline and no doubt did a lot of mathematics; not exactly what a Gunner needs to know but very relevant to his later career. While at Shrivenharn he became engaged to Janet and their wedding, at which I was Best Man, took place near Dorking on 28th July 1954. In those days there were no stag nights, it was the function of the Best Man to have a few drinks with the Groom and ensure that he got to the church. I did that, but in going out to a nearby pub, we set off the Hotel's intruder alarm and when we got back the police had arrived! We graduated in 1955 and went our separate ways, Patrick to Larkhill to learn gunnery things followed by stints in Berlin, Larkhill again, Aden and Germany. Susanna was born near the family home at Biddulph in 1955 during one of their stays in England. Over the next few years Patrick became more of a boffin and less concerned with advancing in the military system. Thus instead of Staff College, he went back to Shrivenham and became qualified as a Technical Staff Officer. In the 1970s he was at Fort Halstead - involved with development of the Blowpipe shoulder-launched missile system. He also worked in London as a Technical Staff Officer at the Ministry of Defence. Between 1975 and 1985 he worked in Malvern at The Royal Radar Establishment, where further development on the Blowpipe was done prior to the Falklands' Campaign.

Patrick retired from the Army in 1985 as a Major after a wide ranging Technical career. For the next two years he worked for BAE Stevenage on the development of the Rapier Missile. During his remaining years he followed a number of activities that interested him. He was actively involved in the local amateur dramatic society, the Bosbury Players, making scenery and setting up lighting: eventually he became the Treasurer. Some twelve years ago he attended courses to become a silversmith and made bracelets for his two granddaughters, Frances and Charlotte. His other cultural activity was NADFAS, and he was until recently the Malvern Membership Secretary.

Patrick was a likeable, steady, dependable man with a dry sense of humour. He was an essential part of the military machine, which retained a whole range of knowledgeable officers whose expertise was needed. He had a strong sense of family and was interested in their activities. He was very much a 'behind the scenes person' although he enjoyed mixing with his friends, which later he found difficult due to his deafness, no doubt brought about by gunnery without ear protectors. He was said to have been a real ‘gentleman’, and without knowing his history he might have been thought to have been unremarkable. It is sad that he had such a painful death. He will be missed by the friends he made in his many activities, but particularly by Janet and his family.”

The St. Beghian Society,
St. Bees School, St. Bees, Cumbria, CA27 0DS
Tel: 01946 828093
osb@st-bees-school.co.uk