The RFA is sad to report the death, at 88 years of age, of Barry Trapnell, the oldest surviving N/national champion, as well as previously President of Cambridge University Rugby Fives Club. His funeral will be on the 14th of August at 2.20 pm at Kingston Crematorium, and by way of tribute, we publish this obituary, sent in by the current CURFC President (and RFA Deputy President) Bob Dolby.
Barry Maurice Waller Trapnell, CBE, DL (1924 – 2012) (UCS & St. John's)
Born in Hampstead and educated at University College School, Barry Trapnell went up to Cambridge in war-time when Varsity Matches were suspended. An outstanding sportsman, Barry did, however, play cricket against Oxford in 1946, his last year at Cambridge. In nine first-class matches he scored 258 runs and took 15 wickets, including 5 for 73 against MCC. He was selected for the Gentlemen versus the Players and made one Championship appearance for Middlesex late in the season. He also played squash for Cambridge.
A formidable Fives player, Barry became N/national Singles Champion in 1949 and N/national Doubles Champion twice - in 1949 (with Cambridge's Ted Isaacs) and in 1953 (with Oxford's John Rogers). Barry's contemporaries describe him as a player reminiscent of the great Kenneth Gandar Dower, known as 'the Kangaroo', using his great height and long reach to dominate the court with consistent volleying. Asked at one Fives dinner how good Barry Trapnell was as a Fives player, John Pretlove replied, \"Bl......y* good!\"
Barry was President of Cambridge University Rugby Fives Club for 15 years from 1989 to 2004, succeeding the legendary Jock Burnet, co-founder of the Jesters, in that post. Cambridge Past now play Cambridge Present each year for the Trapnell Tankard in the fixture known as the Past versus Present.
After his undergrduate studies at St. John's Barry became a chemistry don at Worcester College, Oxford, a researcher at Liverpool University, and consultant on catalysis at ICI. Later he was appointed headmaster of Denstone College as, at that time, the youngest headmaster of a public school in England. There he encouraged such excellent young players as Bob Short and Tony Palmer, turning out to play when he could.
Thereafter Barry went on to become headmaster of Oundle School, where he delighted in the fives-playing tradition of that school from where so many players went on to represent Cambridge in the Varsity Match.
In 1986, he became chairman of Cambridge Occup/national Analysts (COA), eventually retiring in 2005. It is particularly poignant that Barry should die just as the Cambridge Fives courts he so much wanted are likely to become a reality.