Robin Ralph Jamison, 12 July 1912 - 18 March 1991

Robin Ralph Jamison (RRJ) was born in Horsham, Sussex, on 12 July 1912. He was the third of four brothers born to Reginald Jamison and Eanswythe Elstreth Heyworth. Two large family portraits of RRJ’s maternal grandparents have always adorned the hall of RRJ’s residence in Bristol, and two senior test pilots from the same Heyworth family served Rolls- Royce at Hucknall for many years. Both RRJ’s father and his grandfather were medical practitioners and, at one time, it was thought that RRJ too would follow them into the profession. During World War I RRJ’s father, Reginald, served in White Russia, where he developed asthma from which he subsequently suffered badly. In consequence, on his return to the UK he was advised to move to a warmer, drier climate. Thus in 1921 the whole Jamison family moved to South Africa, where Reginald set up practice in Cape Town. For the most part the family took to their new life happily enough, although RRJ’s mother found herself homesick for the country of her birth. This manifested itself in a desire to see all her boys educated in the UK. In the event, the two elder brothers, Peter and Antony, went to Dartmouth and subsequently joined the Navy, and the youngest, Ivor, also went to school in Britain. He was later taken prisoner when Tobruk surrendered to Rommel. RRJ turned out to be the only one of the four to be educated entirely in South Africa. This was mostly because, from an early age, he suffered from very poor eyesight. From the Diocesan College, Rondebosch, Cape, he moved to the South African College in Cape Town and, finally, to the University of Cape Town in 1929. He was a bright child academically and was only 16 when he was accepted for university.