Professor Richard Cremlyn - obituary
28 June 1926 – 24 December 2022
After spending his final five years in a Care Home Richard was ninety-six when he died on Christmas Eve last year.
Considering he didn’t attend a formal school until he was fifteen he had an amazingly successful academic career. Before the war, he was being home educated but in 1939 the family evacuated to Wales and Richard stayed with his Aunt, Uncle and cousin Peggy. It was Peggy’s father who insisted on Richard attending a formal school and arranged for him to have tuition from a retired Headmaster of Carmarthen Grammar School. He obtained a place at the Grammar School after two years and by now he was fifteen.
From there he went to Swansea College where he gained his BSc in 1950 and a PhD in the research of steroid chemistry in 1953. He got a first-class degree and was awarded a Fellowship from the University of Wales to attend Trinity Hall College, Cambridge. Here he studied Nucleotide Chemistry under Professor Lord Todd, and he obtained his Cambridge Doctorate in 1956.
His first job was with ICI carrying out research into the synthesis of new organic compounds as potential fungicides. However, he decided to change his career path and went into teaching where he could work with students and do his research, which he loved. He was appointed as Lecturer in Organic Chemistry at Brunel College in London in 1959 and from there he moved to Hatfield College of Technology as a Senior Lecturer in 1961. He was appointed Principal Lecturer in Organic Chemistry in 1963.
His first book, written for the student at the BSc degree level was published in 1970. It was to inform of modern treatments for the subject as concepts in Organic chemistry were changing fast and physical methods such as spectroscopy, chromatography and stereo chemistry are covered, followed by a discussion of various classes of Organic compounds.
He was promoted to Reader in 1980 and in 1981 he was awarded a Doctor of Science degree by the University of Wales for the many research papers he had written on the subject. He became a Professor of Organic Chemistry in 1987. His final promotion was to Head of Department in Hatfield in 1990.
His second book was published in 1991 and was also to assist students. It was on Agrochemicals, and it dealt with different chemical groups used to control various kinds of pests.
After his retirement in 1991, he was awarded Emeritus Professorships at both the Universities of Hertfordshire and Essex. This allowed him to continue his research.
His third book was produced during his retirement in 1996. It was titled An Introduction to Organosulfur Chemistry, and it outlines the role of sulfur in biological systems.
The comment about this book was “ that it will be invaluable to students, lecturers and industrial researchers alike in applied chemistry, biochemistry and pharmacy”.
I now quote from a moving tribute written by Doctor Paul Bassin, an ex-student and colleague of Richard’s.
“Richard Cremlyn was many things; a scholar of great distinction, the author of numerous important scientific research texts and well over one hundred and fifty research articles, a teacher and mentor to many across the world, a much respected loved and valued friend and colleague.
In 1987 I was fortunate to be given the opportunity to work with Richard. I was aware of his considerable international reputation in the field of Organosulfur chemistry and in particular the use of chlorosulphonic acid as a reagent for synthesising potentially new pesticides and antibacterial drugs. He was the definitive expert in the use of chlorosulphonic acid and it was no surprise that Companies like Shell and others hired him as a consultant. It was no surprise to me that Richard ended up authoring the definitive book titled” Chlorosulphonic acid: A versatile reagent “ published by the Royal Chemical Society in 2002.
His council was sought by his peers from around the world. He travelled speaking at Conferences and Seminars. He was also an external examiner at Wye college of agriculture and for PhD students at other Universities.
Richard was enormously proud of his students as we were of him. This no doubt inspired the tremendous loyalty and affection that everyone had for him.”
Thank you Paul for your kind contribution
His final book was rather different, the title is “Science and Religion……Two Pathways to Truth.” He struggled to finish it due to a serious fall downstairs in 2008. But it was completed by 2010 and in 2016, although not professionally published, a friend kindly printed it and it was presented to him on his 90th birthday. He was quite overwhelmed!
“Just as the Scientist is working to seek the truth so is the Christian also; and so a Scientist can be a Christian and a Christian can also be a Scientist”.
These were some final words spoken by the Reverend John Richardson at Richard’s funeral.
Written in memory of my dear husband by Janet Cremlyn.
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