Obituary

摘要

Brian, who sadly died on the 26th February 2021, the son of a Welsh chauffeur, from a brick making family and a mother from the Isle of Skye, was born in Pool Quay, Powys on 8th March 1933. After attending Welshpool Grammar School, he obtained both a degree in agriculture and a postgraduate Diploma in agriculture (farm mechanisation) from Reading University. Following these, Brian studied at the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture in Trinidad before joining the Colonial Service in northern Nigeria in 1955, where he worked as an agricultural adviser. Nigeria made a profound and lifelong impression on Brian. When asked why he chose to go there, he said, "I wanted to make a difference. I wanted to help make the desert bloom". It was in 1955 that he joined the IAgrE as an Associate Member, and while in Nigeria avidly studied the technical material published in 'Journal and Proceedings of the Institution of British Agricultural Engineers' on tillage and traction principles that helped to shape his future career in extension work in agricultural mechanisation.