Henry Douglas RIP

Dr Grahame Clough, the former Chairman of the Hilaire Belloc Society, has some unwelcome news for us. He writes:

''The sad news to report is that our good friend and originator of The Hilaire Belloc Society, back in 1996, Henry Douglas has passed away. Henry never missed a committee meeting and thank goodness for that because he was the epitome of calmness and was always able to quench even the most heated debates on every subject and would you believe that even included the genius of Buffy the Vampire Slayer versus that of Charlie Chaplin - there were many other obscure subjects that got out of hand but dear old Henry shepherded us into order. The Belloc Society meetings were always held in Guildford and many thought that this because that is where Hilaire Belloc died - that is not true, the real truth is that I did not want to give Henry any excuse! He never knew I had an ulterior motive but although I did I just loved his company. Henry very kindly donated his entire collection of books, by Belloc, to the Hilaire Belloc Society and I am absolutely certain that he will be so pleased that his collection now resides at Kings Land and with his own bookplate. From a personal point of view Henry's journalistic skills were very welcome and are what made The Bellocian newsletter so well received because although perfectly polite he would never shy from telling me that I was wrong and so for that Henry, I will raise a glass of red, toast a very good friend and make sure that this obituary is grammatically incorrect so that I can imagine that last rye smile.''