Jute industrialist and soldier; Born June 15, 1916; Died March 27, 2009.
Graham Pilcher, who has died aged 92, was a major player in the jute industry in Dundee, a Second World War hero and husband of writer Rosamunde Pilcher. One of the aristocrats of the business that in its heyday saw the city nicknamed Juteopolis, he had the foresight to encourage diversification ahead of his rivals, and thus ensure the survival of the company of which he was a director, at a time when well-established names went to the wall as jute declined.
Graham Hope Pilcher personified his home town. Born and raised in a city he adored, he joined Jute Industries Ltd in 1935, the fourth generation on his mother's side to work in jute. His father, W Hope Pilcher, was a director of the company. The same year, he passed out of Sandhurst as a TA subaltern and was commissioned into the 4th/5th Black Watch, his local regiment.
A lean man whose larger-than-life personality belied his 5ft 7in stature, Pilcher's congeniality, intelligence and ability to manage people saw the company speedily engage his talents. After the interruption of war - in which he distinguished himself in the Black Watch - he quickly took to management, heading in quick succession the giant mills of Camperdown, Bow Bridge, Maxwelltown, Caldrum and Manhattan.
Always a people person, he was moved in 1954 from production to promote cloth sales, becoming involved in exporting and merchant activities, and holding the chairmanship of various subsidiaries of Jute Industries Ltd, including Jute Industries of New York, Thomas Taylor & Co, G C Taylor & Son (Sidlaw) and John Frew (Belfast).
Constantly looking to the future, he recognised that the jute industry would not last for ever, and he was one of the movers who developed what became Sidlaw Industries in the early 1970s, widening the commercial base into wholesale hardware and a tie-up with a North Sea service company. He also served as chairman of the British Jute Trade Federal Council.
At board meetings and AGMs, he relied on wry humour to push home what were his well-argued and well-rehearsed propositions, gaining a respect throughout the jute business.
His ability to think at speed gained him the Military Cross in 1944 when, during fierce fighting at Hertogenbosch, 20 miles west of Nijmegen in the Netherlands, he and his men came under heavy mortar and machine-gun fire, and found themselves pinned down in open country. Men were being picked off by snipers; realising the situation was critical, Major Pilcher sprinted across open ground to his forward units.
Despite intense fire, he led a determined assault on the enemy dug in 200 yards away, and two enemy machine-gun posts were wiped out. For his actions in crossing and recrossing the bullet-swept ground, rallying his men and consolidating his position, Pilcher was awarded an immediate MC, later being decorated personally by Field Marshal Montgomery.
Mobilised in September 1939, he and his men formed part of the 51st Highland Division, escaping from France in June 1940. He had been wounded, but went on to spend two years with the battalion in Gibraltar before returning to train for the D-Day invasion. In August 1944, he was wounded in northern France, but rejoined his men almost immediately. Two weeks before VE Day, having survived through France, Belgium, the Netherlands and into Germany, he was severely wounded near Bremen.
This time his injuries were such that he was unable to resume further service. He had served with the Black Watch for a decade, but remained loyal to the red-hackled regiment all his life, becoming chairman of the 51st Highland Division Veterans Association, and in 2001 was invited by the Dutch government with a group of old soldiers to visit the places they had helped liberate. Three years ago, he unveiled a bronze statue of a piper at Bruar in Perthshire, a sculpture designed to commemorate the actions and sacrifice of the division. At the same event, he oversaw the laying-up of colours of the 51st.
Despite his serious wounds, Pilcher - always an active man - remained fit all his life. From school days as cricketer, athlete and rugby player, in adulthood he golfed with the R&A, Panmure and Royal Dornoch, and turned out for Forfarshire Cricket Club. He played tennis with his grandchildren to celebrate his 80th birthday, and marked his 90th with a final round of golf.
In 1946, he married Rosamunde (whose works include the multi-million-selling The Shell Seekers). They set up home in Longforgan, Perthshire. A street in the village is named after his wife. He is survived by Rosemunde, with whom he had four children. By GORDON CASELY
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