Charles Love (1955)

Date of Birth: 1 June 1935

Date of Death:  16 September 2024

Born into a working-class environment in North London, within walking distance of his beloved football team Tottenham Hotspur, Charles excelled in studies and won a scholarship to Mill Hill public school. Following National Service at RAF Duxford, working on aircraft radio, Charles read Natural Sciences , at Queens’, achieving a double first. He then started a PhD in organic chemistry, at Oriel College, Oxford, believed to involve the first isolation of a tannin. Before completing his doctorate, he joined Imperial Chemicals Industries as a plastics research chemist, including a spell in Russia. ICI employed him for the full extent of his career, the first 15 years at Wilton on Teesside, and the following 20 years as a planner from Welwyn Garden City.

Charles spoke of his time at Queens’ with great fondness, especially the friends he made (Fish and others, with whom he lost contact). He opened the batting for the cricket team, played Hockey and Lacrosse for the College, and was actively involved in Bridge. Antics included an incident dropping water bombs on tourists from a room overlooking Queens’ Lane, which resulted in a senior tutor stating that he had no option but to inflict a severe disciplinary sanction, requiring confinement to College for the entirety of the remainder of term – fortunately for Charles and his co-offenders, this was a matter of another 45 minutes!

Charles’ enthusiasm for Queens’ meant he was thrilled when his son, James (1984), also studied Natural Sciences there, and even shared a common tutor spanning the intervening 30 years, the much loved and respected Ken Machin. Other family Queens’ alumni include his great uncle, William (Herbert) Colton, and his great nephew, Dr James Fearnley (2008).

Charles peacefully passed away on 16 September 2024, as a result of advanced prostate cancer, at the age of 89. Maintaining his mental alertness and dry wit throughout, his last year was spent in a care home in Harrogate (his home town since 1997). Margaret, his wife of 60 years, lived in the same care home, on the dementia floor above his ground floor room, and he would make the journey to see her daily, despite his extreme frailty. One of his carers burst into tears on hearing he had passed, saying he was “the kindest gentleman she had ever cared for, never once seeing him cross or upset” – this encapsulated how he had lived his life. In addition to Margaret, he is survived by two children, and four grandchildren.

Written by his son, James Love