Meldrum John Bernard

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Biografie:
John Bernard Meldrum (1885-1992)
JB, as he had always been known to me and to other mountaineers, died in September 1992 at the age of 107. He spent his working life, when not on the hills, as an engineer in his father's firm in Manchester which made destructors specially designed for the disposal of unwanted used currency, a process which is ironic when one knew how careful JB was of his own considerable resources. He was, unsurprisingly, the oldest member of the Institute of Electrical Engineers. It was his interest in all aspects of mountains and mountaineering for which he will be best remembered. He joined the Alpine Club in 1922 and was delighted to have been elected an honorary life member on his 100th birthday. He was also a member of the Fell and Rock and Rucksack Clubs.
From the many stories one has heard he was an engaging eccentric with a sense of values firmly rooted in Victorian attitudes. He only started skiing when he was 65 but within a few years was skiing in the top classes and was always the 'last off the hill'. He remained a bachelor until he was 90, and it was only marriage which forced him to buy his first house: until then he had always led a somewhat nomadic life, taking his touring caravan for long visits to the Western Highlands in the summer, and over-wintering in his permanent caravan in Dorset.
Although he was never at the leading edge of mountaineering advances, he was never happier than when exploring and pioneering in remote mountain regions. He climbed in the Caucasus and the Alps between the wars and his last major trip was to the Atlas with Bentley Beetham when they were both over 70.
In his 20S JB was climbing with some of the leading lights of his day including George Bower, Fred Piggot, Bentley Beetham and Howard Somervell. In 19 I 3 he made the second ascent of Central Buttress on Scafell. He was always partic;ularly fond of Western Scotland and in this area appropriate memorials would be his first ascents of the Coire Mhic Fhearchair Buttress on Beinn Eighe and the Pinnacle Ridge on Garbh Bheinn of Ardgour. Together with my children Robin and Juliet, we have enjoyed following some of the routes he pioneered in the Lake District: without exception they demonstrate a quality of remoteness which half a century has not diminished.
JB was not a regular contributor to journals, but in 1921 he wrote about one of his early Alpine seasons based at Chamonix and Zermatt. With Beetham, Bower and Somervell, he climbed the Chardonnet, Charmoz, and Midi and then from Zermatt, the Matterhorn traverse, the Wellenkuppe and the Dent Blanche.
He achieved national fame just after his 100th birthday when, as Britain's oldest car driver, he was involved in a minor accident; he was required to take a driving test. When questioned by the media, he made the typically pragmatic response that it might be simpler to find a new young wife to drive him about. After the death of his wife, Gladys Hurst, in 1982, he continued to live near Bournemouth where he retained an interest in mountains until he finally went into hospital for his last few weeks.
There will be few who have recollections of JB in the mountains but, like his family, the Club will reflect with sadness on the passing of a climber whose contribution to mountaineering in general has been considerable. His death marks the passage of mountaineering history as surely as the cairns of the Lakeland fells mark the passage of earlier generations.
Kim Meldrum
Quelle: Alpine Journal Vol. 98, 1993, Seite 334-335


Geboren am:
1885
Gestorben am:
09.1992