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Written by:
Kathryn Martin-Chambers
Posted:
09 Dec 2020

The College is sorry to announce the death of Graham Howes (1938-2020), alumnus and Emeritus Fellow, on 8 December.

Graham was born and brought up in Norfolk, and was always proud of his Norfolk antecedents. After national service in military intelligence in Cyprus, he entered the Hall in 1959 to study English, with the encouragement of Graham Storey, but switched to History. He used to speak fondly of being taught by Geoffrey Best, Fellow in History, and John Nurser, Dean and Fellow. He stayed on to pursue graduate study under the supervision of Owen Chadwick, former Dean, but was elected a Fellow in 1967 and taught Social and Political Studies at the College for thirty-seven years until his retirement in 2004. Graham poured his immense intellectual sympathies into his teaching. His colleagues and former students will remember the extraordinary circle of acquaintance he had. In the 1980s he worked alongside Archbishop Robert Runcie (another former Dean) as a speech-writer and consultant, and was involved in the research for the controversial Faith in the City report of 1985. Latterly as an Emeritus Fellow, and living in Cambridge with his wife Shirley, he retained a tremendous affection for the Hall and was regularly in College for social occasions and High Table. He will be missed very much by friends and colleagues, and our condolences go to Shirley and family.