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OBITUARY

Mr. Bernard Darwin

The death occurred yesterday of Mr. Bernard Darwin, who as a golfer and a golf writer was revered wherever the game is played. He was 85.

He was born at Downe. Kent, on September 7, 1876, and educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge. By the time he reached Cambridge he was already a more than useful golfer. He played for the university on three occasions, on each of which he won his match.

With the formation of the Oxford and Cambridge Golfing Society in 1898 Mr. Darwin was one of the first members, and in his later years was president of the society.

International Player

By 1902 he had become one of the leading golfers in the country. and in that year he made the first of eight appearances for England in the annual match against Scotland.. Powerful driving was never one of the features of his play, but his coolness and excellent judgment near the green was responsible for many successes.

In 1908 he reached the sixth round of the Amateur Championship. and the next year he was a semi-finalist. He was also a semi-finalist, In 1921. when he was nearing the end of his International career.

In 1922 he played for Britain against the United States to the prelude to the Walker Cup series. The contest was on the National Links at Long Island, and Darwin defeated W. C. Fownes by 3 and 1, though Britain lost by four matches to eight. Other successes included the winning of the Golf Illustrated Gold Vase in 1919 and the Oxford and Cambridge Golfing Society's President's Putter in 1924.

Awarded C.B.E.

More recently, he captained the Royal and Ancient Club in 1934-35, and was president of the Welsh Golfing Union in 1955. His services to sport and literature were recognised in the Coronation Honours of 1937, when he was awarded the C.B.E.

The headquarters of the Oxford and Cambridge Golfing Society are at Rye, Sussex, and it is therefore fitting that Darwin Spent the closing years of his life in Rye, amid the memories and friends he loved.

[In the Illustrated London News (28 October 1961): 737.]

WRITER ON GOLF: THE LATE MR. BERNARD DARWIN.

Mr. Bernard Darwin, who wrote so accurately and brilliantly on golf and other sports for The Times and Country Life, died on October 18 at the age of eighty-five. Grandson of Charles Darwin, and son of Sir Francis Darwin, F.R.S. the botanist, he had many admirers of both his writing and golf. He has done much for his sport.