Malcolm Roger Payne (3 March 1927-30 May 1997)
Malcolm Roger Payne (3 March 1927-30 May 1997) is an obituary written by Brian Pugh published in the A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society (Vol. 7, 1996/7).
This obituary recounts the life and work of Malcolm Roger Payne (1927–1997), a writer, local historian, and founder of the Conan Doyle (Crowborough) Establishment devoted to the legacy of Arthur Conan Doyle. It describes his varied career, literary activities, and his role in promoting Conan Doyle heritage in Crowborough.
Obituary
On Friday 30 May 1997, Crowborough lost one of its best known characters and writers. Malcolm Payne died at home between the hours of 7 and 8 while resting in his favourite armchair and watching the television news. He died from a heart attack. Unfortunately, Malcolm had developed early symptoms of Alzheimer's disease but he enjoyed keeping up with local and national news and liked to keep his mind exercised even at rest. He was fully aware of what the disease's progress held for him and rather bravely and successfully practised recommended brain exercises and dieting to delay onset. His going, of course, has saved him from that final descent into disintegration of mind and personality. I have no doubt he is best pleased to have avoided that particular agony and all it would have meant for his family. He was a brave man, and mentally prepared for his demise. Always an early riser, Malcolm would be up and about his writing business anytime between 3 and 5 a.m., particularly in recent years when his energy, through illness, was quickly sapped. To the last, he was dedicated to his many tasks, whether they be new writing, researching, compiling or editing material for the next project in hand. Malcolm was resting at the time of his death. Earlier, his wife, Barbara, had asked him how he felt. Fine, he had said, and he'd had a good night. Barbara went into the garden. When she returned at about 7:45 she found Malcolm still in his chair. There was no sign he had suffered pain.
There is so much to be said about Malcolm Payne that this obituary cannot contain it all, His interests and abilities were wide and varied, with writing to the fore. Indeed, when ill-health forced him into retirement in 1984, he relished the thought of spending the rest of his days at a writing desk. And he did just that. Certainly, Malcolm was a good man, a fine husband and proud father, and a true friend. Mind you, he would not suffer fools gladly and could be blunt.
Malcolm experienced a variety of occupations. As a schoolboy at Whitehill School, Crowborough, after hours he worked in the local grocer's shop to help with family bills. Aged 14 in 1941, he became a hotel garden- and boot-boy at the Rowans; then he was a baker's boy at Raku's shop in Southview Road, Crowborough. In 1945, he was conscripted into the army, travelled widely, and took advantage of the education provided. Upon demob with an IQ of 151, he took up an army teaching course at York for three years. But before taking up teaching full-time he decided to broaden his experience. He became a baker in Selby. Then closer to home, his work included being a builder's labourer, bricklayer, brickyard kiln filler and a manager of a men's clothier's shop in Tunbridge Wells. In the evenings, he worked as under-leader at the youth club then in Park Road, Crowborough. There, he met his future wife. Barbara Sawford.
Continuing his youth work, in 1962 Malcolm became a teacher at a Rudolf Steiner special school at Woodlands, Fairwarp, a village on Ashdown Forest. He worked there successfully until 1970, gaining a Fellowship of the Institute of Psychological Statistics, also a Steiner Diploma. This enabled him to work as both a specialist teacher and educational psychologist. Then came the time when he decided to devote more time to his growing family. He stopped teaching and joined his brothers, Ray and Jim, in their painting and decorating business. Two years later, a more lucrative opening came up at the Chevron service station on Eridge Road, close by his home in Wealden Close. There he served petrol and fitted tyres. The convenient hours and location afforded him the opportunity to develop his writing. Then, one day, the principal of the Steiner school at Netherfield in Old Lane, St. Johns, Crowborough, Chris Howard, called in for petrol. Chris knew of Malcolm's work at Woodlands, and offered him a teaching post on the spot. In 1972, Malcolm began work once again as a Steiner teacher. Wages were not quite so good, but the atmosphere and staff cooperation were excellent and the work personally rewarding. Malcolm was later to gain a diploma in Montessori teaching, followed by course experience in speech therapy and dyslexia.
During the 1970s, much of Malcolm's spare time was spent forming a group to promote and publish the work of aspiring poets. This was called Poets Vigilantes, and was a remarkable success, producing booklets, anthologies and two quarterly magazines of poetry and prose. Established poets also submitted. This promotion of other's work earned for Malcolm an accolade from the International Poetry Society, as well as the attention of BBC Radio 3.
In the same period Malcolm helped found an Arts Workshop, based at the Crowborough Cross public house, which put on a number of successful exhibitions.
When a heart attack occurred in 1977, Malcolm had to give up both teaching and Poets Vigilantes. Heart surgery followed in December that year, but by February 1978 he was back teaching. 1984 saw his health deteriorate and he was forced into retirement. The following year, his local history, Crowborough: The Growth of a Wealden Town, was published, based on material gathered over fifteen years. He devoted even more time to local history, becoming historian for
Crowborough Council, which body in January 1997 honoured him for services to the town. Throughout this busy period, Malcolm still managed to compose his beloved poetry, including the Japanese haiku: at least 8 slim volumes, to my knowledge, and none were published by way of the vanity press.
Those who remember local businessman and estate agent George Walter's paper the Crowborough Weekly, later the Crowborough Chronicle and then the Clarion, might like to have it confirmed that Malcolm's many aliases in those papers included the pseudonyms: Spooner — local news and controversial issues, Daphne Rogers — on cookery, Etty Mology on words, Old Will on the countryside, and many others. But probably Malcolm's greatest achievement was the formation of The Conan Doyle (Crowborough) Establishment to promote the life and works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Set up in 1989 with the support of Tony Yates and his wife Marian, then licensees of the Crowborough Cross public house, Tony sadly passed away just two weeks before the official inauguration and opening of the pub's Conan Doyle bar and society meeting room. Today Marian Yates is one of the society's two honorary presidents, the other being Barbara Payne. Until Marian's departure from the public house, the bar lounge was the showplace for Conan Doyle ephemera. Then in July 1995, through Malcolm's negotiations with Andrew de Candole, the owner of Groombridge Place, the whole ACD collection was installed as a museum centrepiece there-pulling in visitors from all around the world. Malcolm's great hope, of course, was always that Crowborough would one day have its own museum and tribute to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, much as Rudyard Kipling has at Bateman's.
Malcolm's personal connection with the Conan Doyles began with his father's employment by Sir Arthur at Windlesham. Malcolm's aunt and uncle were also employed at some time at Windlesham. At the age of three, Malcolm actually attended the funeral of Sir Arthur, which took place in the garden of Windlesham in 1930.
In recent years, Malcolm has had published Crowborough In Old Picture Postcards, Recollections of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Groombridge Place, he was also joint author of Bygone Crowborough.
Malcolm Payne held no religious belief, so his funeral, which took place on Friday 6 June 1997 at Tunbridge Wells Crematorium, included a special service of a humanist nature held outside the chapel, and was a celebration of his life in words and music. A period of quiet contemplation took place during the ceremony for those wishing to express silent thought and prayer.
Brian Pugh
- Article courtesy Christopher Roden, founder of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society (1989-2003).
