Obituary Richard Stanwell
My friend Richard Stanwell, who has died aged 83, had an extraordinary capacity for considered administration, which was appreciated by all his employers.
From 1978 Richard worked for the Council for Education and Training of Nurses and from 1983 as a senior administrative employee and manager of the municipal services at the Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Nurses (now known as the Council for Nursing and Midwifery).
Richard’s ability to manage institutional change and achieve strong governance earned him an MBE (Master of British Museum) upon his retirement in 2002.
The son of Phyllis (née Cook) and Hubert Stanwell, Richard was born in Boston, Lincolnshire, where his family had a butcher’s shop. He was educated at Boston Grammar School and then at the University of Leeds, where he read German and French, and spent some time at the University of Tübingen in Germany.
Richard’s working life began with administrative positions in universities and educational establishments in the UK before travelling to Australia to work as an administrator at Canberra College of Advanced Education. Four years later he returned home to take up his first position with the Council for Education and Training of Health Visitors. He lived in Somers Town, North London from 1978 to 1996 before moving to St Albans in Hertfordshire, where he remained until his death.
Richard had not felt fully accepted for who he was since his school days. From the early 1970s he was involved in the Campaign for Homosexual Equality and Gay Liberation. As chairman of a meeting at Conway Hall in London he managed – in his own words, uniquely – to silence the talkative Brian Sewell.
Football played a big part in Richard’s life and over the years he supported Leeds, QPR and Burnley. However, his main interest was in non-league football, first following Boston United and then, after moving to Hertfordshire, St Albans City.
Richard, a devout Anglo-Catholic, was fiercely opposed to the Church of England’s failure to be inclusive and regularly wrote scathing letters to senior clergy. He was uncompromising in his liberalism and was overjoyed when St Albans elected its first ever Liberal Democrat MP in 2019.
As his physical health increasingly began to hamper his progress, he used social media to keep up with his daily routines and, most importantly, to stay in touch with his wide circle of friends.
Richard is survived by his brother Robert, two half-brothers, John and Gary, and three half-sisters, Margaret, Carol and Eliza.