It is with regret that we have to announce the death of Berty Bowes who died peacefully at home after a short illness at the age of 76.

A man of great integrity, he had a varied career. After leaving Oakham School where his father, Bertie senior, was a revered and fondly remembered house-master, Berty, nicknamed after his father, attended Eastbourne College and was then commissioned from Sandhurst into The Royal Leicestershire Regiment in 1958; serving in the UK and Germany. He was subsequently seconded to the Sultan of Oman’s Armed Forces serving in Muscat, and then on to Aden having earlier qualified as an Arabic speaker. He later served in Zambia on secondment to the Zambian Army.

An excellent rifle shot, he was in the Sandhurst VIII, the Army 100 and in Zambia was awarded the medal as Champion Shot of the Zambian Army in 1966, for which the citation reads:-

The President’s Medal for the Champion Shot in the Zambia Army was introduced by President Kaunda in 1966, and Major Bowes was the first to win it. The competition was shot under exactly the same conditions as for the Queen’s Medal in the British Army rifle meeting at Bisley. It was a hotly contested competition as there were many Rhodesian, South African and European officers and senior NCOs still in the Zambia Army in 1966 and they took shooting very seriously. Major Bowes’ overall score would have placed him very high up in the British Army Hundred at Bisley, and it might even have been a winning score for the Queen’s Medal. He wears the medal with great pride.

Having met Sandra, the daughter of an officer also on secondment to the Zambian Army, they married in 1966. Shortly afterwards, he decided that other opportunities beckoned and having left the Army he became assistant manager, later manager, on a tobacco and maize farm. In 1969 he leased and later purchased his own farm subsequently purchasing two adjacent farms thus totalling 4800 acres. In 1975 he started a small beef herd which by 1981 had grown to over 600 head. Soya beans were later added as an annual crop.

Berty applied the meticulous precision he learned in the army in his approach to farming, and over a period of 15 years in the Mkushi farming district of Zambia, developed many of the skills required of a farmer, from crop rotation, land management, engineering, equipment husbandry and fixing farm machinery (all with the added challenge of shortages of spare parts), and of course man management and the welfare of his labour force. He continually developed the farm in many ways whilst ensuring the welfare of his African workers. 5 acres of Eucalyptus trees were planted per annum, a crop that was purchased by the Chinese investors in Zambia for bridge-building purposes. It was widely regarded that Berty ran one of the tightest ships in the district.

Latterly, Berty was elected the chairman of the Virginia Tobacco Growers Association of Zambia (VTAZ) owing in no small part to his meticulous approach and in depth knowledge gained over many years of first-hand experience on the subject.

However, in 1981 the farms were sold, he returned to live in the UK, by now with children Jamie and Helen. He returned to Zambia on occasions for consultancy purposes until finally emigrating from there in 1985. Returning home after a short consultancy in Saudi Arabia, he then from 1986/89 became Deputy County Secretary of the NFU in Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire, before becoming redundant due to re-organisation at regional level.

Following a period spent with a company building canal narrow boats, his career with the CLA started in 1991, where he was the Regional Secretary for Leicestershire, Warwickshire and Northamptonshire, until retiring at the age of 65.

In 2001 upon retirement, he divided his time as a toastmaster, duly becoming a fully qualified member of the National Association of Toastmasters, and working as Regional Manager (Midlands) for the Country Trust; a charity having a close association with the CLA and many of its members. Due to ill health he resigned from this latter post in 2005.

However, he was able to continue as a toastmaster in which role he was much in demand, until he felt that, whilst never idle, that it was time to lead a more leisurely life in the Leicestershire countryside which he and Sandra loved so much.

Sadly in May this year he was diagnosed with his third form of cancer with which he felt that this time had ‘hit the jackpot ‘ and which he did not manage to defeat. He died on 2th July surrounded by his family.

A Celebration of his Life was held on the 30th August 2013, which was very well attended, and contributed to by many, with tributes and eulogies from many friends from Africa, his Army days and also later careers with the CLA and Country Trust – it was truly a fitting send off for a fine man.

He leaves Sandra to whom he was devoted; Helen and her husband James, Jamie and his three sons, Oliver, William and AJ to all of whom we send our deepest sympathy and sincere condolences