by the Trade Union ‘Gods’, had not ‘learned the way to work hard’, but also
reflected the rampant industrial strife of the 1970s, Robert took his final bow.
Like the Jaenicke interview, we have already incorporated much of what
Robert had to say to Chirnside at the appropriate point in the book. This
interview followed seventeen years after that with the Jaenickes but nothing
from the latter had yet entered the public domain. Generally, in-keeping with
what he said in 1959—although there are some contradictions between the
two interviews—the transcript has now become Robert’s final word on his life
and his role in the ammonia synthesis.
18.11 And Finally
Robert was to survive Emily for a further nine months, passing away himself
at Wycombe General Hospital on the morning of 26 June in the long and
fearsomely hot summer of 1976. A contributory factor was congestive heart
failure. The death certificate describes one of the ‘Fathers of Fixation’ as
simply, ‘Scientist (retired)’. And so it was that, ‘quiet as a domino’, Robert Le
Rossignol, a kindly private man, passed ‘gentle into that good night’. With his
executors named as Lloyds Bank, Reading, a notice appeared in The Times on
29 June 1976.
LE ROSSIGNOL—On June 26
th
, after a short illness. Robert Le Rossignol,
B.Sc, F.R.I.C., aged 92, of Beaconsfield and Jersey. Cremation at Amersham
Crematorium.
With no record of a church service, his cremation took place on a hot sunny
day on the 06 July 1976 and his ashes were scattered on 08 July in the same
dispersal area as Emily’s.
38 No memorials were ever erected to the couple
there. Robert’s funeral was attended by family members Clement, Richard,
and Alfred, Richard recalling that the group traveled from central London by
tube that day because Richard’s car was being repaired after failing its ‘MOT’.
At the funeral, the official limousine was occupied by Robert’s household
staff, the whole being a fairly small affair attended at most by about 20 people.
The service was conducted by an elderly and quietly spoken minister; no great
eulogies nor oratories were offered and after the service, some, but not the
minister, returned to St Helier for light refreshment. From Richard’s
description, it seems probable that the minister that day was not Oscar
Muspratt and neither do we know if the modest ‘congregation’ included Dr.
Chirnside, but most likely it did.
18 Penn, Buckinghamshire 1949–1976
489
reflected the rampant industrial strife of the 1970s, Robert took his final bow.
Like the Jaenicke interview, we have already incorporated much of what
Robert had to say to Chirnside at the appropriate point in the book. This
interview followed seventeen years after that with the Jaenickes but nothing
from the latter had yet entered the public domain. Generally, in-keeping with
what he said in 1959—although there are some contradictions between the
two interviews—the transcript has now become Robert’s final word on his life
and his role in the ammonia synthesis.
18.11 And Finally
Robert was to survive Emily for a further nine months, passing away himself
at Wycombe General Hospital on the morning of 26 June in the long and
fearsomely hot summer of 1976. A contributory factor was congestive heart
failure. The death certificate describes one of the ‘Fathers of Fixation’ as
simply, ‘Scientist (retired)’. And so it was that, ‘quiet as a domino’, Robert Le
Rossignol, a kindly private man, passed ‘gentle into that good night’. With his
executors named as Lloyds Bank, Reading, a notice appeared in The Times on
29 June 1976.
LE ROSSIGNOL—On June 26
th
, after a short illness. Robert Le Rossignol,
B.Sc, F.R.I.C., aged 92, of Beaconsfield and Jersey. Cremation at Amersham
Crematorium.
With no record of a church service, his cremation took place on a hot sunny
day on the 06 July 1976 and his ashes were scattered on 08 July in the same
dispersal area as Emily’s.
38 No memorials were ever erected to the couple
there. Robert’s funeral was attended by family members Clement, Richard,
and Alfred, Richard recalling that the group traveled from central London by
tube that day because Richard’s car was being repaired after failing its ‘MOT’.
At the funeral, the official limousine was occupied by Robert’s household
staff, the whole being a fairly small affair attended at most by about 20 people.
The service was conducted by an elderly and quietly spoken minister; no great
eulogies nor oratories were offered and after the service, some, but not the
minister, returned to St Helier for light refreshment. From Richard’s
description, it seems probable that the minister that day was not Oscar
Muspratt and neither do we know if the modest ‘congregation’ included Dr.
Chirnside, but most likely it did.
18 Penn, Buckinghamshire 1949–1976
489