Major Julian Pollard

Obituary for Major Julian Pollard

Jules joined the Regiment and the 1st Battalion in 1979 from Rugby School and from a Regimental family. His leave from Sandhurst was shortened, and he sped to Germany, to be dined in on the same occasion as his father, the Commanding Officer, was dined out.

Jules was often known in the Regiment as Polaris, a good nick name, comforting to have on your side, but to be deployed with great care. An irrepressible personality, with an ungovernable joie de vivre, if Jules was there, the day and the duty was going to be great fun – and probably very noisy as well.

His brilliance with people was a part of his success as a young officer. He was passionate about his soldiers, and loved soldiering, and soldiering with them. He served with the Regiment and the Army for almost 15 years. Initially as a rifle platoon commander in C Company in Celle, then in Northern Ireland and in Belize, where latterly he was 2IC of B Company. He was then an instructor at Depot Queen’s Division before returning to the 1st Battalion in Londonderry as B Company’s Operations Officer, and later as the Battalion Operations Officer. He was Adjutant of the 7th Battalion in Leicester. His appointment on the staff was as SO3 Intelligence in HQ 19 Infantry Brigade in Colchester. Returning to the 1st Battalion in 1993 he was OC C Company and OC HQ Company before retiring in 1994.

Jules was everything a great young Officer should be – and his soldiers adored him for it. There was a job to be done well, and he always did it well, but there was also fun to be had, and everybody got a share of the noisy fallout – whether they wanted it or not.

He was a remarkable all round sportsman and fine shot. Rugby, Athletics and sometimes Cricket. He took his rugby seriously and loved it. He led Regimental Rugby, playing for the Infantry and led the Depot’s Rugby side to become the Minor Unit Army Champions – no mean achievement. While Adjutant he played for Stoneygate RFC, reaching the final of the Leicestershire inter-club competition, playing at Leicester Tigers’ ground at Welford Road. Jules was probably the best the Rugby player the Regiment had since 2Lt Colin Simpson of the 1st Bn who played for England.

Regimental life was a deal quieter and a lot less fun after Jules left. In civilian life he worked for the Iceland retail Company, and jointly ran the Trampled Underfoot trampoline company. In 2012 he cofounded Scarlett and Mustard. Jules was happiest surrounded by his beloved family, and many, many friends. At the party after the Service of Thanksgiving for Jules’s life, Sandy produced a limited edition Scarlet and Mustard product line, pots of Colonel Mustards’s Honey Mustard, and on the back label were listed: Ingredients kindness, generosity, passion, humour, loyalty, love, impatience, enthusiasm, laughter, decency, noise, romance. Allergens The EU, beetroot, goat’s cheese, boats, snobbiness, technology, left wing cakes, bureaucracy, pettiness, public transport, health and safety.

RCJG