Harry was a much prayed for son who was born on the 7th January 2000. He came along at a healthy 10 lbs 2oz, and grew into a bright cheerful young man who had an inquisitive mind and not a hateful bone in his body. I can’t ever remember having cross-words or seeing him fight with his siblings’. I think Harry was rather like Eeyore; quiet and a bit lugubrious, but always able to listen to others and was someone that everybody liked, even if they didn’t quite understand him or his wry sense of humour and knowing smirk. When small, he once dug a large hole in the garden with the perfectly reasonable explanation that he intended to visit Australia.

Attempting to remove the wheels of the Land Rover at the age of three was perhaps a little too ambitious, as was his expedition to walk the five miles to see a friend. His mother Alice certainly didn’t need a ‘sat-nav’ in the car, as Harry would soon pipe-up from the back seat if she inadvertently took the wrong route in the intricate Cornish lanes when she took him to nursery-school or swimming lessons.

Being the only boy for three years in a class of girls at St Joseph’s in Launceston might have been daunting for some, but Harry took it all in his stride. On the suggestion by his parents that ‘passing exams’ might offer better career prospects than ‘stacking shelves’ in TESCO, he questioned sarcastically whether a private education would thus qualify him to stack shelves in Waitrose! Leaving the backwaters of Cornwall he excelled at Port Regis School in Dorset, winning a special ‘Headmasters Place’ at Winchester College after sitting their demanding election exam. As one of the oldest schools in the World, traditions, and a unique ‘language’ had to be learnt, but here his academic abilities became clear, as well as those in rowing, chess (he was runner-up in the West Country Schools Championship) and in ‘Killer Croquet’ where he ‘took no prisoners’, especially not oldies who thought they knew the game.

He started ‘mucking about in boats’ on the weed filled lake at Trecarrell Mill where at the age of about four he managed to paddle into the middle before losing the oars. He never became a fanatical lycra-clad sportsman; but Harry pulled his weight literally, and spent two spring holidays at the U.K’s. Olympic Rowing Training Centre inPortugal, ‘growing blisters’ and a sore bottom. I don’t think he ever forgave his parents for that, and preferred residence of the ‘sofa’ with his sister Matilda watching ‘QI’, ‘Taskmaster’ or playing numerous computer games creating and destroying empires. His literary tastes ranged from New Scientist to Private Eye, but he actually learned to read figuring out the instructions for his beloved Game-Boy, something that most mortals never read; so he was always on hand to sort out the technical floundering of the rest of the family.

Having received three good offers from universities, he settled on Physics with Astro-Physics at Exeter University, having previously taken part in the summer school for space-technology at Goonhilly Earth Station in West Cornwall, he was really quite a ‘geek’ in the nicest possible way. With a burgeoning space industry on the doorstep, and many other career prospects, he was planning on a Masters in Data Science. He was conscientious, and didn’t like to fail, so his results in January 2021 were devastating. Harry was a force for good, being so kind and thoughtful of others. His family will keep him in their hearts forever, and will try and follow his example in being better people themselves from now on; he really was a gift from God.

We all love you Harry and always will.

R.J.A.E.

March 2022