FURSE, Cdr John R (Chris) OBE RN (d 2018)

[colinp]

From the Daily Telegraph 2 November 2018 - FURSE Cdr J.R. 'Chris' Furse OBE RN (Retd) died peacefully on 30th October 2018. Beloved husband of Vikky and his first wife Faye, father of Ralf and Paul and grandfather to their children. There will be a private cremation. A gathering to celebrate Chris’s life will be held in Spring 2019, with details to be announced early next year. Donations may be made to the British Exploring Society via www.hollysfunerals.co.uk

I believe this may be John R Furse of the gentry family of Halsdon, son of R/Adm John Paul Wellington Furse CB OBE (descended from Ven Charles Wellington Furse - see Richard R's post - https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/peerage-news/furse%7Csort:date/peerage-news/TWjNTILBUCY/r38HJ55Mt0sJ ) and Cicely Rathbone.

He was a Antarctic explorer and artist - he was also descended from John Addington Symonds, the Uranian poet - and had an Antarctic peninsular named after him

[Richard R]

Yes, you're spot on Colin. See BLG1965 p 296 top of column 2: John Richard FURSE (1935-2018), s of the above Rear Admiral J P W FURSE. He m 1st 1963 Faye Thurleigh d of Alan REDDING of Sydney, Australia, and had two sons: (1) Ralf T (b 1965 reg Kent, m 1993 (reg Q3 Shropshire) Joanna PRESTON and had two daus: India Katherine (b 1995 reg London) and Hannah Elizabeth J (b 2003 reg Sussex)) and (2) Paul Gregor (b 1967 reg Bedfordshire). He m 2nd Vikki as above, no further issue

[colinp]

Obituary in Daily Telegraph 16 November 2018 here - https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2018/11/15/commander-chris-furse-courageous-polar-explorer-illustrator/

Some family information:-

John Richard Furse, known as “Chris”, was born in Kent on June 10 1935 into a family of artists including his mother, Polly. His father, Rear-Admiral J P W Furse, was a naval engineer and a renowned botanical illustrator, and his parents made plant-hunting expeditions to Central Asia and Afghanistan.

His father’s mother was Dame Katharine Furse GBE RRC, one of the founders in 1909 of the Voluntary Aid Detachment, who served on the Western Front in the First World War, and in 1917 became the first Director, equivalent to rear-admiral, of the WRNS.

Chris Furse married, first, in 1963, the Australian Faye Redding (the marriage was dissolved) and, secondly, in 1993, the artist Vikky Saker,        who survives him with two sons of the first marriage.