James Baxendale
We are sorry to announce that James Baxendale has passed away. The following obituary is courtesy of his family.
James William Baxendale (Jim) was born in what is now Snedshill, Shropshire. His father and grandfather were both brickmakers. He was an only child, and the family kept donkeys which he used to ride. This left him with a lifelong affection for donkeys. He went to Old Hall School in Wellington as a day student and then moved to St Edward’s school Oxford as a boarder. The food at St Edwards was scarce due to the war. One morning he was so disgusted by the paucity of his breakfast that he posted his piece of bacon back to his parents so that they could see how small it was!
When Jim was only 14, his father died. He had been building an extension to the house at the time, and Jim decided to complete it – which he did, even being only 14, demonstrating his determination.
After school Jim went on to study Classics at Trinity Hall (1948-1951). When he wasn’t studying, he used to enjoy cycling along the backs.
He was then called up to do National Service and was in the Royal Corps of Signals at Catterick. He attained the rank of Second Lieutenant. His squadron commander Major J K Brown described him as “a good officer who inspired the men under his command.” and he considered this his greatest achievement. His other roles in the army included being a defending officer at Court Marshals which he enjoyed. He was 2nd in command of regimental shooting and taught Bren Gun, 303 rifle and Sten Gun. He came out top on the regimental funds and accounts course and was immediately made officer’s mess secretary where he had to decide menus.
Once his service was completed, Jim took up a post as a Librarian second in command at Queen Elizabeth Medical Library in Birmingham. The library were on the lookout for someone with a knowledge of ancient Greek due to many medical terms being based on Greek. It was here that he met his wife Margaret (also a Librarian) and they married in 1959.
The couple bought a house in Walsall and had two children Rosemary and Michael.
Jim didn’t want to sit at a desk for his whole life and so decided to retrain. He became a Fire Insurance Surveyor. He started off in Employer’s Liability Insurance in Birmingham and then moved to Guardian Insurance as a Fire Surveyor, which was ideal for him. He could work from home some of the time and also spend a lot of time out and about visiting companies to assess the situations. He remained with the company until his early retirement in 1985.
In 1971 they had moved to Snedshill (Priorslee as it was then) to be nearer to his elderly mother. Jim designed the house using Rosemary’s Lego bricks, which he then had built for his family. He also made a full-sized sand yacht out of Meccano which he used to run along the Beach at Black Rock Sands, North Wales.
After retirement, Jim’s interest in Ancient Greek returned. The family went on two cruises on the Nile. Despite having worked outside academia, he decided to try his hand at writing an academic paper. It was about a statement that the historian Heroditus made about the ‘aurae’ or winds on the River Nile. The Trinity Hall Classics don advised him to offer it to the University of Amsterdam, where it was published in ‘Mnemosyne’. The University offered him membership of their editorial team, but he didn’t feel he was sufficiently qualified so turned it down. Prior to his submission of the paper, he was having trouble finding the right person to contact, and interestingly whilst on a Mediterranean cruise, he met a lady who just happened to know the person he needed to reach.
In later life, he was able to access the article on the internet – which delighted him immensely. In addition to the Nile cruises Jim and Margaret visited Wengen in Switzerland many times. When Margaret’s mobility and health declined, Jim and Rosemary looked after her and took on carers to help. She passed away in 2018. Jim eventually employed the carers to help look after him.
Jim himself had a series of health issues including a quadruple heart bypass, prostate cancer, a hip replacement and 3 strokes. The prostate cancer treatment was very successful although it caused some collateral damage. He was very resilient and always seemed to bounce back, but on 4th March at age 96 he passed away peacefully at Shrewsbury Hospital.
He was a sociable man who liked to talk to people and regale people with the stories of his life. An interesting character and a true gentleman. He will be sadly missed.