Canon Noel Duckworth Memorial Event

Churchill’s first Chaplain Canon John Noel Duckworth was honoured at a memorial event on Saturday 23rd January 2010.

It was one of Noel Duckworth’s proudest moments to have officiated at the College Chapel’s opening in October 1967 so it was fitting to commence the evening with a service dedicated to his memory. In a crowded Chapel, Bishop John Gladwin (U61) said of him in his address:

‘A tiny man, with a massive voice and a huge heart who opened the door to a God whose strong and welcoming love seeks to win us all’.

Following the Service, College members and their guests assembled for a reception in the Wolfson foyer, where photographs and other memorabilia from the Canon’s life were on display. Michael Smyth (U67) gave a twenty minute illustrated talk on Noel’s life and achievements and concluded with a quote from Jack Hamilton: ‘Short of stature. Great of heart’.

Next, the Master welcomed nearly two hundred attendees to a formal dinner. Several speeches were made in honour of the Canon’s life. Archie Howie, President of the SCR, read his specially composed poem entitled ‘Cox and Canon’. Julian Filochowski (U66) recalled the Canon’s religious and pastoral work for members of the College. Graham Thomas (U62) described Noel’s efforts to try and make him and others into oarsmen, and presented a pair of oars, joined by a plaque, in Noel’s memory. This will be mounted in the buttery. Mr Fredrick Grounds, President of the Cambridgeshire Regimental Association, thanked the College on behalf of all those who had served with Padre Duckworth in the Regiment during the war, as well as demonstrating the impact of a powerful voice! Finally, after further formal and informal contributions, Kathy McCarthy (U83), the Canon’s great niece, thanked the College on behalf of the Duckworth family, six others of whom were present. She said:

‘As we have heard from a number of you tonight, Noel was an outstanding and extraordinary character throughout his life, with many achievements to his name. Most importantly, he was someone who made a difference to people in need, in circumstances which it is hard for us, who have not experienced them, to imagine. It is one of his many legacies, and why so many of us are gathered here today to celebrate his life thirty years after his death - and why I and his surviving family are so proud of his memory. Long may Noel be remembered’.

The Master then called on everyone to rise and proposed a toast to ‘The Canon’, which was responded to in resounding fashion.

Michael Smyth (U67)

Canon Noel Duckworth was one of those rare men who will always be remembered by everyone who ever met him. He had enormous charisma, great strength of will, but above all dedicated his life to the needs of others.

He was born in 1912 at Swinefleet, near Goole, where his father Peter Duckworth was Vicar. In 1931 he went to Jesus College, Cambridge, and here he came to prominence.

Only 5ft 6in tall, he had an ideal physique as cox for a rowing eight. What was more he could command and control its crew. In 1934 he coxed the winning Cambridge boat against Oxford, and repeated that feat in the next two years. In 1936 he coxed the British boat at the Munich Olympics, but unfortunately only finished fourth.

By 1936 he had completed two years at Ridley Hall, Cambridge, training for the ministry. Ordained later that year he went to the Church of the Transfiguration, Hull, as a young and enthusiastic curate. His energy was immediately apparent, attendance at services grew and various societies were revitalised.

Called up in 1939 as a territorial reserve officer he became Padre to the 2nd Battalion, the Cambridge Regiment. In January 1942 the Battalion was in Malaya, as part of a desperate struggle to hold back the invading Japanese. Overwhelmed by a superior enemy the British retreated. Canon Duckworth insisted on staying behind with a party of wounded, and he and they, against all odds, instead of being shot were taken prisoner.

Held in Pudu Gaol he defiantly stood up to his captors and was the saviour of many. Transferred to Singapore he was sent in 1943 to the infamous Burma Railway, or ‘railway of death’. There he tended to hundreds of soldiers dying disease and starvation. In a famous book about those terrible years it was written ‘Padre Noel Duckworth is a name which tens of thousands will remember till the day they die’.

After the war he spent much time comforting bereaved families of the Cambridgeshire regiment, and became Chaplain of St John’s College, Cambridge, in 1946. He then spent ten years in the Gold Coast from 1948 to 1958 helping to establish the first University in that country, now Ghana. Characteristically, he left an abiding legacy in his charitable work to set up free schooling for local children. He was made a Canon of Accra in 1955.

Returning to England he was appointed Chaplain at Pocklington School, near York, where he became renowned for his religious teaching and sermons. In January 1959 he starred as the subject of the famous BBC TV programme ‘This is your Life’.

In 1961 he joined the then newly founded Churchill College, Cambridge, where he remained as Chaplain until retirement 1973. It gave him an opportunity to give his all for yet another generation of students and colleagues.

He died on 24th November 1980, and at his funeral in Riccall it was said ‘he bore all the hallmarks of a 20th Century Saint’. He lies alongside his sister and parents at the Church.

Michael Smyth (U67)