Tributes to Anthony Lethbridge Poole

Citation

Gillett, A. (2002), "Tributes to Anthony Lethbridge Poole", Structural Survey, Vol. 20 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/ss.2002.11020eaf.001

Tributes to Anthony Lethbridge Poole

Tributes to Anthony Lethbridge Poole (1929-2001), Editor of Structural Survey, 1993-1998

From: Professor Alan Gillett DSc MA FRICS

I fear this is a very belated tribute to Tony’Poole but, if I have a reason, the delay is due to the undoubted fact that – like many of his friends – I cannot help the feeling that he is still around! He was a friend, guide, counsellor, adviser and, indeed, Third Surveyor to so many people in the surveying profession that it is so very hard to believe that he departed this life in the summer of last year. It was a dreadful shock when his daughter Victoria telephoned me to say that he had suffered a fatal heart attack the day before, in their flat, in Switzerland, where the family had been staying and could I pass the sad news on to his surveyor friends and in particular those in the Pyramus and Thisbe Club and in the structural surveying world?

I had seen Tony and his beloved wife Ann only two weeks earlier at the annual College of Estate Management reunion of Honorary Fellows and he had seemed in his usual enthusiastic and humorous frame of mind just as he always was at any surveyors' party. And this, I am sure, is how you will all remember him too.

An enthusiast in all manner of activities quite apart from those in which we surveyors knew him to be an expert – Party Walls and the "Art and Mysteries" of building surveying’– he was, in what spare time he had, an enthusiast in sailing and skiing where, I gather, his upright stance was perhaps "Old School" but effective. A particular enthusiasm was Mill Hill School, where he was a Governor for over 20 years and, needless to say, involved in the building and further development of the school in a professional and utterly selfless way. He had been President of the Old Millhillians and the large number of friends from the school who came to his funeral service at West Herts Crematorium testified to his love for the school and the gratitude that his colleagues had for his endeavours there.

Tony's surveying career spanned 50 years or so, starting with his family practice of Britton, Poole and Brown, where he undertook the professional work from the St John's Wood office, then Britton, Poole and Burns which was subsequently merged with Baxter, Payne and Lepper. Following the sale of that firm to the Nationwide Building Society he joined Malcolm Hollis, later joining the Surveyor Co-Partnership with Harry Scarfe and Scott Ingham with whom he was still a consultant when he died aged 72. He still had several Third Surveyorships in hand at the time and even now his widow Ann receives requests as to whether his name can be put forward in a Party Wall Award, such was his outstanding reputation in this field. His knowledge and experience, which were of the highest standard, led him to the Presidency of the Building Surveying Division and Chairman of the Pyramus and Thisbe Club as well as Vice-Chairman of the RICS Education Trust at the time of his death long after most members of his age would have hung up their "RICS boots". In his earlier years, at the time we first became firm friends, he was an active member and chairman of the Chartered Auctioneers junior members where he made lifelong friends such as Mike Bussey and Bill Bolt – all three having wives named Ann!

I shall always remember Tony as a staunch and loyal friend, a great debater on matters technical – especially in party wall debates at P&T meetings – with a mischievous sense of humour and an enthusiast in to whatever he turned his hand. He leaves behind Ann, who also came from a surveying family background, and with whom he had a long and happy marriage bringing up two sons, James and Tim, and daughter, Victoria, who carried on the family tradition of practising as a chartered surveyor and marrying one too. Tony was absolutely devoted to his grandchildren, the love for whom was, not surprisingly, returned in full measure by all his family as indeed it was by all his close friends, of whom I count myself fortunate to have been one.

Alan Gillett

From: Professor Malcolm Hollis BSc FRICS FBEng MCIArb MAE

What ho! Tony Poole's opening gambit is as much a memory of him as his staunch honesty and loyalty. Whether skiing in the mountains or walking in the hills, Tony was a companion whose company you sought. Tony was blunt at times but never devious, straight in opinion, but ready to debate and always with humour. Any heated disagreement died with the last words, closed as if a page had been turned for the usual smile and bonhomie to return. How I envied him.

I first spoke to Tony having rung up Britton’Poole and Burns in 1967. I needed help, and was amazed to get straight through to the senior partner, who when learning of my quest chatted and informed. The open exchange was a revelation because I never knew a junior could have access to the great. That open approach, treating all as equals, stayed with Tony for as long as I knew him. We were partners for six or seven years, working together and on opposite sides from time to time, but never once did he do anything which changed my love and admiration for him.

It is only after death that one reviews what one has lost, never giving accolade for the joys in life. Tony was the first Building Surveying Division President, the longest-serving president, local branch RICS chairman, served on the editorial board of Structural Survey from its inception and edited it for several years, but somehow those achievements, significant as they were, are dwarfed by the enthusiasm that Tony brought to life and the pleasure his company gave to others. Perhaps most I shall miss that tingle of anticipation that came whenever I heard, "What ho!"

Malcolm Hollis