The Mathematician

HUBERT WILLIAM CHARLES McLAUGHLIN OBE (1865-1944) was born at Arrah, Bengal. He and his brother Donal were sent to Cheltenham College as boarders by their father Judge Frederick McLaughlin.

They were put in the care of a guardian, George Pardoe (1812-84), the squire of Nash in the parish of Burford, where the rector was the boys' grandfather, the Very Rev. Hubert McLaughlin. Perhaps so that he could keep an eye on his wards, Pardoe moved about 1880 to The Priory on the High Street in Cheltenham, his wife's birthplace. The Priory was for a time one of Cheltenham College's Private Boarding Houses, large private homes into which a master took a few boys.

Hubert, who played in the Boyne House rugby XV, won the Classical Department's Mathematical Silver Medal in 1882. The rim is engraved H. W. McLaughlin; the reverse bears a view of Cheltenham College and its name.

The next year he went on a mathematical scholarship to Christ's College, Cambridge, graduating as 33rd Wrangler in 1886. Hubert taught at Cheltenham College from 1903-5. He had previously taught one term at Winchester College followed by four years as an assistant master at Lancing College. He later taught at Sedbergh School, Lichfield Grammar School, and at Bristol University.

In 1903 his guardian's widow, Elizabeth Mary Pardoe, died. As the executor of her will, Hubert succeeded in a lawsuit against the Attorney-General, who contested her bequests for Bell-ringing in Commemoration of the Restoration of the Monarchy, for Tombstones for Pensioners, and for the Pardoe Almshouse Charity at Cleeton St. Mary, Shropshire. George Pardoe and later his widow had been patrons of the benefice of Cleeton St. Mary.

In 1906 Hubert married Ida Evelyn Powell, daughter of Rev. Edward Henry Powell, Vicar of Hewish Somerset. They had two daughters and a son. During World War I Hubert worked in the Ministry of Munitions and was rewarded with Membership of the Order of the British Empire. He died at Ilkley, Yorkshire, in 1944.

© 2006 G. Harry McLaughlin.
Reproduction or transmission, in whole or in part, for other than personal use is prohibited without advance permission from Dr. G. H. McLaughlin.