PYE, Brig Hugh William Kellow OBE 1938-2024
Richard R
He died a week after his 86th birthday. He was s of Brig Randall Thomas Kellow PYE DSO OBE 1904-2002 (who he succ. as) head of that gentry family f/o Blythe and Peggy Muriel 1909-99 d of Capt Edgar SAGAR-MUSGRAVE-BROOKSBANK 1864-1929 scion of the SAGAR-MUSGRAVE gentry family f/o Bramley and Constance Mary GRANTHAM c1869-1953 scion of that gentry family of Chailey. He m 1968 Mary Ann b 1947 d of Cdr Hon David EDWARDES DSC RN 1907-83 (s of 6th Baron KENSINGTON 1873-1938) and Elizabeth 1919-2012 d of Robert Alexander Longman BROADLEY 1884-1948 (solicitor) and Olive Devonald EDWARDS 1888-1976, and had a son (m with four daus) and a dau (m with a son & two daus) as above.
colinp
Brigadier Hugh Pye, commanded the 9th/12th Royal Lancers and led a life of service – obituary
He led the regiment on an operational tour to Northern Ireland, two tours with the UN in Cyprus and helped found the Oman Staff College.
Brigadier Hugh Pye, who has died aged 86, was a regimental soldier to the core, a strong-willed person who knew what he wanted and usually got it.
Pye had firm opinions and expressed them with great clarity. His judgment on one candidate for an appointment as being “too short”, and on another as “not knowing how to enter a room”, would not be universally well-received in today’s climate. He also had enormous energy, a fierce determination to do things properly, a great sense of fun and a willingness to take on any challenge.
Hugh William Kellow Pye was born on May 23 1938 in Haywards Heath, Sussex. His father, Brigadier Randall “Pudding” Pye, was serving in the British Army in India and was subsequently awarded a DSO in Tunisia while commanding a battalion of the Sherwood Foresters……
In 1992 Pye became treasurer and de facto chief executive of the Society of Merchant Venturers of Bristol. The society helps to provide care for older people and long-term support for young people in the city, helping them to achieve their goals through education, enrichment opportunities and workplace experiences. He was appointed OBE in 2003 on his retirement from the society.
Pye was also chairman of the governors of Colston’s Collegiate College and Colston’s Girls’ School. In 1996 he became chairman of CLIC: this charity for cancer and leukaemia in childhood needed reorganisation and finance, and with his energy and influence Pye assembled a new trustee board, put the charity on a sound financial basis and established its international role.
Settled in a village in Somerset, Pye loved his garden and was closely involved with the Spaxton Flower Show. He also enjoyed shooting and was a keen fisherman. He had a strong Christian faith and took a great interest in his local church.
He maintained his links with his regiment and had many friendships with old comrades up to the time of his death.
Hugh Pye married, in 1968, Mary Edwardes, who survives him with their daughter and son.
Hugh Pye, born May 23 1938, died May 30 2024
Richard R
Obit in the Times of 4 July 2024:
Brigadier Hugh Pye obituary: Armoured car regiment commander
Lancer officer who became chairman of Clic, the children’s cancer charity
… Hugh William Kellow Pye was born in Sussex in 1938, the only son and eldest of three children of Brigadier Randall Thomas Kellow Pye DSO, who commanded the Sherwood Foresters in the north African campaign, and Peggy (née Sagar-Musgrave-Brooksbank). He was educated at Wellington College, the fourth generation of his family to attend, and at 18 went straight to the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, for the then two-year course. Though Pye was tall for armoured vehicles, his father, having served under McCreery in north Africa, urged him to apply for the 12th Lancers. In 1968 he married Mary Edwardes, daughter of the former second-in-command of HMS Warspite. She survives him, along with their two children: Robert, a furniture restorer; and Victoria, an auction administrator married to a former Yeomanry officer…
…To many contemporaries in the army he had been “Good old Hugh Pye”, an affectionate accolade that accompanied him seamlessly into civilian life.
Brigadier Hugh Pye OBE, lancer officer and charity administrator, was born on May 23, 1938. He died of prostate cancer and Parkinson’s disease on May 30, 2024, aged 86