Mrs Clare Baines 1st January 1922 - 19th June 2018

OBs – whether musical or otherwise – will be sad to hear of the death, at 96, of Mrs Clare Baines. Clare was Housemistress of Burke for much of the middle decades of the last century. Formidable of appearance and voice, her bark – as one swiftly discovered – was far fiercer than her bite and, in fact, she didn’t bite at all. Redoubtable and uncompromising musician, linguist and scholar though she was, Clare was kindness and warmth in person. 

Her pupils probably knew little of her past. Born Clare Boulter, into a family of churchmen, musicians and educators, she was brought up in Hampstead and was seventeen when war broke out. After Girton, she became a landgirl, working long and arduous hours. Later, she joined the team of interpreters at the Nuremberg Trials – an extraordinary experience she never forgot. She married Christopher, a biochemist, and OBs of the period will remember Christopher – a kind and gentle man and musician – popping in and out of the staffroom, generally looking for Clare. They shared a great love of and expertise in antique musical instruments and had a remarkable collection which one was usually invited to try out when visiting. In particular, there was a serpent – a bizarre S-shaped wood and leather instrument – suspended unnervingly from one wall. 

Clare was a keen cook – especially inventive with soups. She continued playing the organ in various churches – often in cordial dispute with the local clergy – until very old age. She had an extraordinary store of anecdotes – mostly derived from her wider family and from the denizens of Burford where the family home was and to which she and Christopher retired. Burford occasioned a great many Clare stories – she had a love/hate relationship with the place. Towards the end of her life when she and Christopher became too frail to continue in the house, she, with great practical common sense and lack of sentimentality, moved them into a care home near Witney – where they were the only couple. “The only thing wrong with this place,” she would complain,” is that it’s full of people from Burford I’ve spent my life trying to avoid.”

Clare was warm, brilliantly witty, loyal and a person of total integrity. She is survived by Christopher, also 96, who, fortunately, is now too frail to be aware of the loss he would have felt so keenly in earlier days. 

Susan Hamlyn
(Staff 1976-78)