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Christopher Syers-Gibson, former headmaster, Butterstone School
Born: 17 December, 1932 Died: 1 October, 1998, in Herefordshire, aged 65 CHRISTOPHER Syers-Gibson had recently retired after serving for 12 years as headmaster of Butterstone School, Perthshire. During that time he became a much respected figure in the Scottish independent school world and, against all national trends, steadily increased the number of boarding pupils in his school.
Warm, funny and a delight to be with, Christopher was a man of gentle charm whose chuckle and sense of humour ensured that everyone who came into contact with him felt the better for it.
His career was spent entirely in preparatory schools and parents have paid tribute to his rich intellectual and spiritual influence on the young lives he touched. Old-fashioned values of Christianity and moral integrity in a rapidly changing world became a lifeline to the children in his care and to their parents. Respect for self and others was learned at his feet. There was a touch of magic about his intuitive knowledge of children, particularly in an academic light, and his end-of-term reports were penetratingly truthful, always positive and with a pinch of humour. He was a marvellous communicator with the young; he liked them, he cared for them and they knew it and loved him for it.
His childhood was spent in Merseyside. After attending Mostyn House, a boys' prep school in Parkgate, Cheshire, he went on, as a music scholar, to Wrekin College in Shropshire. After school he served for two...