Alexander 'David' Mure, Gibbs' 1930-1934 (July 2020)

David Mure with Dog

David Mure was born on 27 December 1916 and died on 1 July 2020, aged 103. David was educated at Lancing then aged nineteen went on to Hertford College, Oxford to read Agriculture and then to the Royal Agricultural College. His first job was as an assistant land agent on the Petworth Estate. He joined the TA in 1937 and was called up on 1 September 1939, the first day of the War. He recalled a holiday in Munich in 1937 when he saw the Hitler Youth strutting about in uniforms and jack boots and being reprimanded by them for not taking off his hat at the cenotaph. This memory stayed with him so that, despite being in a reserved occupation which meant he could have avoided service, his sense of duty to his country compelled him to sign up.

David went to France and Belgium as part of a British Expeditionary Force, BEF, in May 1940. By the age of 24 he was a platoon commander. He rarely spoke about his experience but it is fair to say he was in ‘the thick of it’, engaging with the enemy and luckily being just a few hours - and sometimes even minutes - behind the death and destruction that was the retreat to Dunkirk. Arriving at the beach with men picked up from other regiments, he saw ‘thousands and thousands lined up waiting’. He was fortunate to get his men onto ‘The Mole’ and then onto a tightly crammed cross-channel steamer, which later went aground and had to be towed off by a tug!

Afterwards he had home defence roles and then became Assistant Adjutant in the Irish Guards before being made up to Captain. He was demobbed in 1946 and went into farming with the Pym family at Barnfield and later on his own at Pevington Farm where he farmed pigs, sheep and fruit. He won a national award for outstanding pig performance - ‘the most number of pigs per sow per year’. He helped the late Robin Leigh-Pemberton, Baron Kingsdown, with his estate at Torry Hill, Kent, in the 1950s and they remained close friends. He said these were the happiest of times.

David served as a Justice of the Peace in Ashford for over 30 years and as a church warden. He had a special affinity with dogs; all dogs loved him. He enjoyed Cornwall and boating and used to ski on a ski bike! In 1968 David married Bridget Wickham, a widow (to whom he had previously been engaged) who was 16 years his junior with three children aged seven, six and four. He brought them up as his own. Bridget pre-deceased him and he is survived by his three step-children and four step-grandchildren.

What was the secret to his longevity? He was always thinking about and making plans for the future - planting trees and walking daily with his dogs. He was kind, gentle and caring, always interested in others whoever they were, there to give advice when needed, a friend to many and a true gentleman.

Andrew Wickham

David’s Stepson