Members of The NSW Branch of The Richard III Society were saddened to hear of the passing of long time member Harold Bruce Cadell.

A funeral service in thanksgiving for the life of Harold was held at Harold’s parish church, the beautiful St John‘s Anglican Church, Darlinghurst, on Tuesday, 15th May 2012, and was attended by members of the various groups with whom Harold was affiliated over the course of his long life, including several current members of the NSW Branch of the Richard III Society.

It was a beautiful service and fitting for such a quiet, generous and gentle man. The minister conducting the service spoke warmly and well of Harold, the Christian gentleman , who had been such a loyal and well loved member of the parish community for many years and one whom he obviously knew well. The eulogy was given by a long time friend and work colleague, from whom we learnt so much of the working and social life and success of Harold. It was a beautiful classical Anglican Service and was organised at the behest of the trust company, who handled Harold’s estate.

We were quite chuffed when we were talking to the representative of the trust company at the wake, after explaining who we were, and she said: “ Ah yes, Richard III. I know from Harold how badly maligned he was by those Tudors. ”

Two members of our branch, who probably had known Harold the longest were unfortunately unable to attend.  They had suggested that white roses (for the House of York) should be included as they were so close to Harold’s heart. Thus two beautiful sprays of white roses were brought into the church and placed strategically on either side of the coffin. Unfortunately they had been initially forgotten and so those two sprays of white roses were all that could be hastily collected at the last minute from a quick run around the various florists in the area. Our thanks go to the organisers for so quickly and unobtrusively rectifying this oversight. White roses were then handed out to the congregation at the close of prayers around the coffin as it lay in the hearse prior to departure.

We then went across the road to a lovely intimate little café for the wake, where we were plied with copious platters of scrumptious sandwiches, savouries, desserts and tea and coffee. It was all done so beautifully, white table cloths, silver service, white crockery, that Harold – the epitome of fine dining and good taste (those of us who were his guests at lunches can attest) – would have approved.

It was here that we learnt complementary facts concerning Harold’s very active and interesting life. Apparently he began work at the Maritime Services Board as a very junior clerk at the age of 15 in 1935 and worked his way through the ranks to become Secretary of the Board for several years prior to his retirement, which occurred over 45 years later. The words constantly used in reference to Harold were integrity, sincerity, principled, unassuming, generous, kind, unaffected, loyal, steadfast and uncomplicated – all of with which we of the RIII Society who knew him so well concur.

Until recently, he had been a full member of the Society and used to anticipate with hardly concealed impatience the arrival of his quarterly Ricardian Bulletin and the Ricardian and the Chronicles of The White Rose. He used to attend meetings and social events regularly and warmly admitted his debt of gratitude to members for their kindness in keeping him in the loop and informing him of current branch news. Many of us were the recipients of his gracious thank you notes in his beautiful copperplate script. He truly was a man for others.  It was a privilege and a pleasure to know him.

In later years he used meet up with branch members to escort them to the church services for Bosworth Memorial Service or Queen Anne’s demise before enjoying lunch with many other members at a favourite Italian restaurant nearby. Harold always used to congratulate the staff on the fine food and the service and express his gratitude for their providing us with such a good open private room for our functions and ensure we left a suitable tip.

It wasn’t long after this that we learnt that, regrettably, he had had to go into care since he’d had several bad falls in the street.

He will be sadly missed by all of us who knew him.

R.I.P.

Tags: NSW Branch